Scientific Method Elementary

Nature Net’s Pre- and Post-Visit Field Trip Materials

Subject: Scientific Method

Level: Elementary School

Introduction. The scientific method is a set of rules and procedures that allows us to test our ideas about how the world works, make predictions about events, and create theories. It is a method that can be applied in any discipline, from language arts to science, reading, and math. Its essential elements are: making a hypothesis; gathering data; interpreting data; drawing conclusions.

Pre-Trip Activities. You can have a lot of fun with your class using the scientific method. Here’s a way to introduce the scientific method to your class that also prepares for your field trip and can add structure to it. You can modify it to spend a day, a week or a month on it. We hope it gives you lots of creative ideas to use the scientific method in many contexts throughout the school year!

For example: The number of creatures (biodiversity) at an area on school grounds; the effects of shade on plants on school grounds; leaves changing color in the fall; what happens when a person takes the leaves off a plant; investigating a microhabitat on school grounds, etc.: any topic that relates to your field trip. You can involve reading, math or other skills you’d like to incorporate into the process, and make it relate to things your class has been learning in other lessons. Use props: make the topic visual, real. Is it something students can look out the window and see?

Ask the class to brainstorm about the topic. What do they wonder about it? What do they want to find out? Together create a statement of the problem.

Ask the class to focus on the problem and make "I think" or "I guess that…" statements about the problem. Pick one and help students refine it to a hypothesis – a testable statement of what they think will happen.

Hypothesis example More kinds of animals (or plants) live on school grounds than in the woods (or whatever ecosystem your field trip site is.)

Here the focus is on materials and methods. How do we find out the answer? Lead the class through a discussion to narrow in on a particular procedure. List the steps in that procedure. Students can write the steps and/or draw the experiment set-up. It’s also a good time to discuss variables that can affect the experiment. Have the class brainstorm about variables in their experiment. Then, create a list of things they will need to do the test.

General Design example: Review pictures of different animals and signs of animals (tracks, etc.) for identification skills. Go out one day for 2 hours and look for animals and their signs. Record animals and signs, and keep an "unknown" category for unidentified animals. On field trip (2 hours) repeat procedure. When all data is gathered, compare results from each site. Draw conclusions to answer the hypothesis.

Organizing, recording data, and systematic collection are important here. What are we measuring, counting, observing, etc..? How can we keep them in order? What if we mix up the records from one site with another? What can we do to avoid that? You might help students create their own lists (or other tools) for writing down data. Designate record keepers and observers for different parts of the experiment. What is the importance of comparing data? What if we make some observations here, but different ones there? Would we still be able to answer our question – why?

Ask students what happened. Go back to the question and ask how can we answer it with the data we have? Finally, what do we understand from our experiment?

Analysis example: Step 1: Look at the records from school grounds. How many different animals did we find? Step 2: Look at the records from the field trip. How many different animals were found? Compare results. Brainstorm about variables that may have affected observations at each site.

What did students find out? What did they learn from the experiment? Ask each student to write a sentence about: 1) their hypothesis, 2) what they found out, and 3) what they learned.

Ask students to reflect on what were the hardest and easiest parts to do. Did the results make them curious about other questions? Why or why not?

You can bring in communication and language arts by asking students to turn in a written (and drawn) form of the experiment. Help them organize by providing a "checklist" of items to include: topic, hypothesis, design description, experiment, etc (with points for how much each is worth), and hints for how to present clearly. See the attached sheet for an example to pass out to your students!

Post-Trip Activities. Branch out! Get creative! Have fun! As you can see, there are hundreds of ways to use the scientific method to learn about other disciplines. At each step there are myriad opportunities to bring in lessons on related subjects, and develop important skills. One huge advantage of this process is that it focuses on questions interesting to the students! Here are some ideas to get you started…

Use that "checklist" of the scientific method throughout the year! Flag some curriculum topics for later in the year to continue applying the scientific method.

Assign students to research their favorite scientist and do a report. What did that scientist study? Why was it important? What did he or she discover by the scientific method? Have students use the "checklist" to write out the steps of a neat experiment their scientist did.

Focus on taking appropriate action after learning the results of an experiment. What can/should students do with their new knowledge? What are their responsibilities as citizens? How can they communicate with others to share their knowledge and opinions? What is their environmental ethic?

And… try these web pages for great in-class activities:

: www.middleweb.com/INCASEscimeth.html – for examples of how to incorporate the scientific method into your lessons throughout the year.

www.teachnet.com/lesson/science/scimet.html – ideas on questions to investigate using the scientific method.

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