Year 5 Critical thinking: Summer 1 worksheet

“Testing My Own Ideas” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 critical thinking unit “Critical thinking: Summer 1”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 25 to 30 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Testing My Own Ideas

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · Critical thinking · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can test my own ideas by looking for reasons and evidence that disagree with them.

A Look back3 min

1.
Ruby asked one friend, who said the bus is always late. Can one answer prove that every bus is late?
YesNo
2.
Sam says: “Dogs bark, so dogs are rude.” Does the first part prove the second part?
YesNo
3.
An advert says: “Feel the joy of crunchy cereal!” Does this give evidence about the cereal?
Yes, it gives evidenceNo, it only gives a feeling

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ben thinks everyone in his class likes football. He asks his 5 team friends, and all 5 say yes. Then he asks 3 children who do not play football, and all 3 say no.

Watch me

Ben's belief: everyone in his class likes football.

The 5 yes answers came from his team, so they agree with him.

The 3 no answers disagree with him. Ben must look at them too.

Now you

1.
Leo thinks the park is always busy. He has 7 busy visits and 4 quiet visits. Disconfirming evidence goes against a belief. Which visits are disconfirming evidence?
The 7 busy visitsThe 4 quiet visits

C Your turn7 min

Read each chart or tally. Does it support the claim, disconfirm it, or neither?

1.
Ali says: “Most children in our class walk to school.” Does this tally support, disconfirm, or neither?
SupportsDisconfirmsNeither
2.
Bea says: “Fish are the favourite pet.” Does this chart support, disconfirm, or neither?
SupportsDisconfirmsNeither
3.
Zara says: “Cats are the easiest pet to look after.” Does this pictogram support, disconfirm, or neither?
SupportsDisconfirmsNeither
4.
Omar says: “Everyone in our class likes football.” Does this tally support, disconfirm, or neither?
SupportsDisconfirmsNeither

Say it out loud: Which number did you look at first, and why did that number matter?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Sam says: “Most children in my class like cats best. I asked my 2 friends who have cats, and they both agreed.”

1.
Write one sentence saying how Sam could test his idea more fairly.

E Think deeper4 min

Imagine a Year 5 pupil says: “Our school should have longer summer holidays.” Your job is to argue against it, even if you agree with it.

A school building with a bell, a bench and a bin under a bright blue sky.

1.
Write the three strongest reasons this idea might be wrong. Write each reason as its own point.

How did it feel?

Think about the moment you wrote a reason against your own idea. Did it feel uncomfortable? Did you change your mind about anything, even a little?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Testing My Own Ideas · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. No Yes means they treated one answer as proof. Ask your child how many people were asked and whether that is enough to speak for everyone.

2. No Yes means the reason was accepted without a test. Ask your child whether barking always means rude, or whether it could mean something else.

3. No, it only gives a feeling Yes means a feeling was taken for a fact. Ask your child what the advert actually tells us about the cereal.

B

1. The 4 quiet visits Choosing the busy visits means they looked for more of the same. Ask your child which visits would show Leo is wrong.

C

1. Supports Disconfirms means your child read the wrong side of the tally. Ask which column is the larger one.

2. Disconfirms Supports means your child looked at fish only and forgot the other bars. Ask which bar is the tallest.

3. Neither Supports means your child took popular as easy. Ask: does the chart say anything about looking after a pet?

4. Disconfirms Supports means your child saw the big number and stopped. The word everyone is tested by the other side of the tally.

D

1. Look for: says Sam should ask children who might disagree, such as children with other pets or no pets, to look for evidence against his idea If your child only says ask more people, ask: which children might disagree with Sam? Their answers are the real test of his idea.

E

1. Look for: three separate reasons why longer summer holidays might be a bad idea, each written as its own point

Words to use

Say“Which evidence did you look for? Did you look for the other side too?”

Instead of“You're wrong, look at the facts.”

After the sheet

At home, pick one family belief, such as “Our car is always the quickest way to the shops.” Ask each person for one reason it could be wrong. Write the reasons on paper and talk about which is strongest.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Feeling sure vs being right(with a plan)
Four reasoning errors, reviewed(with a plan)
Matching Words to Evidence(with a plan)
Spotting the Red Herring(with a plan)
Red herrings in real speeches(with a plan)

Every Year 5 critical thinking worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

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