Explanation of Scientific Method for Kids

Why does everything that goes up, fall down? Why is the sky blue? How do birds fly? How are bubbles formed? Why do stars twinkle? Why is grass green? How does a car work? How do funny mirrors work? Kids, the answers to all these questions can be found.

I am sure that everyone of you must have been bugged by one of the above questions, at some point of time. You should not stop at just asking questions, but you have to dig deeper and look for answers. There is great joy in figuring out the answers.

A simple way of finding answers is the scientific method. It is the method that helped great scientists like Sir Isaac Newton to figure out how gravity works. Some among you may be scientists of tomorrow and if that is actually your dream, you need to know this way of analyzing things.

You kids possess the natural curiosity to understand the wonders of the natural world. All you need is a push in the right direction. That may come out of the encouragement of your school science teacher, your parents, or from your own initiative. Here are the steps in which, this method is applied.

Why? How? These are the questions that you need to ask yourself, when you see anything happening, that you do not understand. Observe your world with open eyes and ask the question 'Why?'. Just asking the question is, of course, not enough. Asking the question puts the responsibility of finding an answer upon you. However, if you need intelligent answers, you need to ask intelligent questions. Try to figure out as much as you can, on your own.

Books are portals of knowledge, which have answers to most of your questions. Try if you can find an answer to your question in books or look on the Internet. Based on what you read, think about the question on your own. You could choose to ignore books and figure out things, by testing your own explanations.

The next step is to come up with your own explanation or 'hypothesis' about what might be the answer to the question. Write it in clear terms on a piece of paper. Next, you need to find a way to check if your theory makes sense.

To do that, you can do what scientists do. Set up a scientific experiment, that can prove your explanation about something. Take help from your teacher and parents to figure out an experiment. Like if you want to know how a bubble forms, actually make soap bubbles and try to figure out how they are created.

Make observations of your bubble experiment. Take a video or a photo of the soap bubbles you create. Observe them. Try to figure out why you see colors through them and why are they transparent. Study the results of your experiment and see if your theory about bubble formation is actually true.

Read about it. If your explanation fails, then you must start back again. Keep coming up with theories and experimenting until you really understand.

Look for science experiments, which are not only a lot of fun, but will teach you a lot. Question everything. Participate in science camps, conducted in school. Know about the wonders of astronomy, chemistry, physics, and biology. Read as much as you can and apply what you have learned.

Observe and think about things on your own. Do not believe in anything, just because somebody says so. This is the way in which, you will discipline your minds to think like scientists, who changed the way we see the world today.