1. Big Idea 1: The Practice of Science
Practicing Science
Grade 2
Nature of Science
Big Idea 1: The Practice of Science
Quarter 1
Questions on content or strategies contact:

2. What do all scientists do?
Scientists observe.
Scientists ask questions.
Scientists investigate.
Scientists share information.
Engage: Have students look at the clip art and make a list of what scientists do. Pass out the AIMS foldable: Scientists at Work for students to fold, read and discuss for more information on what scientists do.
Explore: Click on the hyperlink: What do all scientists do? To play a 2 min. video of a scientist at work. You can also share the book , Scientists Ask Questions by G. Garrett.
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3. How do scientists observe objects?
Scientists use their Senses (K-5)
Sight - Looks
Color
Shape
Size
Touch – Feels (texture)
Hear – Sounds when dropped
Smell – Odor
Taste
Eyes
Hands and Fingers
Ears
Nose
Mouth
Ask students: What can we use to tell objects apart? After discussion click on the hyperlink: ( ) Ask students what they learned or remember from the video.
Display a senses anchor chart. If you don’t have one have students help you create one. Students can create one in their notebooks. What else can students do?( a foldable, poster…) You can give every group a button or another small object. Ask them to use their senses to tell about its properties: color, shape, (number of holes), size and sounds when dropped.
Give students opportunities to observe some other objects that can be interesting to observe such as fruits, flowers, different kinds of leaves, dried foods (cereals or crackers), candy (gummy worms, twizzlers) and/or shells. Or use the Sweet Observations sheet and ask students: What can we use to explore the starburst candy or a caramel cube candy? Through the use of our senses we are able to perceive an object’s properties or characteristics by seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, or tasting them. Observing involves identifying and describing a matter’s properties or characteristics. You can hand out objects for the class to use their senses with.
to observe properties of objects.

4. Division of Academics – Department of Science
What are Properties ?
A property is something about an object you can observe with your senses. Color, shape, and size are properties. How something feels is a property. How can you describe a ___________? We use our senses to tell about its properties.
Session 2 – Explore/Explain: Tell students you want them to watch a video to what else they can learn about properties. Click on the hyperlink Properties- (Discovery Ed. Matter Can video). Then call on student volunteers to share one thing that they learned or one thing that they remember from the video. Record their responses on the board. Add new properties to chart.
Students need experience observing properties. Point our the Properties and Senses anchor charts on display. Show students a few objects from the classroom providing them with examples such as a tennis ball. Ask what can you observe using your senses? Record their responses on the board. What can you see? I can see that this tennis ball is yellow and it is round. What can you feel? It feels fuzzy. What else can we observe about this tennis ball using another sense? It makes a thumping sound when I bounce it. Add property words to the chart. Ask again what do we use to tell an object’s properties? Show students a variety of objects, and follow the same procedure in order to help them understand each object’s unique properties and characteristics.
Extension Hands-on Activity: Prepare a “Property Bag” ahead of time with (non sharp) objects. (Examples: feathers, coins, rocks, marbles, erasers, seashells, small rubber toys, foam shapes, fabric - velvet, corduroy, denim, and so on.) Choose a student to come up and reach into the bag and choose an object without showing the other students. Have them describe the properties of the object they have chosen. When they are done, have the class guess what the object is before it is revealed. If no one guesses, all the objects in the bag can be shown and the clues given again.Then show the object to the class to see if they guessed correctly. This can be set up as a station.
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5. What else can scientists use to help observe properties of objects?
Measurement Tools Properties
Ruler length
Tape measure length
Measuring cup volume
Graduated cylinder volume
Thermometer temperature
Explain: Ask: What kind of properties are these? Quantitative Why?
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6. Volume
Milliliter or Liter are units used to measure volume of a liquid.
Beakers
Graduated Cylinders
Ask what is volume? ( amount of space an object takes up.)
Graduated Beakers
Measuring Spoons
Measuring Cups

7. Temperature Degrees (°F)
Fahrenheit is a unit used to measure temperature.
Degrees (°C)
Celsius is a unit used to measure temperature.
Thermometer
Ask what is temperature? (how hot or cold an object is)

