Grade 1—WPS Fall Field Investigation
Science Investigation Question: How do Scientists Classify Things?
Objectives:
• Students will observe and collect objects found in the schoolyard.
• Students will use descriptive language to communicate ideas about these objects.
• Students will classify the objects according to different categories
• Students will attempt to sort the objects based on similarities in form and/or
function.
Materials: clipboard, 2-4 sheets of white paper, magnifying glasses (optional), one petri
dish or Ziploc bag per student (to place the collected objects inside), field investigation
sheets (2-3 Venn diagram printouts per group).
Field Investigation Outline
Pre-Walk/Classroom Introduction:
The classroom introduction should be facilitated by the classroom teacher. It is an
important opportunity for the teacher to set the tone of the walk, share behavior
expectations, and introduce the parents as the nature teachers for the duration of the
investigation.
At this time, the teacher can put students into their groups.
Introduction (5 min):
• Bring your group outside of the classroom.
• Welcome group; introduce yourself. If you do not know the name of the students,
have them share their names and something they would like to see during their
walk.
• Set the ground rules for respecting self, others, and the environment.
• Engage your group in a brief overview of the nature walk.
o What kinds of things do you notice in your schoolyard?
o Ask students to predict what they think they will find today in their
schoolyard. You may use the sheet provided to guide students with some
ideas for predictions.
• Explain to the students that they are going to be observing and grouping things
that they find in their schoolyard.
Awaken Enthusiasm/Focus Attention (5 min):
Begin your field investigation by gathering your students together in a circle and telling
them that you have in your pocket a single item that you picked up in the schoolyard.
(Have this item selected ahead of time. It may be a leaf, twig, feather, pebble, etc.) Tell
the students that you are going to describe the object without naming it, and they
are to guess what it is. Proceed to describe the object, identifying its color, texture,
function, etc., one word at a time. Example: Find a brown small leaf that has several
tones of brown, some holes and dark spots. CLUES to share with kids: Jagged edges,
dark and light brown colors, dark spots, holes, can be food for organisms. Ask students
to share their ideas of the object based on these clues with a partner (If odd number in
your group then you may have a group of three and the rest in pairs). Also ask them to
come up with a question they would like to ask you about the object to gather more
evidence. Let kids take turns sharing their questions and answer them. Then allow groups
to share what ideas they had about the object and why. There may be more than one
answer, for example a twig for the above example, unless you shared that the object is
flat. (This process may avoid competition of who is right or who thinks faster. It also sets
the tone that it is not a guessing game but that students need to do some thinking).
If you feel the above suggestion for the experience will take too long and kids are restless
to find their own objects, have students call out guesses based on your clues of the object.
Either way, show them your object once they have guessed correctly.
Next, ask the students to predict if you will be able to find a similar object in the
schoolyard—not an identical object, but one that is similar, that could be grouped with
this one. As your group sets out on the walk, ask them to think about the ways in which
an object might be similar but not identical to the one you selected. For instance, if you
are holding a leaf, you might steer them away from suggesting a leaf from a different
plant and toward suggesting other things that are brown or that are other parts of a plant
(stem, twig, etc.). The key here is to get across to the students that classification systems
can be designed in many different ways using various traits as points of comparison.
During the beginning of your experience, you can introduce your Science Investigation
Question: How do scientists classify things? This is the time to ask the children what
“classification” means. “Sorting” is a good alternative word to use. Explain to them that
in school a “class” is a group of similarly aged students. Likewise, a class of objects is a
group that shares one or more things in common. Hence the term, “classification.” Tell
them that the challenge will be to find, describe objects and together figure out different
ways to group or classify the objects collected.
Science Investigation Question is: How do scientists classify things?
• Facilitate a discussion about the question, “What does it mean to classify?”
o The idea is to get them to understand that scientists are particularly
interested in groups of things that are alike and in the ways in which things
are different from each other.
o Scientists classify things by deciding on one or more similar
characteristics and then grouping objects according to whether or not they
share those characteristics.
o There are many ways to group/classify the same group of objects. Which
objects get lumped together depends on the traits you decide to use for
comparison.
Scientists classify all objects, living and non-living, in many different ways. How
scientists choose to classify things can depend on what the focus of their investigation is.
Are they trying to see how many of a certain type of object or creature there are in a
particular place? Or, are they trying to see how many different objects in a place are
similar in terms of something like color, shape, or food source? By framing their
investigation questions differently, scientists come up with all kinds of ways to sort the
same group of objects.
Direct Experience (15 min):
During the actual investigation, your student group will work on collecting a variety of
interesting objects. For example if you have 5 students in your group you may have each
one bring 2 objects. Let the students know that you are going to classify (sort) all the
objects you collect in a number of different ways at the end of the walk.
As you progress, your job is to encourage their enthusiasm, talk through their questions
with them, get excited about what they are finding, and model scientific exploration.
Which objects were easy to find? What sorts of things are the most plentiful? Which
objects seem rarer to discover? Are you collecting from a variety of environments? No
written recording is necessary while you are walking.
You may use the sheet provided to guide and encourage students to find a variety of
objects. As a group you can check which kind of objects have been found already
Reflection/Classifications (10 min):
When you have a collection of gathered objects, find a place to sit down as a group to
begin your classification exercise. Ask students to think for a minute about ways you can
group the objects collected. You may want to set an example of how to classify the
objects for example by color and show the students how this is done by thinking out loud
with them. If the group is able to come up with two or three ways to classify the objects
you may challenge them by classifying them a different way and have the students guess
your “rule” or category used for the classification.
*If there is still time, you may decide to have them collect more objects and challenge
them to be different than the ones already gathered as a group.
Challenge activity for group: Binary classification
First, set out two pieces of plain white paper and ask the students to sort the group’s
objects into two categories. Have them work together to decide how to sort the objects
and help them explain their choices for placing objects in one group or another. Are
there any objects that could go in both groups? Do some objects fit in neither? What
happens if students change the traits used to define the two categories? (The objects
within each should change as well, yielding two new subgroups.)
Comparison using Venn Diagrams ( called Bubble Maps in some classrooms)
Now bring out one of your Venn diagrams. Explain that Venn diagrams are a good way
to compare two different objects and show how these items can still share similar
characteristics.
Choose a pair of objects from your collection to compare -- a twig and a leaf, for
example. Place one in each circle on the diagram. Use a pen or pencil to record in one
circle a list of characteristics of the object in that circle (i.e. hard, smooth, brown, etc.).
Then, in the second circle, record the unique qualities of the second object (i.e. soft,
fuzzy, green.) In the middle area, where the two circles overlap, record any qualities that
the two objects share (i.e. both are plant parts, flexible, and alive). Work with the students
to place other objects in one or the other of the two-labeled circles, or in the overlapping
area. Many of the objects in the collection will not fit anywhere in the Venn diagram.
You may do this Venn exercise as many times as you have pairs of objects and the time
and interest for.
Wrap-Up Discussion (5 min):
If you have time, use a few minutes before returning to the classroom to reflect on what
you have explored and learned.
Sample Facilitation Questions:
• What was the most exciting thing you found?
• What did you learn today?
• What did you enjoy?
• What would you like to share with the rest of your class back in the classroom?
• What other questions do you have after exploring in your schoolyard?
• How do you think classifying things can help scientists come up with new questions to
explore?
Encourage the students to continue thinking, learning, and sharing in the classroom. Say
goodbye and thank students for exploring the schoolyard habitat with you. Let them
know that they were good scientists and that they can practice classifying things at home.