Year 6 Critical thinking: Spring 1 worksheet

“Same facts, different feelings” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 6 critical thinking unit “Critical thinking: Spring 1”, for children aged 10 to 11, 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 13 to 18 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Same facts, different feelings

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 6 · Critical thinking · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can spot how the same facts can be framed to give different impressions.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which pet got the most votes? Circle it.
CatsDogsFish
2.
Which claim is more precise? Circle it.
Lots of pupils got a sticker.17 pupils got a sticker.
3.
A test had 80 questions. Kit got 56 right. Write the same fact about the questions Kit got wrong.

B Watch me, then you4 min

A garden centre bought 10 seedlings. 9 of them grew well. Here are two ways to say the same fact.

Watch me

9 out of 10 seedlings grew well.

So 1 out of 10 did not grow well.

Both sentences are true. They are the same fact, framed two ways.

Now you

1.
A bus company says 7 out of 10 buses came on time. Say the same fact about the late buses, in words.

C Your turn8 min

Each row shows one fact. Find the same fact said the other way round.

1.
Half the class passed the test. Which headline says the same fact the other way? Circle it.
Half the class failed the test.Only a few pupils did well.Every pupil passed the test.
2.
A bus was late 1 time in 5. Which headline says the same fact the other way? Circle it.
It was on time 4 times in 5.It was late most of the time.It was never late this year.
3.
There are 20 pupils in a class. 15 walked to school. Write the same fact about the pupils who did not walk, using “out of 20”.
4.
Join each fact to the same fact said the other way.
Nine in ten trains ran on time.Two in five pupils had a cold.
Three in five pupils were well.One in ten trains was late.

Say it out loud: What stayed the same in each row? What did you change to say it the other way?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Sam says: “One headline said 1 in 10 buses was late. Another said 9 in 10 buses were on time. So one of them must be a lie.”

1.
What is wrong with Sam’s thinking? Write one sentence.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Write one headline that sounds good and one that sounds bad about this chart. Both must be true. Good headline: Bad headline:

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Same facts, different feelings · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. Cats

2. 17 pupils got a sticker.

3. Look for: Says Kit got 24 out of 80 questions wrong. If your child wrote 136, they added 80 and 56. The wrong answers are part of the 80, so the answer must be smaller than 80. Take 56 away from 80.

B

1. Look for: Says 3 out of 10 buses were late, or three in ten buses were late.

C

1. Half the class failed the test.

2. It was on time 4 times in 5. If your child circled “It was late most of the time”, that is a different fact. Ask: what is the other part of 1 in 5?

3. Look for: Says 5 out of 20 pupils did not walk, or one in four did not walk. If your child wrote 35 out of 20, they added 15 and 20. The class is always 20, so take 15 away from 20.

4. Nine in ten trains ran on time. → One in ten trains was late.; Two in five pupils had a cold. → Three in five pupils were well.

D

1. Look for: Says both headlines can be true, because framing can mislead using true facts and leaving things out, not by lying. your child thinks two headlines that sound different cannot both be true. Ask: if 1 bus in 10 was late, how many were on time?

E

1. Look for: Two true headlines about 9 bikes with brakes OK and 1 with brakes not OK, one framed positively and one negatively.

Words to use

Say“Which fact is the same in both sentences? What has been left out of each one?”

Instead of“Tell them the headline is a lie.”

After the sheet

Find a shop sign, menu or news headline with a number in it. Together, say the same fact the other way round and ask what each version leaves out.

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:

Two Notes, One Event(with a plan)
Same Facts, Two Frames(with a plan)
Spotting Framing Tricks(with a plan)
Who Must Prove It?(with a plan)
Who must prove it?(with a plan)

Every Year 6 critical thinking worksheet

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