Begin this lesson by showing students one of the Curious George books. Ask students to listen to title of the book. Say the title, and then ask: “Does anyone know why they call him Curious?” Students may or not know the meaning of curious, but tell students that curious means to ask questions and want to know about things. Show students various pictures of scientists (S-K2-13-1_Pennsylvania Scientist Pictures.doc). Say, “Today I am going to show you some pictures of people who lived in Pennsylvania.” Show the pictures and allow students time to view each picture. We could say these are pictures of people who were curious. Ask: “What do you notice or what can you tell me about these pictures?”
Students may comment that some of the people are old; some of the people are men/women. Tell students that these pictures are of people who were famous and liked science. They liked science so much that they did some very special things.
“The first person we see is someone named Benjamin Franklin. Does anyone know who Benjamin Franklin was? Benjamin Franklin lived in Philadelphia and liked to conduct science investigations. He also liked to invent things. People credit Benjamin Franklin with inventing bifocal eye glasses, swimming fins, and even a stove called the Franklin stove.”
Show students the next picture. Ask: “Can you tell me what you think this person did?” Students may answer that he was an astronaut. “This person also was from Pennsylvania. His name is Pete Conrad. He went into space in a spaceship called Apollo 12. He was a scientist and conducted investigations in space.”
Finally, show the next picture. Students probably will not be able to identify Rachel Carson. Briefly tell students that the picture is of someone also from Pennsylvania. “Her name was Rachel Carson. She was a marine biologist. This means she was a scientist who investigated things found in water. She wanted to explore what could be found in water. She liked looking at animals and plants in oceans, lakes, and streams.”
Say: “The people I showed you used different science skills to find answers. Today we are going to learn about how you investigate.”
Gather students around as you conduct a simple investigation such as the following:
1. Fill a small bowl with water.
2. Take a clear small plastic cup and crumple a piece of paper.
3. Place the crumpled paper in the bottom of the clear plastic cup.
4. Invert the cup into the small bowl of water.
5. Ask students questions such as: “What will happen to the paper?” “Do you see anything happening?”
Write this list of science skills on the board:
- observe
- infer
- predict
- communicate
- measure
- put things in order
- compare
- classify
- investigate
- make models
- draw conclusions
You may want to give a brief example of each of these skills. Inform students that we use these skills every day just as the famous scientists of Pennsylvania did. “Today we are going to focus on how scientists investigate.”
Steps to Investigating Activity
Before beginning this part of the lesson, duplicate the footsteps. Write each of the following phrases on one footstep:
1. Ask a question
2. Make a plan to find the answer
3. Investigate
4. Find a solution or answer
Place the footsteps (S-K2-13-1_Scientific Method Steps.doc) on the board one at a time.
Step 1: Ask a Question
“Let’s look at this footstep. Can anyone help me read this?” Students may help read the sentence. Ask: “What is a question? When do you ask a question?” Guide students to respond that a question asks something you want to know. “When scientists have a problem they use questions to find answers.”
“Listen as I tell you something about Benjamin Franklin. He always wanted to solve a problem or help others. He noticed that people, including himself, had trouble reading small print. He had a problem: words were too small for him to read. So he asked a question. What kind of questions do you think Benjamin Franklin asked?” Guide students to questions like “How can small print be made bigger?” or “How can small print appear bigger to people who have trouble seeing it?” “He began to work on trying to solve his problem. He worked until he invented bifocals or glasses to help people see and read better. He used science skills to help him answer a question and solve a problem.”
Step 2: Plan a Way to Find the Answer
“Sometimes scientists do not have a problem to solve, they just have questions. Pete Conrad was an astronaut who had a question. He wanted to know if someone could fly to the moon. He trained with other astronauts and worked with other scientists to make a plan. He was not the first person to travel to the moon, but he did go there. He went in a spaceship, traveled to the moon, and walked on the moon. He asked a question and planned a way to find the answer.” (Place the second step on the board).
Step 3: Investigate, Find a Solution or Answer
“Another famous scientist from Pennsylvania was Rachel Carson. She had a question; it took her four years to find the answer. She had to investigate and do science experiments for several years until she found a solution (or answer) to her question. She saw that people and animals were getting sick. She wanted to know why. She found out that the water they were drinking was not very good. She investigated and found out that farmers were using sprays to kill insects on their plants. The sprays killed the insects, but they made people and animals sick. Her investigations were done and reported to the President of the United States. Farmers were told to stop using this spray, and people and animals got better. The water and fish in the water got better too. Rachel Carson found a solution (or answers) to a very important question. She used different science skills to investigate.”
“These famous people and other scientists understand that in science you:
1. Ask a question.
2. Make a plan to find the answer.
3. Investigate.
4. Find the solution or answer.”
“We will use these steps when we do investigations in science. Scientists call this the scientific method, or a way that all scientists do investigations. We will use the scientific method when conducting science investigations.” Hand out the Steps in Science worksheet (S-K2-13-1_Steps in Science Worksheet and KEY.doc) as a review of the steps, or scientific method, for conducting an investigation. Have students talk and identify the four steps. Then ask students to draw a line to connect the correct step with its description. Have students talk with a partner or small group to compare answers and then discuss the answers as a whole group.
Ask students to think about something they have a question about. For example, why do markers run out without the cap on? Have students talk with their peers to think of different questions they have. List their questions on the board. Then have students think of ways that they might find out the answers to these questions.
Extension:
- Students who may be going beyond the standards can research other inventors and share what they discover with the class.
- Students going beyond the standards can learn and recite the Scientific Method Song, available at http://www.songsforteaching.com/lyricallifesciencelearning/scientificmethod.htm
- Students who are ready to go beyond the standards can create a poem or song to help others remember the steps for the scientific method.
- Students who might need opportunities for additional learning can cut out the steps of investigation (S-K2-13-1_Steps in Science Worksheet and KEY.doc) and put them in the right sequence. Then have students share with a classmate what they did.
