What Do Scientists Do?

Give students something real to look at or hold before each page: a leaf, a penny, a cup of water. Walk through the steps out loud with a real question, like whether a plant needs water. For sink or float, have students circle their guess first, then test with a grown-up. Talk about guesses that were wrong, since that is how scientists learn.

Seven scientific method worksheets for Kindergarten to 2nd grade. Kindergarten students circle the pictures of scientists at work, match the eye, ear, nose, hand and mouth to what each senses, and predict whether six things will sink or float before testing them in water. 1st grade students learn four steps, ask, predict, test and tell, observe and describe a real leaf, and circle what will happen next in five short scenes. 2nd grade students sort nine sentences as a question, a prediction or a result. All but the sink or float and leaf sheets have answer keys.

Yes, both. We made it for Kindergarten scientific method, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with scientific method skills. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Scientists look, listen, measure, ask questions and write down what they find. The Kindergarten sheet has children circle pictures of these actions and draw themselves as a scientist.

Sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste, which use the eyes, ears, nose, hands and mouth. Scientists use their senses to make observations.

A prediction is what you think will happen before you test. A result is what really happened. The 2nd grade sheet asks children to sort nine sentences into question, prediction and result.

Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade: three Kindergarten sheets, five for 1st grade and four for 2nd grade. The sheets for older students in 3rd to 5th grade are on the 4th grade scientific method page.

For young children, four steps: ask a question, predict what will happen, test it, and tell what happened. The 1st grade steps sheet teaches them with a plant that gets water and one that does not, and the experiment sheets follow the same order.

An observation is what you notice with your senses right now, like a leaf being green and smooth. A prediction is what you think will happen next, like a rock sinking in water. Children make a prediction first, then test it and check.

Everyday things: a tub of water and small objects for sink or float, a magnet, a bean seed in a cup of soil and snap cubes, ice cubes and small plates, and a toy car with a board, books and a measuring tape. Each sheet lists what you need, and a grown-up helps with the water and ice tests.

Five of the twelve do, the ones with a right answer, such as the five senses match and the question, prediction or result sort. The experiment and record sheets depend on each child's own results, so they have no key.