When do you teach it? Know of any good (preferably free, either library or online) resources for teaching it to a third grader?
I've always started using the Scientific Method before kids can even record their own information. The steps can be broken down with simple explanations and even pictures, and the teacher can be the facilitator and and the recorder. The earlier they learn it the better because it becomes second nature. I googled "Scientific method" and found some good info at Sciencebuddies.org. When I googled "Scientific Method for Kids", NASA had a good illustration, and Homeschooling.about.com had a good form as well as some info on how the method is used not only in science. Sorry that I'm not good at posting the links. My personal favorite resource is a bulletin board set that I bought at the teacher's supply. It has really helped us. We made up a form, and now we use it during every experiment.
Yes, yes, yes. . .everything she said. Kids should never IMO start studying science w/o following the method even if they couldn't tell you the steps. And I will add that teaching kids to observe with detail is a very critical beginning step.
Part of my concern is that I never really fully grasped the scientific method myself. Yes, I did science experiments and participated in fairs. In high school I even got an A. HA! (I filled bottles with water and made a xylophone... but it was a REAL, full 13-note scale xylophone. I'd tried to make a full piano and discovered that with the bottles I was using, it wasn't going to happen. That plus another girl copied and kind of put a little water here and a little mroe there in like 4 glasses. She got a C. LOL) Anyway, I googled for scientific method unit studies, but not just scientific method. Thanks for the tips!
