The Scienfitic Method made simple (part 2)

3. Take your pencil and paper, and write a set of instructions that will tell someone else how to build your structure EXACTLY the way you have it.
Things to consider:
How are you going to tell the pieces apart? By size? By color?
Is there a left or a right to your structure? An up side or a down side?
Feel like drawing a picture to show what you've done? Go ahead! Be sure to use words to explain them though. Pictures, or diagrams, are often used in instructions and experimental methods because it's much easier to show what you mean.
4. Hide your structure, and give your instructions to your partner, along with the other set of building blocks. Remember, your partner hasn't seen what you've built.
5. Watch as your partner uses your instructions to build your structure.
6. When your partner is finished, take out your original structure and compare the two. Are they exactly alike? Similar? Totally different?

It's okay if they weren't exactly alike. Go back through the instructions and see how your partner interpreted them. How can you make the instructions better?

Scientists often write instructions like this, or procedures, to enable other scientists to repeat the experiment EXACTLY. They also go back through their procedures to see if they can be improved.

While this activity is for older children, it can be modified in many ways. Younger children can describe the structure instead of writing down instructions. A variation on this is to draw a picture using a set number of shapes (e.g. 2 circles, 1 triangle, 3 squares) and have the learner describe it to someone. See if you can duplicate the picture.

I hope you find these activities useful and a fun way to explore the different parts of the scientific method.

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