Deirdre,
even though SESE Science uses the language of ‘guess’ when talking about predictions [Predicting • guess and suggest what will happen next in structured situations – Skills development for infant classes / Predicting
• suggest outcomes of an investigation, based on observations – 1st/2nd class]
it is vital that the children justify what they think with reference to their scientific understanding.
If they understand very little about a topic and need to guess, then build in more time to let the children observe, explore and wonder and then they can try to explain the phenomena. From their explanation will come the investigation topic.
A child who notices that the tissue falls slowly and it floats down and the toy bear falls faster and straight down might form their own ideas about forces and can explore them by perhaps combining the tissue and the bear to make a parachute for the bear. Will it fall at an in-between speed? Will it fall faster than the tissue by itself?