Being a Scientist: Observing, Sorting and Simple Tests

You do not need a lab coat to begin. A scientist wants to find out how the world works. You work like a scientist when you ask something and look carefully for an answer.

Start with what you notice

Imagine that a playground puddle is smaller after lunch. First say what you noticed: “The puddle has shrunk.” Now name what you want to know: “How long does this puddle take to dry up?” That question gives you something to watch.

“I wonder about snails” is a beginning, but it does not say what to find out. Try “Where do snails hide on a sunny day?” Now you know to look for snails and record their hiding places.

Ask something you can check

You can investigate a question by looking, counting, measuring, sorting, testing, or asking someone who knows. Words such as “Which,” “How many,” “Where,” and “What happens” can help you begin. Put a question mark at the end when you write.

“Which ball bounces highest?” can lead to a test. “What happens to an ice cube in sunshine?” asks about a change you can watch. You can point to the thing you need to find out in each question.

Find a useful part of a big question

Some questions need more than a quick look. “Why do leaves fall?” is a big question. You could first ask, “Do all the trees in our park lose their leaves in the fall?” Watch the trees each week to find out that part.

Questions about likes work differently. “Which color is prettiest?” has no single right answer. But “Which color do most children in our class like best?” can be answered. Ask each child and count the answers.

Your question helps you choose what to do next. Scientists find answers in several ways. A test is one useful way, but science also involves looking, counting, sorting, reading, and listening.

Match your way to your question

If you ask what a worm looks like up close, observe it. Look carefully with your eyes and a magnifier. If you ask how a seed changes in four weeks, one look will not be enough. Look again on several days and keep a record each time.

Sorting helps answer questions about features. To find which objects are metal, check each object and put it in a group. Looking for a pattern helps answer questions about where or when something happens. To find where you see more snails, count in sunny and shady places on several days.

When a test helps

A test lets you change one thing and compare what happens. For the floor question, use the same toy car on both floors. Measure how far it rolls. Looking at the floors alone does not tell you how far that car will travel.

Learn from other people

You cannot easily watch an elephant for its whole life. To find out how long elephants live, use a book, a video, or an expert. An expert knows a lot about a subject. A zookeeper may help with animal questions. Use the internet with an adult.

You can combine ways of finding out. To learn which small animals live under logs, look and count first. Then use a book to help name them. Put the log back gently afterward, so the animals keep their home.

To observe means to notice carefully with your senses. “The shell is white with brown stripes” is an observation. It tells someone what you actually noticed.

Use words that show the detail

Your eyes give you sight. Your ears give you hearing. Your skin senses touch, your nose senses smell, and your tongue senses taste. In science, you mostly use sight, hearing, touch, and smell.

Describe color, shape, size, texture, sound, or smell. Texture means how a surface feels, such as rough or smooth. A pine cone might be brown, hard, and rough. Comparing it with a stone can help you notice more: “The stone feels smoother than the pine cone.”

Count when counting helps. “The ladybug has 7 spots” gives a clearer detail than “It has lots of spots.” Look at each spot once as you count.

Keep yourself and living things safe

Never taste anything during science unless a trusted adult says it is safe. Only smell something when a trusted adult says it is safe. Follow their directions for gently waving the air toward your nose. Avoid sharp or broken things, animal droppings, and plants an adult tells you to avoid. Never look at the Sun, with or without a magnifier. Wash your hands with soap after touching soil, plants, or animals.

Handle small animals gently and return them where you found them. Ask before picking a plant. You can often learn by watching without picking anything up.

Separate what you notice from what you think

You see holes in a leaf. You did not see what made them.

The idea might be right. Keep “I think” with it so others know it is an idea.

Simple tools help you notice more than your eyes alone. Equipment is another word for the tools you use. Choose the tool that helps answer your question.

Make small details easier to see

A magnifier, also called a magnifying glass or hand lens, makes something look bigger. The object itself stays the same size. Hold the magnifier just above it. Move the lens slowly until the detail looks large and clear. If it is blurry, adjust the distance.

Never leave a magnifier in sunshine. It can gather sunlight into a hot spot and start a fire.

Measure with matching objects

A measurement gives a number and a unit. In “5 cubes long,” the number is 5 and the unit is a cube. Use cubes or paper clips that are all the same size.

