Chaperone Guide
Kindergarten–2nd Grade
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Science Practice: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Grade Level: K–2
Who leads? Chaperone
How long does it take? 30 minutes
What do you need? This paper and a pencil
What happens? Practice asking and testing out your questions. By using your five
senses and other tools available, you can make observations that lead to new
discoveries.
What’s an investigable question? Investigable questions can be answered by
making observations. Asking open-ended, investigable questions are the building
blocks of doing science.
Pick two exhibits from the following exhibit suggestions. If the exhibit you want to use is
busy, come back to it later or pick a new one from the list.
Having trouble finding the exhibits? Ask orange-vested Explainers. They can help!
Ball Launcher
Pulley Table
Colored Shadows
Sophisticated Shadows
Pitch Twanger
Catch a Sound Wave
Explores Pushes and Pulls
Explores Light and Shadow
Explores Sound and Vibration
Located in the
Concourse Gallery
Located in the
Central Gallery
Located in the
Central Gallery
1 Start by playing with the exhibit.
You don’t need to read a label to know how to use the exhibit. Try out
what’s interesting to you.
Let’s ask investigable questions.
Get started by asking investigable questions that begin with “What
happens if…”
Chaperone, you start. Give an example of a “What happens if…” question.
Student, now it’s your turn. Come up with two “What happens if…”
questions of your own.
It’s time to plan an investigation.
Together, pick one of the questions to try out at the exhibit. Write it down
here.
Exhibit Name________________________________________
What happens if…
Exhibit Name________________________________________
What happens if…
2 Next, what will you do to test your question?
Here are some steps to follow:
Step 1: What are two things that you need?
Example: At the exhibit Colored Shadows, you need the colored lights and your
body to block the lights.
Step 2: What do you want to try first?
Example: You might want to use the shadows of your fingers to create lots of
shadows and then try adding the shadows of one of your classmate’s hands.
Step 3. What do you think will happen?
Example: You might think that you’ll see new colors of shadows.
Step 4: Try it out!
Make some observation.
What happened? Often things happen that are unexpected. It’s OK if what
you noticed is different than what you thought would happen. In fact,
that’s exciting because you learned something new!
Pick three observations to share with your class.
Chaperone, record their observations on the next page.
3 Exhibit Name___________________________________
1st Observation
2nd Observation
3rd Observation
Exhibit Name_____________________________________
1st Observation
2nd Observation
3rd Observation
4