8. Making Observations Lab
Need:
Scientists at Work:
Making Observations Lab
A piece of candy
Five senses
Measurement
tools
Explore/Explain, Evaluate: Pass out the Making Observations Lab directions. Students complete the lab in their notebooks. See lab sheet for materials needed. Candy can be a caramel, Now and Later, Star Burst, etc. After students complete the lab, they make reflections. See next slide.
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9. Making Observations Lab Reflections
Reflection Questions
1. Which of the senses was best for making
observations about the candy? Explain your claim.
2. Is the sense listed above always the best one to use?
Why or why not? Give reasons to support claim.
3. Use evidence to explain why using tools to make
observations is useful to scientists.
4. Based on your observations, write at least two new
questions you could ask about the candy
and/or a part of the lab.
Explain/Evaluate: Have students share reflections focusing on the new questions.
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10. How do Scientists Make Observations?
Scientists at Work:
Observe things closely.
Use any of their five senses to observe
Collect qualitative information observed
Use measurement tools to collect information making quantitative observations.
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Explain/Evaluate: Ask How do Scientists Make Observations? Have students read book: Scientists at Word and share ideas. Students can list and take notes in their notebooks.

11. Scientists at Work: What do you see when you observe the apple?
Write in your notebook.
Look over the list you made. Are they all observations?
Remember, observations use the senses to gather information.
Is there anything on the list that is what you think or infer?
Engage: Show a model of an apple that looks real.
Explore: Then ask them to write down their observations in their notebook.
Explain and Evaluate: Have students share out their observations. Ask and discuss are the observations only observations or did they make any inferences and possibly an opinion. Why do think some of you were fooled? Why does being fooled by what you think is real affect what you think you observed?

12. Senses Observations Inferences Compare and Contrast
Inferences To infer is to use observations to reach a conclusion based on evidence. Opinion A personal belief that does not need proof.
To observe is to look closely at something using any of the five senses and/or measurement tools.
Explain: AIMS booklet: Science of Science p. 7-8 and share ideas. Compare and contrast observations, inferences and opinions. Students can give examples.

13. Scientists at Work: Write one observation, one inference and one opinion about what you see in the photo.
Explain/Evaluate: Have students write responses in their notebooks and share out their responses with the class.
Remind students that making observations and inferences is commonplace in everyone’s life. In fact we make observations and inferences so readily that we seldom notice when we are doing so. In fifth grade we must learn to go beyond the casual observations of everyday life to move to more accurate and formal observations used in science. Review definitions of both (see slide 10)
Evaluate: Ask students to describe an example of how scientists use observations and inferences to understand some aspect of the natural world.

14. Division of Academics – Department of Science
How Can We Sort?
We can use our senses to classify matter in different ways. We can group matter by how it feels. Some matter may feel hard or bumpy. We can group matter by shape. Matter can have many different shapes. (Scott Foresman Quick Study) How can we sort these buttons? We can sort by color: blue - red – green – yellow Matter can be different colors. We can sort by size: small - medium – large Matter can be different sizes.
Session 3 – Engage: Ask students their ideas about sorting. Then click on the hyperlink to watch the video, How Can We Sort? to see what else they can learn. Have them share out something they learned or remember from the video. Ask them if they see any charts on display that will help them sort.
Discuss how to sort the buttons on the page.
Sorting Discovery resources:
There are many ways to sort.
small
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15. How can we group these objects?
Explore: Get set of pattern blocks. 1. Get a set of pattern blocks for your group.
2. Identify the pattern blocks properties .
3. Organize them into categories (groups) by properties
they share.
5. Show your pattern blocks placed in classification
groups with another group of students.
6. Ask them to infer how your group classified the
pattern blocks.
7. Together, try other ways to classify the pattern blocks.
8. Discuss when each method could be useful.

