Lesson Plan 2: Asking Scientific Questions

Objective: Students will learn how to ask scientific questions.

1. Warm-up Activity (10 minutes):

 Show students a picture or a short video clip of a natural phenomenon (e.g., a rainbow, a
volcanic eruption).
 Ask them to write down at least three questions they have about what they observed.
2. Introduction (10 minutes):
 Discuss the difference between scientific questions and everyday questions.
 Explain that scientific questions are specific, testable, and based on observations.
3. Group Activity - "Question Generation" (20 minutes):
 Divide students into small groups and provide each group with a selection of observation
prompts (e.g., What causes thunder? Why do leaves change color in the fall?).
 Instruct the groups to generate scientific questions based on the observation prompts.
 Encourage them to discuss and refine their questions within their groups.
4. Class Discussion (10 minutes):
 Have each group share their questions with the class.
 Discuss the characteristics of good scientific questions, such as being specific,
measurable, and open-ended.
5. Activity - "Question Sorting" (15 minutes):
 Provide each student with a set of question cards (printed or written on strips of paper).
 Instruct the students to sort the question cards into categories: scientific questions and
non-scientific questions.
 Discuss their choices as a class and explain why certain questions belong to each
category.
6. Test (10 minutes):
 Give students a short quiz to assess their understanding of how to ask scientific questions.
 The quiz can include examples of questions, and students can identify whether they are
scientific or non-scientific.
7. Homework Assignment:
 Assign students to write three scientific questions about a topic of their choice and
explain why they are scientific questions.