Choose vocabulary that expresses the intended degree or relationship.
The explanation could be true.
The evidence makes it more probable.
Strong support, with remaining uncertainty.
Use only when the evidence warrants it.
Science: possible → likely → very likely → certain. “This result makes the explanation likely” differs from “This result proves it is certain.”
Choose words that vary along a meaningful dimension, not just a list of synonyms.
Set a dimension such as certainty or intensity.
Pairs place words along a line and discuss disputed positions.
Test each word in the same sentence to hear the change in meaning.
Choose the word that best fits the available evidence.
Remove the continuum and ask learners to justify their degree of certainty.
Keep the subject challenge. Offer one model, visual or language prompt where needed, then check a fresh independent response.
Choose words that vary along a meaningful dimension, not just a list of synonyms.
Set a dimension such as certainty or intensity. Pairs place words along a line and discuss disputed positions.
Give limited evidence and ask learners to reject an overconfident wording.
Remove the continuum and ask learners to justify their degree of certainty.
Give limited evidence and ask learners to reject an overconfident wording.
Adapt these prompts to the task and your learners.
Our purpose is: Choose vocabulary that expresses the intended degree or relationship.
Which detail supports your explanation? Show me how you know.
Try the new case on your own. Show the detail or reasoning that supports your answer.
Which support do you still need, and which part can you now do independently?
Humanities: rank language of certainty in competing interpretations.
Maths: compare approximate, close and exact in statements about measurement.
Use a small word bank, visuals and partner rehearsal when needed. Extend with precise explanations and qualifications. Judge the support from the response to this task.
Keep the strategy. Change the subject.
Use the task, response and evidence check as a starting point for your curriculum.
Arrange possible, likely and certain when discussing whether a material will conduct electricity before testing it.
It is likely to conduct because it is a metal, but we need the test result to support the claim.
Ask whether the evidence warrants the degree of certainty.
Place source claims along a continuum from possible to strongly supported.
The poster was probably intended to persuade, but its effect on viewers is uncertain.
Separate confidence about purpose from confidence about audience response.
Compare suggests, indicates and proves when interpreting a character’s pause.
The pause may suggest uncertainty; it does not prove the character is afraid.
Ask what additional context would strengthen the interpretation.
Use impossible, unlikely, equally likely, likely and certain with a bag containing three red and one blue counter.
Red is more likely than blue, but red is not certain because a blue counter remains possible.
Check the probability against the actual outcomes in the bag.