1st Grade · Science

Scientific Method Lesson Plan for 1st Grade

A ready-to-teach scientific method lesson for 1st Grade, built around observing, predicting, testing and telling what happened, recording simple data, and the steps scientists follow. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Explore and describe scientific method skills through observation and investigation
Build scientific method knowledge aligned to 1st Grade science standards
Apply science vocabulary and inquiry skills to scientific method skills activities

Materials

What Do Scientists Do?
Magnet Test Record Sheet
Observe with Your Five Senses
Plant Growth Observation Journal
Sink or Float? Predict and Check
Melting Ice Experiment
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Ask the question (5 min)
Open with a question about scientific method that students cannot answer yet. Take predictions and record them without correcting anything. Wrong predictions are the point: you will come back to them.
2. Explore (12 min)
Students investigate scientific method through a hands-on activity, a demonstration, or a set of images. Their job is to notice and describe, not to be right yet.
3. Explain (10 min)
Now give the vocabulary and the explanation for scientific method. Tie it directly back to what students just observed and to the predictions on the board. Name which predictions held up.
4. Independent practice (you do) (13 min)
Hand out "What Do Scientists Do?". Students record what they learned and answer the questions independently. Circulate and press for "how do you know?"
5. Extend the thinking (5 min)
Ask where else scientific method shows up outside the classroom. Collect two or three examples and leave the question open for tomorrow.

Check for understanding

Ask students to explain scientific method to a partner in one sentence, then write that sentence down. Collect the sentences: they show you exactly which part of the idea did not land.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild scientific method with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own scientific method problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand scientific method.

Skills covered in this lesson

Scientific method skills · Experiments

Questions teachers ask about teaching scientific method

What grades are these scientific method worksheets for?

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.

What are the steps of the scientific method for kids?

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.

What is the difference between an observation and a prediction?

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.

What materials do the experiments need?

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.

Do these science worksheets have answer keys?

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.