1. Put the first cube at one end of the leaf.
2. Line up more cubes, touching end to end.
3. Stop at the other end of the leaf.
4. Count the cubes. If there are 5, record “5 cubes long.”

Leave no gaps and do not overlap the cubes. Gaps would make each counted step too long. Mixed-size cubes would give you different-size steps.

Mia measures a table with 7 hand spans. Her dad needs only 6. His larger hand covers more of the table each time. Their numbers differ even though the table stays the same size. Use the same-size unit when you compare.

Read a ruler from zero

Centimeters give everyone the same unit. Find the ruler’s 0 mark. Place one end of a crayon there, then read the number at its other end. If it reaches 9, it is 9 centimeters long. The edge of the ruler may be before zero; start at the mark.

A measuring tape helps with a longer distance, such as a car’s roll. Keep it straight along the distance you measure.

Use a timer for time

A sand timer shows when a set time has passed. A stopwatch counts seconds. You could count birds at a feeder while a one-minute sand timer runs. Start counting when you start the timer and stop when it finishes.

A growing plant changes between one look and the next. A single look cannot show the whole change. To find out what happens over time, return to the same thing and keep records.

Make a watching plan

Decide when to look and what to notice. For a bean plant, you could measure every Monday morning. Use the same ruler and measure in the same way each time. Keeping your way of looking the same helps you compare the records.

Choose a time gap that fits the change. A melting ice cube can change in minutes, so check every few minutes. A tree’s fall colors change over weeks, so a weekly look can help.

Record each look right away

Write the date beside each drawing, photo, measurement, or short note. Dates tell you which record came first. If you wait until the end, you may forget a detail or mix up two days.

Here is one bean plant’s record:

Read the whole change

Start with the first and last records. The plant began at 3 centimeters and ended at 15 centimeters. Its total growth was:

It grew 12 centimeters. That is the change in height, not its final height.

Now look at the records in between. From 3 to 6 is a growth of 3 centimeters. From 6 to 10 is 4 more. From 10 to 15 is 5 more. It got taller each week, and the amount of growth got larger too.

Watch things that change day by day

You can keep a weather record too. One class recorded 14 school days: 6 sunny, 5 cloudy, and 3 rainy. There were 3 more sunny days than rainy days, because:

When you sort, you put things into groups. The things in each group share a feature. Sorting helps you notice how objects are alike and how they differ.

Choose one feature

A feature is something you can check about an object. It may be color, shape, size, texture, material, or number of parts. A sorting rule tells you which feature decides each group.

For “Is it made of metal?” make a “yes” group and a “no” group. Check each object against that same question. Do not put one object with the red things while sorting the rest by material.

1. Choose a feature and make your rule.
2. Look at one object at a time.
3. Put it into the group that fits.
4. Check each group against your rule.
5. Label the groups so someone else can check them.

Make room for every object

Ava sorts 9 buttons by color. She has 5 red and 4 blue. Counting both groups gives:

All 9 buttons have a place. But what if she adds a green button? It fits neither “red” nor “blue.” She needs another group, such as “other colors,” or a new rule.

Choose a rule people can check. “Has stripes” gives a clear yes or no. “Pretty” depends on what a person likes, so people may sort the same object differently.

Explain where something belongs

Use “because” to tell your reason: “The key goes here because it is metal.” Someone else can look at the key and check your reason.

Check the real feature, even when you know the object’s name. A penguin is a bird, but it does not fly. For “Can it fly?” it belongs in the “no” group.

An odd-one-out puzzle needs a reason too. With an apple, banana, ball, and orange, the ball is different because it is not food. The banana is different because it is not round. More than one answer can work when you explain the feature you used.

You can sort the same set in different ways. The objects stay the same; the rule changes. A group that fits one rule may split up when you choose another.

Give the set a new rule

Ava’s 9 buttons make 5 red and 4 blue when sorted by color. When she sorts by size, there are 3 big and 6 small. Sorted by holes, there are 5 with 2 holes and 4 with 4 holes. Each sorting still holds all 9 buttons.

To find someone else’s rule, look for a shared feature. Imagine one group holds a leaf, grass, and a pea pod. Another holds a tomato, strawberry, and red toy fire truck. The groups follow color: green and red. “Food” does not fit everything in either group.

Sort by two rules at once

A Venn diagram has circles that overlap. Give each circle a rule. One can say “red” and the other “has 4 holes.” The middle belongs to both circles.

