Science

Starters
Activities to jumpstart
scientific investigation in
the preschool classroom
Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

Getting started

This curriculum is designed to help you guide

children to find answers to questions that they

Inside have about what they experience every day.

The scientific method

Children are naturally curious about the world
for four-year-olds. around them, and if we let them they will try to
Young children can follow
the steps of the scientific
find answers to their questions. You are going to
method to answer their help children learn how to ask
questions about what they
see in the world around and answer questions about
them every day. 19
their daily experiences.
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Science Starters Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

Curiosity
is a scientist’s
best asset

Young children can follow the steps of the

scientific method to answer their questions
Tell the children that they are going what they have learned. Children
to be scientists. The first step is to are already quite good at each of
make observations. They observe these steps of the scientific method.
the world around them and ask Your job is to help them follow each
questions about their observations. of these steps in an organized,
Then they make predictions to thoughtful way. Let’s take a closer
explain their observations. Next, look at each of these steps.
scientists plan an experiment to
Observe
see if their guess is right. They then
Children are keen observers of
try their experiment, think about
the people, places, and things in
the results, and give an
their environment. Our goal is to
explanation of what they learned.
help them observe the world in a
19 Finally, scientists tell others
purposeful way.
Science Starters Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

It is important
Listen to
that you
children’s questions
and help them find
answers

You want them to pay close attention to what

What if you they see, hear, and experience. You can start by
don’t know the modeling this for them. For example, in morning
answer? circle time you can discuss the weather by

Tell the children that you

comparing it to the weather the day before. You
don’t know! It’s important can say, “On my way to school today, I noticed it
that you show them how
to find the answer was very windy, and it wasn’t windy yesterday
instead of telling them the
morning. Did anybody else notice anything
answer. If a child asks you
a question, you can say, “I different about the weather?” Let the children
don’t know. Let’s find out!”
Show children how to do a
talk about the weather they observed. You could
simple experiment, then make a list of their observations to put on the
encourage them to do their
own. You are modeling wall. This type of experience can be repeated
scientific investigation. throughout the day in a variety of settings.
When children are building in blocks, you could
say, “I was watching you build and I noticed that
these blocks keep falling down. What do
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Science Starters Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

The scientific
method
do you notice about the blocks that might explain
why they fall down?” On the playground after a 1 Ask a question.
Scientists begin every
rainy day, you might say, “I noticed there are some experiment by asking
questions about what
puddles on the playground. What else do you see they observe in the
that is different after it rains?” Whenever world around them.

possible, write down their observations and 2 Construct a

questions. When you write down children’s ideas, hypothesis. A
hypothesis is a
you let them know that you value what they have scientist’s prediction of
what will happen when
to say, and it encourages them to continue to share
the experiment is
their thoughts with you. Tell the children that you conducted.

are recording their observations, because they 3 Conduct an

might be good ideas for investigation. experiment.
Scientists develop an
experiment that will
Ask test their hypothesis.

Looking at a list of observations might

4 Analyze the data.
inspire children to ask questions about what they Scientists draw
conclusions from the
observed. For example, you observation of the
results of the
weather might lead them to ask questions about experiment to
determine if their
the weather. Once again, you can model this for hypothesis was true or
children by saying, “We made some observations false.

about the weather that made me wonder, what is 5 Report your

4 results. Scientists
wind?” In the block center, your observation about share the results of
their experiment
with others.
(National Research
21 Council, 1996)
Science Starters Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

the falling blocks might lead to the might happen or why things happen.
question, “What is different about You can model this for children by
these blocks? Is that why they keep saying, “I think the wind comes from
falling down?” the clouds. When we have more clouds
You want to create a classroom in the sky, it gets windy. What do you
where children are constantly looking think?” In the blocks, you might say,
and listening to the world around “I think these blocks fall down because
them. When you listen to music, ask they are lighter weight than the other
them if they can identify the different blocks.” Let the children come up with
instruments, in dramatic play, talk their own ways to explain what they
about the textures of the dress-up see, and list them.
clothes. In the sand/water table, ask
them to explain how things feel. You Experiment
are trying to encourage them to You now have observations,
express their ideas. Remember, every questions, and possible explanations
day is a new and exciting day for 4- for what you have noticed. Now it is
year-olds, and they are full of ideas time to experiment. Plan a way to test
and questions. your explanations. Ask the children
how they can answer the question
Predict about the clouds. Say, “I think the
Each question children ask has wind comes from the clouds. Let’s
several possible explanations. make a chart and every morning we
Scientists call these hypotheses. We will see how many clouds there are,
want children to try to predict what and how much wind we can feel.”

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Science Starters Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

Create a chart and have the children help you

observe the cloud and the wind. Make simple
notes on your chart, like “no clouds,” “a few clouds”
and “lots of clouds.” Let the children decide how to
describe the clouds. Do the same thing for the
wind. Decide how long you want to continue your
experiment. You should probably record your
results for at least one week. You will discover
The preschool that the wind does not come from the clouds. It is
scientific method ok if your prediction is wrong. You are modeling
for the children that you don’t have all the
ü Observe the world
around you. answers, and are willing to make guesses about
what you see to figure things out.
ü Ask questions like what,
why, and how.
Think
ü Predict an answer to After conducting your experiment, you need
your question.
to think about the results of your experiment. Was
ü Experiment to discover there more wind on cloudy days? Then your
if your prediction is true.
explanation, or hypothesis, might be right. Was

ü Think about the results there more wind on clear days? Your hypothesis
of your experiment. might be wrong. Perhaps there was no consistent
pattern, so it is difficult to say what the
ü Tell others what you
have learned. relationship might be between clouds and the
wind. The children need to talk through the
results with you, and understand that scientists

23 are not always right about their explanations.

Science Starters Chapter 2: Becoming Scientists

Sometimes they can’t answer their questions at all.

That encourages scientists to continue to ask
questions and design new experiments.

Tell
The children should decide on a way to share
the results of their experiments with others. They
might want to talk about it, or draw pictures, or
write a report (with your help). Scientists always
share the results of their experiments to help others
learn and inspire more investigation. Get organized
Communicating about their results helps children In the next chapter,
organize their thoughts and use their language skills we’ll talk about
to share them with others. ways to organize
your classroom so
that children can
think like
scientists. In
Chapter 4, you will
find activities to
jumpstart the
scientific process.

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