Provide numerous books on the science topic being taught, such as Force and Motion or Matter and Energy. Encourage the students to look through the books for a short period of time (15 minutes) to stimulate their interest. Provide two to three sticky notes for each student to tab facts she finds interesting.
Guide the students through the first part of the scientific method, which is generating questions. First, allow students to share the facts they found interesting. Then, lead the students to generate questions related to the facts they learned, and choose one question to test. Choose a question that is testable, such as, "Will water evaporate faster in the sun or in the shade?"
Encourage the students to spend a brief amount of time looking through the books provided, searching specifically for information related to the question they have chosen. Allow each student to form a hypothesis, or educated guess, to answer the question. Provide time for the students to share their hypotheses.
Help the students carefully plan an experiment to test the question. Include controls (the parts that remain the same) to keep the test fair. For example, in the evaporation test, the size of the cup holding water needs to be the same, as would the amount of water. The only difference in the experiment should be the variable being tested. In this case, sun vs. shade.
Allow several groups to conduct the experiment. This allows the class to compare the results for better accuracy. Have each group record all necessary information.
Give each group the opportunity to share its information with the rest of the class. Record the data on a large sheet of paper, and then compare the results. Explain to the students that this part of the scientific process is "analyzing the data."
Guide the science class to form a conclusion based on the data from the experiment. Explain that an experiment may reveal an incorrect hypothesis, which can be reformed and retested.
Demonstrate for the students the final step in the scientific process, which is to communicate the results. Allow the students several options for sharing the results, such as writing a report, making a chart, creating a poster or giving a prepared speech.