Divide students into groups of three to five. Assign each group a different step in the scientific method. Then pick a particular scientific area of study, such as zoology or botany. Ask students to think about how their step of the scientific method would apply to that area of science. Instruct them to discuss what would happen if their step of the scientific method were omitted from that area of study. Challenge them to come up with three different experiments and to prepare a presentation saying how their step in the scientific method would be applied to that experiment. Alternatively, assign each group a different area of science and have students describe how each step of the scientific method would be used in that area of science. Have them find a study done in that area and analyze it to see whether each step of the scientific method was followed.
Play several short commercials for your class. As a class, vote on one of the claims made in the commercials to test using the scientific method. As individual assignments, have them write up lab instructions for each of the steps in the scientific method to turn in the next day. Then have students join a lab partner and conduct an experiment to determine whether the claim is true. Each pair should then create a presentation to report their findings to the rest of the class. Host a science fair where each of your students enters a project. Make sure that one of the requirements of the project is that the experiment uses the scientific method.
Add an interdisciplinary element to your lessons on the scientific method by assigning some writing activities. Tell your students that they are going to write a short, fictional story. The story starter is that two competing scientists each are trying to prove something. One uses the scientific method while the other does not. The story should describe in detail what they are trying to prove, how they go about it and how the results are different. As another activity, pick three to five styles of poetry, such as a sonnet, a haiku, a ballad, an ode or a limerick. Tell students to write at least two poems about the scientific method using the different poetry formats.
Instruct students to come up with a mnemonic that will help them memorize the steps of the scientific method. They then need to create a colorful, eye-catching poster that explains that idea. Challenge students to put the scientific method to music. They can have a different verse for each step, with a chorus in between or a rap that covers all of the steps, along with important details about each step. For another activity, divide students into small groups and tell them to create a game that teaches the scientific method. The game can be a card game, board game or even a charades or party style game.