Check two questions for every button: “Is it red?” and “Does it have 4 holes?”

Ava has 2 buttons in red only, 3 in the middle, 1 in four-hole only, and 3 outside. The whole red circle has 5 buttons: the 2 in red only plus the 3 in the middle. Count the middle when counting either circle, but count each button only once when counting the whole set.

Leave a space empty when nothing fits

Try the rules “has legs” and “can fly” with a dog, spider, robin, bee, butterfly, fish, snake, and worm. The robin, bee, and butterfly fit both rules. The dog and spider have legs but cannot fly. The fish, snake, and worm fit neither rule.

Nothing in this set can fly without legs. That part stays empty. Do not move an animal there just to fill the space.

Before you test, make a prediction. A prediction says what you think will happen. Use something you have seen or learned to give a reason.

Connect your idea to a reason

Try the words “I think … because …” For the toy car test, you might say, “I think the car will roll farthest on wood because it is smooth. My scooter goes faster on a smooth path.”

The first part tells what you expect. The second part tells why you expect it. Your reason comes from something you know, not from the test you have yet to do.

Make the prediction before finding out

Write it or draw it before the test starts. You will need it later to check whether your idea matched the results. A drawing of the car with its longest arrow on wood can hold your prediction too.

Predictions can take different forms. You can predict an order: “The rubber ball will bounce highest, then the tennis ball, then the foam ball.” Or you can predict yes or no: “Water will go through the cloth.” Choose a prediction that answers your question.

Keep the first idea when the results surprise you

Two children can make different predictions for the same test. They can both explain their reasons and then test what happens.

If the result differs from your prediction, keep the prediction as you first recorded it. Add what actually happened beside it. You might write, “I predicted the rug. The car went farthest on wood.” Changing the prediction afterward would hide what you learned.

An unexpected result does not mean you did the test wrong. Check how you worked and what you recorded. You can learn from a careful test even when your first idea turns out differently.

A fair test helps you compare things. Change the one thing you want to compare. Keep everything else the same.

Decide what to compare

For “Which floor lets a toy car roll farthest?” compare wood, a rug, and carpet. The floor changes. Keep the car, ramp, and starting point the same. Put the ramp on the same pile of 3 books each time. Let the car go without a push.

If you push it on carpet but let it go on wood, two things change: the floor and the push. You cannot tell which made the difference. Keeping the release the same helps you compare the floors fairly.

Decide what counts as a result

Plan what to look for or measure. Here you need the distance the car rolls after leaving the ramp. Use a measuring tape in centimeters. Measure from the bottom of the ramp to the front of the stopped car each time.

List your equipment: car, ramp, 3 books, measuring tape, and a record sheet. Then put the steps in order.

1. Set the ramp on 3 books beside the first floor.
2. Place the car at the starting line.
3. Let go without pushing.
4. Wait until the car stops.
5. Measure its distance from the ramp.
6. Write the number in your table.

Plan more than one try on every floor, such as 3 tries each. A roll can be a little different each time. Repeated tries let you see whether the same floor keeps giving longer rolls.

Use the rule in another test

You could compare materials for keeping water out. Cover cups with same-size squares of cloth, plastic, foil, and paper towel. Pour one spoonful of water onto each. Keep the spoon and amount of water the same. Check whether water reaches the cup.

Before starting, clear space so nobody trips and keep a cloth ready for spills. Ask an adult to help with anything hot, sharp, or heavy.

Your plan is ready. Now carry it out the same way for each thing you compare. A result is what you observe, count, or measure during your test.

Share the work

In a team, one person can release the car, one can measure, and one can record. Take turns with the jobs. Read the steps together so everyone knows what happens next.

Write every result straight away. Keeping the number beside the correct floor and try makes it useful later. Waiting until all the rolls are done makes the numbers easy to mix up.

Here are three tries from the car test:

Notice what repeated tries tell you

The wood results are close to each other. So are the rug results and the carpet results. Every wood roll is longer than every rug or carpet roll. The rolls are not exactly equal on one floor, but the comparison keeps showing the same order.

Record results even when they surprise you. Suppose you predicted carpet would give the longest roll. You still write 19, 20, and 21 for carpet. Your record should show what happened, not what you hoped would happen.

