Make a Parent 's One Day Science Fair Project About Using the Scientific Method

Here is a clever way to teach your young child about the scientific method and just work it into your everyday life. You basically are creating your own one day science fair project! First, you tell a story using the following terms: observe, question, hypothesis, experiment, result. As you tell this story, over emphasize the target word. Then make up some kind of hand signal to use while you say the word.

Here is an example story:

One day Susie woke up and observed that her dog Spot was scratching at her bedroom door. So, she questioned, "Why is Spot scratching at my door this morning?" Well, after Susie sat up in bed, she came up with a couple of hypotheses. Maybe Spot needs to go outside, may-be her food bowl is empty, or may-be she just wants to come in the room and get a hug. So, Susie first experimented by letting Spot in and giving her a hug. Although Spot was happy to get a hug, she still was ancy and seemed to want Susie to do something else. Next, Susie ran downstairs and looked at the food dish and saw that there still was some dry food in her dish. Finally, Susie went to the door, with Spot at her heels, so Susie let the dog out into the fenced in yard to do her business. Susie then says, "Well, now I know the result of Spot scratching at my door in the morning. It means she needs to go outside."

When the story is over, do a quick review with your child. "What hand signal did we use first?" Using the hand signal, together say, "Observe!" Let your child tell you in their own words what Susie observed. Continue through each hand signal and term in this same way. Once you have retold the story using hand signals and terms, your parent's one day science fair project should end with a review by asking the child just to say just the steps to the scientific method using only the terms and hand signals.

From this point on, anytime some sort of problem arises around the house, you can use what you learned from this parent's one day science fair project by using these terms in natural conversation. "Oh, and so you observed the printer was not working."or "What was your hypothesis when you heard your dad call you immediately out to the driveway before he even got out of the car?"and "What was the result when you put new batteries in your flashlight?" You will find you start to use these terms naturally, as part of everyday conversation, and your child will grow to have a good understanding of the scientific method.