Who Scientists Are

In this brief lesson students engage in Socratic dialogue or wonder circle asking and answering questions about who scientists are, they also use a picture thinking routine to make their own connections to how scientists ask questions and conduct experiments. The goal of this lesson is to launch students into a process of developing a storyline and identity as a scientist and engineer themselves. They will carry this understanding forward as they engage phenomena hands-on as a scientist and engineer in future lessons.

• Scientists are people who ask questions to find out more about the world around them
• Observation involves using different senses, including sight, smell, sound, and touch.
• Whenever students look at the world around them and notice something specific, they are making observations.
• Anytime anyone asks a question and then looks for evidence to answer their question, they are being scientists.

• How are the scientists we saw using observations?
• When have you made an observation? Did you use that observation to answer a question?
• How do you know when you are a scientist?
• What questions do you have about the world around you? How could you act like a scientist to answer one of your questions?

Misconception: Engineers and scientists are the same.  

Fact: Engineers and scientists use many of the same practices and skills, but they have different goals. Scientists search for answers to questions, while engineers solve problems.

Science : the study of the world around us

Scientist : a person who asks questions and tries different ways to answer those questions

This mini-lesson is a hands-on discussion which frames science and launches a storyline of intercommented lessons that follow figuring out the science of weather. Students engage in a circle discussion where they engage in letter formation and then connect symbols and scenes that they think of when they think of each vocabulary word. This becomes the foundation of a Socratic circle discussion where students share their connections and thinking about the world, the teacher and other students can ask curious questions to better understand that student’s connection in a process that helps the student reflect while sparking new ideas and connections for the entire group of students.