What Are Investigations in Elementary Science?

  • Planning and conducting investigations is a science and engineering practice that elementary children can engage in to learn about the world and develop new ideas about science. The Framework for K-12 Science Education states: “Scientists and engineers investigate and observe the world with essentially two goals:
    • To systematically describe the world.
    • To develop and test theories and explanations of how the world works.”  (NRC, 2012)
  • Planning and conducting investigations require skills and knowledge of how to engage in investigations as well as reasoning about how and why involved in learning science.
  • When scientists and engineers engage in planning and conducting investigations, they use a variety of methods in an iterative way. 
  • Research shows that elementary children can also engage in this science practice using methods and reasoning as they learn about the world around them (e.g., Metz, 2000, NRC, 2012, NASEM, 2022). 

Why Supporting Planning and Conducting Investigations in Elementary Science?

  • Elementary children benefit from learning to make sense of their world by asking and exploring their own questions and problems. Learning to plan and conduct investigations allows elementary children to engage in this sensemaking of their world in meaningful ways.
  • Because planning and conducting investigations is complex, our elementary children need support to learn how to do investigations. Research and practice identified useful strategies to support students in this work. Our Hopscotch-4-Scientific Investigation builds on this work to help teachers think about planning and conducting investigations.
Visit Hopscotch Model 4-Scientific Investigation