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Teaching the Scientific Method

Free activity to teach the scientific method

If you are looking for ways to teach your students the steps of the scientific method then you’ll want to check out this unique idea. Teaching the scientific method includes ideas that walk students through the steps of 

  • Identify the problem
  • Research information
  • Form a hypothesis
  • Design an experiment
  • Analyze the results
  • Form a conclusion

When teaching the scientific method, using scientific examples help students relate this method to science but students should also realize that this can also be used to help solve everyday problems in the real world. 

Free Activity to Teach the Scientific Method

Have you ever heard of Fortune Telling Fish? If not, you’ll want to look at them here because they are a fun way to introduce students to the scientific method. 

Fortune telling fish use your body temperature to move in different ways. According to the Fortune Telling Fish card, the different movements will determine your fortune. But, of course, this is just a fun activity that your students will enjoy as you are teaching the scientific method. 

Setting up the activity

Build student engagement the day before the activity by telling them that they will be given fish that they’ll need to care for the following day. Sometimes I add this as a homework assignment to be fun. 

On the day of the activity, I post rules for caring for the fish. Again, this will build curiosity among your students as they believe they will be given real fish. 

Now it is time to give students their fish. Each fish comes in its own plastic bag that includes a plastic fish and a fortune-telling key.

While the fish is still in its plastic bag, ask students to make observations. Students can write down their observations on their sheets (free handouts can be found below). 

Next, have students read the back of the fortune-telling card. Talk about the meaning of the different fortunes as students may encounter unknown vocabulary terms

Have students predict which fortune they think they will get. They can connect this to evidence such as their personality trait or comments that people have given them. 

Connecting to the Scientific Method

After students have had an opportunity to manipulate the fortune-telling fish, students will connect this activity to the scientific method. 

 

Through the pre-activity questioning, students should determine that their body temperature is what causes the fish to react. Since human body temperatures vary, the class results will also vary. 

Students will use this information to fill in the scientific method template

This is a fun activity to use when teaching the scientific method. It allows students to see that the method can be used to solve scientific problems but also everyday problems. 

FREE Scientific Method Activity

Grab the printable worksheets to teach this lesson below.
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