Handle a problem honestly

If a car hits a chair leg, write a note about the bump and do that try again. The bump stopped the car, so it was not the roll you planned to measure. Keeping the note explains why you repeated it.

If a result is very different from the others, check for a reason and try again. Look at the starting point, the release, and the measuring. Do not erase a surprising result just because you dislike it.

When testing is finished, put the equipment away and wipe up spills.

A science drawing helps someone else see what you observed. Look closely before you draw, and keep looking as you work. Include the details that are really there.

Put the observation on paper

If a flower has 5 petals, draw 5. Use its real colors. Draw lightly in pencil first so you can adjust a line as you look again. Make the drawing large enough to show the parts you noticed.

A snail does not need a smiling face in a science record. An added face would show something you imagined. Your drawing needs the shell, body, and other details you can actually see.

Add labels that point to parts

A label names a part. Write “leaf,” “stem,” or “petal” beside the drawing. Draw a straight line from the word to that part. Make the line touch the part it names, so the reader knows exactly where to look.

A line from “leaf” that ends in an empty space is hard to follow. Leave enough room around the picture for the labels to be read.

Keep details a picture cannot show

A short note can tell more than a picture. You might write “feels fuzzy” beside a safe-to-touch leaf. A drawing with notes is an annotated drawing. Use a note for a sound, texture, movement, or measurement you observed.

You can draw a small object bigger to show its detail. Then add its real size, such as “real length: 5 cubes.” The big drawing helps with looking; the size note helps with measuring.

Say what and when

Give your record a title, such as “Bean plant on Monday.” Add the date. If you draw again next week, date that picture too. You can then put the drawings in order and see which details changed.

Photos can be records as well. A drawing asks you to choose and show the details you have looked at carefully. When you compare dated records, check both the picture and its notes.

A table keeps results in a clear order. A tally chart helps you count while you observe. Both let you save results without trying to hold everything in your memory.

Set up a table

Rows go across. Columns go down. Each column needs a heading that tells what belongs there. Make the table before starting, so each new result has a place.

For the car test, use the headings “Floor,” “Try 1 (cm),” “Try 2 (cm),” and “Try 3 (cm).” The “cm” tells the unit. You can write just the numbers underneath.

To find the rug’s second try, start at “Rug.” Move across that row to “Try 2.” The number is 35, so the roll was 35 centimeters. A number is useful only when you know its row and column.

Tables can hold words or check marks too. In a water test, one column can name the material and another can say whether water came through. Plastic and foil let no water through in that test; cloth and paper towel did.

Count as you go

Make one short tally mark for each animal or object counted. For five, draw four upright marks and put the fifth across them. That bundle makes five easy to recognize.

To read two bundles and two single marks, count the bundles first: 5, 10. Then count on: 11, 12. Write 12 in the total column. The crossing mark counts as the fifth; it is not an extra sixth mark.

Check your counting

One class counted 12 ants, 7 woodlice, 5 worms, 4 spiders, and 3 snails. They found 31 small animals altogether. The groups of five made the larger counts easier to read.

Add a mark as soon as you count each thing. Keep track of what you have already counted so the same animal is not counted twice. If the animals move, plan with your group how you will follow the count.

A picture graph shows counts with pictures. A bar graph shows counts with bars. Another name for a picture graph is a pictograph or pictogram. Both help you see which group has more and which has fewer.

Build a picture graph

Start with a title that tells what you counted. Give each group a labeled row. Add a key that tells what one picture means. For these graphs, one picture stands for one thing.

For a minibeast hunt, the key could say “One picture = 1 animal.” Draw 12 same-size pictures for ants, 7 for woodlice, 5 for worms, 4 for spiders, and 3 for snails. Begin every row at the same line and leave equal gaps.

If you draw huge snail pictures and tiny ant pictures, the snail row might look longer. The picture sizes would hide the real comparison. Matching pictures and gaps help the row lengths match the counts.

Read the counts

Count the pictures in a row. The ants have the most, 12, and snails have the fewest, 3. To find how many more ants there are, subtract:

There are 9 more ants than snails. Saying “ants have the longest row” names the group. Saying “9 more” gives the size of the difference.

Read and make a bar graph

A bar graph uses one bar per group. Label each group and use numbers counting by ones along the side. All bars begin at 0 on the same line. Read the number at each bar’s end.

