Essential SCIENCE Skills

1. Essential SCIENCE Skills How Scientists DO SCIENCE!

2. Learning Objectives S5CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry. Students will apply the following to inquiry learning practices: Scientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments. Clear and active communication is an essential part of doing science. It enables scientists to inform others about their work, expose their ideas to criticism by other scientists, and stay informed about scientific discoveries around the world.

3. Skill #1 Observation Carefully using your senses to discover the details about objects. Observation is a concrete FACT about what you observe. Scientists observe objects to discover how they are alike and different from other objects and how they change over time.

4. Think, Pair , andShare! There is a difference between looking at something and observing it. What is the difference? Note! Good observations are made using all the senses but NEVERput anything into your mouth without permission.

5. On your paper list the observationsyou can make from this picture? (Be sure to list only the things you can ACTUALLY observe.)

6. There are two types of Observations

7. Qualitative Good qualitative observations include lots of detailsand descriptive words Observations “OK” Observation The leaf is green. Better Observation The leaf is light green. Good Observation The leaf is light green and smooth. Great Observation The leaf is light green and has a smooth center with jagged edges. (Now you can tell which leaf I was describing!)

8. Quantitative Good quantitativeobservations include good measurements and always use numbers. Observations The solution boiled in 8 seconds. The bear model has 4 legs. The bear model is 3 inches long.

9. How do you describe Observations?

10. Make one qualitative observation about the picture above. Explain why this is a qualitative observation. Make one quantitative observation about the picture above. Explain why this is a quantitative observation.

11. Make one qualitative observation about the picture above. Explain why this is a qualitative observation. Make one quantitative observation about the picture above. Explain why this is a quantitative observation.

12. Think, Pair , andShare! Lookaround our classroom. • Think of two qualitativeobservations you can make. Share your observations with your partner and explain why they are qualitative. • Think of two quantitative observations you can make. Share your observations with your partner and explain why they are quantitative.

13. Skill #2 inference Inferences are explanations you make using what you already know and what you have observed.Knowledge you have + clues you observe= inference Observations Inferences! can be used to make

14. Knowledge +clues=inference 1. What inference can you make from this picture?2. What knowledge and what clues did you use to make the inference?

15. Knowledge +clues=inference 1. What inference can you make from this picture?2. What knowledge plus what clues did you use to make the inference?

16. Knowledge +clues=inference 1. What inference can you make from this picture?2. What knowledge plus what clues did you use to make the inference?

17. 1. Look at this picture. 2. Make two observations about the boy in the green shirt. TIME TO Review! 3. Make one inference.

18. What can you infer? TIME TO Review! 1. Sue blew out the candles and opened presents. I am at the lake. I feel a tug on my fishing rod. Beth was a star pitcher but she had a broken finger. We bought tickets and some popcorn. I forgot to set my alarm clock last night. The water in the pot was boiling.

19. Look at these two sets of animal tracks. What can you observe? What can you infer?

20. Now you have more information. What can you observe? What can you infer?

21. Now you have more information. What can you observe? What can you infer?

22. Prediction Skill #3 A prediction is a statement that is made about something that will happen in the future. A prediction is more than a guess. A prediction is a smart guess based on what you know and what you observed.

23. A weather forecast is a predictionof what will happen in the future. It is based on carefully gathered information and knowledge.

24. What prediction can you make about the elephant and the mouse playing on the seesaw? ?

25. What prediction can you make about the boy who sticks his finger in the light socket? What knowledge did you use to make this prediction?

26. Skill #4 Communication Communication is sharing information with someone else. Scientistscommunicate what they discover about the world so others can use their knowledge. Scientific observations are called data. Scientists communicate their datato others.

27. Skill #4 Communication Ways to communicate data words scientific drawings graphs charts tables diagrams

29. Skill #4 Communication Look at the chart below. What information was the scientist trying to communicate? Do you think this was a good way to communicate this data?Why or why not?

30. Skill #5 Classification Classification is: grouping together items that are alike in some way putting things in order based on some characteristic

31. Classification Examples of • Organizing books on a shelf by height • Arranging a grocery store by types of foods (canned goods, • frozen foods, produce, deli etc.) • Separating the 4th graders from 5th graders • Classifying substances as either solids, liquids or gasses

32. Think, Pair , andShare! 1. What are some ways we can classifythe students in our classroom ? • Think and share • three examples of • Classification • in science.

33. Making Models Skill #6 Amodelis a written or physical representation that is made to explain an idea, event, or object. models help scientists understand how things work. Model of a volcano Plant cell model

34. Making Models Skill #6 Look at the Models below. What would a scientist learn from each of them?

35. TIME TO Review! Match the science skill to the definition. Observation Inference Communication Prediction Classifying Making Models Using one or more of your senses to gathering information Creating representations of complex objects The process of grouping together items that are alike in some way Making a forecast of what will happen in the future Sharing knowledge with another person Comes from what you already know and your new observations

36. What science skills are the scientists using in the examples below? A scientist who works for the National Weather Service looks at many sources of data and warns that a hurricane is approaching Florida. A scientist looks through a microscope to examine a cell from an organism that was just discovered. A scientist in the Amazon is studying a new organism in order to determine if it is an amphibian or a reptile. An engineer at Disney World builds a small version of a new ride in order to figure out how all the components will go together.

37. CONGRATULATIONS! You are ready to do some SCIENCE!

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