Who Scientists Are

In kindergarten, students begin to develop the practices that scientists and engineers use to help them answer questions and solve problems.

This page is a high level extract from lesson 1, where students are introduced to science, exploring what science is and what scientists do.

Science Background for Teachers:

This teacher background is intended to provide teachers with an in-depth explanation of the scientific phenomena that students will be exploring in multiple lessons of a larger unit. It seeks to answer the deeper “how” and “why” questions that teachers may have about the concepts being investigated.

People who study the weather are scientists because they ask questions to find out more about the world around them. Broadly, science is the study of the world around us, and scientists search for explanations about questions they have. In this lesson, students become scientists and are introduced to scientific questions. These questions have one defining characteristic that sets them apart from other kinds of questions: they are answered with evidence that is gathered in an investigation or an experiment. This evidence is used to support a conclusion about how the investigation or experiment answered the question.

Science is part of the STEM cycle, which includes engineering, math, and technology. Engineers apply scientific knowledge to create new technologies that solve problems. Math is a tool that both scientists and engineers use to capture results and communicate those results to others.

Supports Grade K

Science Lesson: Discovering 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.

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Science Big Ideas

  • 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.

Sample Unit CTA-2
Discover Complete Hands-on Screens-off Core Science Curriculum for K-8 Classrooms

Prepared hands-on materials, full year grade-specific curriculum, and personalized live professional development designed to support mastery of current state science standards.

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Science Essential Questions

  • 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?

Common Science Misconceptions

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 Vocabulary

Science : the study of the world around us

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

Lexile(R) Certified Non-Fiction Science Reading (Excerpt)

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Hands-on Science Activity

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.

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Science Assessments

KnowAtom incorporates formative and summative assessments designed to make students thinking visible for deeper student-centered learning.

  • Vocabulary Check
  • Lab Checkpoints
  • Concept Check Assessment 
  • Concept Map Assessment 
  • And More...

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Science Standards

See How KnowAtom Aligns to NGSS Science Standards

Discover hands-on screens-off core science curriculum for student centered K-8 classrooms. KnowAtom supports classrooms with all hands-on materials, curriculum, and professional development to support mastery of the standards.

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Standards citation: NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.

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