Making Inferences - BrainPop UK
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00:00Tell me you're a robot without telling me you're a robot.
00:07Oh come on, I would never post that, it must have been someone else.
00:25It's good.
00:26I just thought you were more into Motown.
00:31Dear Nat and Moby, my teacher says we should make inferences when we read.
00:37What does that mean?
00:38From Jabril.
00:41Well, in most any text you read, there's more than meets the eye.
00:46When you infer, you combine clues you come across with what you already know to form an idea.
00:53That's an inference.
00:55You actually make inferences all the time, not just while you read.
01:01Say your cat's meowing by the cabinet where you keep her food.
01:04The clue is her meowing, and you already know that's her food cabinet,
01:09and she meows when she's hungry.
01:11So you can infer she's hungry.
01:14Or your teacher smiling as he hands you back your quiz.
01:19The clue is his smile, and you know a smile signals that he's pleased.
01:24You might infer that you aced the quiz, or maybe he's just in a good mood.
01:29Several inferences might seem possible.
01:32Inferring is about forming the most likely explanation based on the evidence.
01:37And as you learn more, you can adjust your inference, or confirm or disprove it.
01:44When reading a text, drawing inferences
01:47helps you understand everything an author is trying to convey.
01:50Because most of them don't come out and tell you everything directly.
01:54That would get real boring real fast.
01:58Like, imagine if the first line of Winnie the Pooh were,
02:02Here is Edward Bear coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head,
02:07behind Christopher Robin.
02:08Which must mean he's a stuffed bear, and Christopher Robin is holding onto him by his feet.
02:14In the real line, that last chunk is implied.
02:18Authors imply info through hints and suggestions.
02:21Those are your clues.
02:23And they rely on readers already having some background knowledge.
02:28Drawing inferences is like reading between the lines,
02:31figuring out all the stuff that's in the text, but not stated directly.
02:36It lets you engage deeply and get the most meaning out of a text.
02:41It's like being a detective, and can make reading really fun.
02:45Well, all kinds of different texts.
02:48Inferring is especially key while reading certain genres of fiction,
02:52like fantasy and sci-fi.
02:56Those stories tend to use lots of clues to play with what we know about our world,
03:01to set up differences in the story's world.
03:04Like, in the novel The Giver.
03:06It starts with Jonas, the narrator, describing a time he was frightened.
03:11He spotted an unidentified aircraft in the sky,
03:15even though it was against the rules for pilots to fly over the community.
03:20The clue, that pilots can't fly there,
03:24combined with the knowledge that that's an unusual rule,
03:27makes me infer that Jonas' world is different from ours.
03:31Then all of the citizens had been ordered to go into the nearest building and stay there.
03:36Immediately, the rasping voice through the speakers had said,
03:40A voice is ordering everyone around, so I can infer that it belongs to someone in charge,
03:45and that the rules there are strictly enforced.
03:48I'll have to read more to confirm that my inferences are true,
03:52and to figure out more about what exactly is going on, and why.
03:57But I'm definitely intrigued.
04:00Dude, we're in the middle of this!
04:03Poetry requires inferring too,
04:06since a lot is usually implied in the verses.
04:10Take Amanda Gorman's poem, The Hill We Climb.
04:14It opens, when day comes we ask ourselves,
04:18where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
04:21You probably recognize when day comes to mean morning,
04:26but then she mentions this never-ending shade.
04:29That doesn't match what we know about morning, a time when it's light out.
04:33A time when it's light out.
04:35So, you can infer that Gorman isn't speaking literally.
04:40She's describing a feeling of darkness, and looking for light.
04:44Maybe you know she read the poem at the 2021 presidential inauguration.
04:49Then, you might infer she's talking about the state of our country,
04:53looking for hope during difficult times.
04:56Yeah, and speaking of what's going on in the world,
05:00inferring is also important when reading informational texts,
05:04like news articles,
05:06because they tend to assume readers have prior knowledge about the topic.
05:10Check out this newspaper headline from March 2022.
05:14China questions zero-COVID policy as infections rise.
05:18Huh, what's China's zero-COVID policy?
05:23I know that COVID is a contagious disease, and the headline has a big clue.
05:28China is questioning the policy because infections are rising.
05:33So, I can infer that the policy was aiming for no infections.
05:41And now I can infer that I've lost your attention.