Children are naturally very curious. In our programs at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory we see evidence of that every day—kids want to know “How big is that snake?” and “How deep is that mud?”, not to mention the always entertaining “If a great white shark got in a fight with a polar bear…?” For many years we’ve answered these questions [1] as they come our way. But we, too, have wondered—how can we do better at teaching kids to answer their own questions? How can we assist classroom teachers in teaching their students to “do science?”

The life/earth sciences activities described in the web pages that follow represent our initial effort to aid young students in acquiring the inquiry skills needed to do science. “Inquiry-centered science” [2] is crucial to the development of these skills. Although each of the activities we outline has its associated content, all modules have at their center a 45-80 minute long hands-on activity that engages kids. We want them to DO science. While recognizing that there are questions in a number of areas that science cannot answer, questions about the way the natural world works are ideally suited for scientific investigation.

Science doesn’t have to be complicated and jargon-rich (especially for elementary school students). In all activities we emphasize that science as a process is fairly straightforward. In fact, our favorite definition of science comes from the physicist Richard Feynman, who described science as “a special method of finding things out.” [3] Very challenging, but pretty simple.

The phrase “THE scientific method” may be a bit misleading. Biologists study variation in the traits of organisms, and the very methods that scientists use to ask and answer questions might be viewed as a variable trait. Some scientists do things one way, some another; some emphasize experimental tests, some observations, some complex mathematical models. But there are fundamental steps in the scientific process that almost all scientists use, and those steps are what we highlight as “the methodS of science.” The integral components are: observing, wondering, did we say observing?, hypothesizing or predicting, experimenting, analyzing, concluding, inferring, communicating, observing, wondering…Unfortunately there is no explicit step in the method(s) for “having an idea” or “creativity” or “imagination.” But basically science in the absence of imagination isn’t science, as creativity is a necessary component in every step of the process of "doing science."

All the activities we use to teach students how to "do science" stress the following components of the Methods of Science:

• Observation of nature
• Wondering why?
• Forming hypotheses (in an "If... Then..." format) and making predictions
• Collecting data, including defining dependent vs. independent variables, using appropriate experimental controls, and performing repeated trials
• Analyzing data
• Deriving conclusions
• Asking the next question

By using the scientific method repeatedly in a variety of hands-on science activities over the course of a school year we hope that students and their teachers will view "doing science" as not only an enjoyable activity, but also a useful method to use to learn about nature and how things work.

[1] In an underwater “caged death match” the shark will win.
[2] Science for All Children, 1997, National Academy Press.
[3] The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist. 1998. Michelle and Carl Feynman. Perseus Books, Reading, MA