16. We can group by color.
Red
Yellow
Have students explain.
Color
Green

17. Size We can group by size. Small objects Large objects
Have students explain.
Size
Large objects

18. Shape We can group by shape. Squares Triangles Circles
Have students explain.
Shape

19. Practicing Science Sort, Group, Classify
Observe the group of objects you have been given.
Discuss their common properties.
Decide on a way to sort your objects.
Sort the objects. Name your groups.
Talk about why you classified them as you did.
Can you sort your objects in another way?
Try it.
Session 4: Engage: Click on the hyperlink Sort, Group, Classify . For more examples on how to sort in more than one way.
Explore: Ahead of time create sets of objects for students to sort ( rocks, buttons, shells, school supplies, etc.) Have students work in groups to sort a variety of objects from the classroom by their properties they determine: (Examples: art supplies, blocks, buttons, or toys) Place a set of objects on a tray or in a large baggy- one per group). Students who struggle can sort them by categories you give to them.
Here are additional Discovery Education resources that are hyperlinked:
Video: Different Ways to Sort and Group
Video: Sorting by More than One Attribute
Video: Using Your Senses goes with sorting
Print resource: Many Ways to Sort
Explain/Evaluate: Test their knowledge by asking them to explain how they are sorting the objects. What characteristics are you using to sort the objects? How are the objects similar? How are the objects different? 
Make sure students understand the concept thoroughly, giving them a chance to explain each of their choices in as much detail as possible. Record their answers in order to evaluate.
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20. Scientists Communicate in Many Ways
List several ways to communicate.
Giving talks
Sharing drawing
Making posters
Making charts or graphs
Writing papers or articles
Telephoning
ing
Texting
Blogging
Body Language
Using Models
Message boards
Explain/Evaluate
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21. Scientists Communicate Activity: What’s the Mystery Object ?
1. Pick an object from the set used in the
classification activity.
2. Don’t show anyone the object.
3. Observe it.
4. Write words and phrases to describe your object’s
properties (evidence).
5. Pair up with a partner at another table.
6. Read your list of evidence to him or her to guess
what the mystery object is.
7. Then switch and try to guess your partner’s object.
8. Discuss what part of the description helped in the
identification or what was missing that would have
helped to identify the mystery object.
Explore/Explain/Evaluate:
Management:
Each group can have a set of objects placed in a clear gallon bag or on a SF blue tray.
Partners need to be from different groups so that they don’t see the mystery object ahead of time.
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22. Scientists at Work Process Skills: Observe
Predict
Measure
Classify
Infer
Communicate
1. Look/watch things with a purpose
2. Think ahead about what might
happen
3. Use tools to make precise or specific
information with numbers
4. Put things into definite categories
by common properties
5. Use reasoning to draw conclusions
6. Describe and share information with
others
Explore: Scientists at Work is a hyperlink t NBC Learn. You need to go to MDCPS teacher portal apps and open up and minimize NBC Learn to play the hyperlinked video
Optional: More Exploring with Discovery:Click on the hyperlink and open Scientists at Work: Ask Questions and Make Observations during Fast Plants Investigations
Explain: Have students share things that they do when they are working as scientists. Then reveal the 6 process activities shown. Then have students identify the process skill that goes with each one at a time. Clicking for accuracy. Remind students that using these process skills as scientists do will lead to the development of their scientific knowledge.

23. Draw a picture of a scientist doing his or her job.
Include details such as
- What kind of place he/she is working in
(lab, outdoors, planetarium, museum, space, etc.)
- What kinds of tools the scientist is using
- What he/she is learning about
Include a short sentence that describes the drawing in the form of “Scientists _______”
For example, “Scientists ask questions” or
“Scientists study rocks”
Explain: Have students work in a group and draw a picture of a scientist doing his or her job on a large piece of chart paper.
Include details such as
- What kinds of tools the scientist is using
- What kind of environment he/she is working in
(lab, outdoors, planetarium, museum, space, etc.)
- What he/she is learning about
Include a short sentence that describes the drawing in the form of “Scientists _______”
(for example, “Scientists ask questions”
or “Scientists study fossils”)
Evaluation: Students can post their pictures and do a gallery walk so that all posters are shared. Then ask students to share some observations about the drawings.
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24. Scientists at Work