For a weather record of 14 days, bars can end at 6 for sunny, 5 for cloudy, and 3 for rainy. The sunny bar is tallest. It shows more sunny days than either other group.

In a block graph, one block stands for one thing. Stack 6 blocks for the 6 sunny days, beginning at the same starting line as the other stacks.

Choose the record that helps

A table keeps measurements in order. Tally marks help you count while looking. A picture graph or bar graph makes group sizes easy to compare. Start with your question and choose the record that will help you read the answer.

When testing or watching is finished, open your records. Say what happened using the numbers and details you kept. Start with the results before trying to explain why they happened.

Compare and order

Use words such as “longer,” “shorter,” “more,” “fewer,” and “highest.” The car rolled about 60 centimeters on wood, 35 on the rug, and 20 on carpet. You can order the floors from the longest roll to the shortest: wood, rug, carpet.

To say how much farther, find the difference. Between wood and the rug:

That is about 25 centimeters farther on wood. Between wood and carpet:

That is about 40 centimeters farther on wood. Keep “centimeters” with the differences so others know what the numbers describe.

Look for something that repeats

A pattern is something that happens again and again in the same way. The bean plant got taller each week. In the car test, the bumpier floors gave shorter rolls. The results show a link between what you compared and what happened.

One result cannot show something happening again and again. Check several records. In the car table, every wood roll was longer than the rug rolls, and every rug roll was longer than the carpet rolls. That repeated order helps you describe the test.

Keep your words tied to the records

Point to the row, picture, or bar you are using. If you remember a different number, check the record before sharing it. You may remember the most surprising try and forget the rest.

Say which things you tested. These results tell you about wood, rug, and carpet. Grass and sand were not tested. You would need more tests to describe how the car rolls there.

Your test began with a question and a prediction. Now compare that first idea with the results. Then answer the question using what actually happened.

Check your prediction honestly

Read the prediction you kept before testing. If you predicted wood and the car rolled farthest on wood, your prediction matched. If you predicted the rug, it did not match.

You can say, “I thought the rug would give the longest roll. The car went farthest on wood.” Both parts belong in your account. The first tells your earlier idea; the second tells the result. You do not need to change the first to make them match.

Join your answer to evidence

Evidence is what you saw, counted, or measured that helps you answer. Give a full-sentence answer to the question, then tell which results support it.

“Because” can join an answer to evidence. For a snail count, say, “We found more snails in the shade because we counted 9 there and 2 in the sunny part.” The counts let someone else check your comparison.

Keep an idea about why separate

“I think the car rolled farther because wood is smoother” is an idea about why. The measurements are the results. Put “I think” with a suggested reason so the reader can tell the jobs apart.

A prediction is not evidence for the answer. Even a carefully reasoned prediction was made before you found out. Your answer comes from the results you collected.

Decide when to try again

Sometimes the results are mixed, or you discover the test was unfair. Say you are not sure yet and improve the test. You might need the same starting point, a steady way of measuring, or more tries. Tell others what needs checking.

Other people can learn from your investigation when you share it clearly. They can also check how you worked. Your records help them follow your story.

Tell the parts in order

Begin with your question. Then share the prediction, your steps, the results, and your answer. A listener needs to know what you did before deciding what the results mean.

Here is a short account of the car test:

“We asked which floor lets a car roll farthest. We predicted wood. We used the same car and ramp on three floors, with three tries each. The rolls were about 60 centimeters on wood, 35 on the rug, and 20 on carpet. This car rolled farthest on wood.”

Show the table while you talk. Point to the wood row when you describe wood. If someone wants the exact tries, the record has them. Your words give the main finding; the table holds the details.

Choose how to share

You can talk, make a poster, draw a labeled picture, write a few sentences, or show photos. Pick a way that shows the important details clearly. A poster might hold the question at the top, the table in the middle, and an answer with evidence below.

Use words you have learned, such as “observe,” “prediction,” “fair,” “results,” “pattern,” and “evidence.” Use them where they help describe what you actually did.

Listen to another group

A different result is a reason to compare methods. Ask about the car, ramp, starting point, and release. You could say, “We found something different. Can we test it again together?” Kind questions help everyone examine the work.

Plan the next question

Say what could be improved. Perhaps the measuring tape was too short. Perhaps you need more tries. Name the change that would help you collect better records.

A finding can start another question: “What happens if the ramp rests on more books?” or “Would a heavier car roll farther?”