SC.K.N.1.3

Keep records as appropriate -- such as pictorial records -- of investigations conducted.
General Information
Subject Area: Science
Grade: K
Body of Knowledge: Nature of Science
Idea: Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts
Big Idea: The Practice of Science -

A: Scientific inquiry is a multifaceted activity; The processes of science include the formulation of scientifically investigable questions, construction of investigations into those questions, the collection of appropriate data, the evaluation of the meaning of those data, and the communication of this evaluation.

B: The processes of science frequently do not correspond to the traditional portrayal of "the scientific method."

C: Scientific argumentation is a necessary part of scientific inquiry and plays an important role in the generation and validation of scientific knowledge.

D: Scientific knowledge is based on observation and inference; it is important to recognize that these are very different things. Not only does science require creativity in its methods and processes, but also in its questions and explanations.

Date Adopted or Revised: 02/08
Date of Last Rating: 05/08
Status: State Board Approved

Related Courses

This benchmark is part of these courses.
5020010: Science - Grade K (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
5010041: Language Arts - Kindergarten (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2021, 2021 and beyond (current))
7720015: Access Science Grade Kindergarten (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2018, 2018 - 2023, 2023 and beyond (current))
7710011: Access Language Arts - Kindergarten (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2018, 2018 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
5020070: STEM Lab Kindergarten (Specifically in versions: 2016 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))

Related Access Points

Alternate version of this benchmark for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
SC.K.N.1.Pa.2: Recognize common objects in the natural world through observation.
SC.K.N.1.In.3: Observe, explore, and create a visual representation of real objects.
SC.K.N.1.Su.3: Observe, explore, and match pictures to real objects.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Lesson Plans

Moon Walk:

In this lesson, students will observe the daytime sky to determine if the moon can be seen during the day. Students will record their daily observations for one week. Students will complete a Venn diagram illustrating objects seen in the daytime sky, nighttime sky, and both.

Type: Lesson Plan

Have You Ever Met a Tree?:

The students practice making observations of a specific tree and write about it as though they are a scientist.

Type: Lesson Plan

Let's Be Scientists: Notebooking with a Purpose:

In this lesson, students learn about one of the jobs a scientist does: keeping a notebook or journal. The students will earn a procedure for completing an accurate Science Notebook entry. The teacher can follow this process throughout the year to develop students who are proficient in Science Notebooking.

Type: Lesson Plan

Does Your Nose Know?:

How does our sense of smell help us process new information and develop understanding of the world around us? What body part correlates to our sense of smell? How do we use our sense of smell along with many other senses to process or recall information? Students will encounter these questions as they explore their sense of smell. This lesson will help students to identify how they use their sense of smell to help them understand the world around them.

Type: Lesson Plan

Kindergarten Listening Walk:

Students will record what they hear on a nature walk. They will learn that sounds are all around us and that they are made by vibrations.

Type: Lesson Plan

Building a Tall Tower - an Engineering Design Challenge:

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concept of gravity in an engineering design challenge.

Type: Lesson Plan

Bubble Baffle:

This lesson provides students an opportunity recognizing the properties of objects and how objects move as well as working collaboratively to solve an engineering design challenge. This lesson is not the first introduction to sorting objects by their properties and observing how objects move, but a way for children to apply the concept in a more in-depth manner.

Type: Lesson Plan

Double Bubble Science:

In this lesson, students will understand how to use the scientific method to find answers to questions. Students will understand how an inventor uses a question to solve a problem. Students will investigate how to make bubbles with household items and identify different steps of the scientific method that help solve a problem.

Type: Lesson Plan

Original Student Tutorial

Record Keeping on A Science Investigation:

Join Tallula as she makes observations and records them during her backyard science investigations in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Professional Developments

Science Lessons - What skills do I teach?:

This resource offers basic information for some of the Nature of Science skills students need to learn and what they need to know about Life, Physical, and Earth and Space science in Kindergarten.

Type: Professional Development

Environmental Education for Kids:

Website explaining when and how to start environmental education for kids. There are practical suggestions for teachers to incorporate environmental education into their curriculum.

Type: Professional Development

Teaching Ideas

Where Plants and Animals Live:

This site features activity ideas on comparing plants and animals in different habitats. It also includes a virtual manipulative, black line masters for activity ideas, and a family newsletter to encourage family involvement.

Type: Teaching Idea

The Five Senses - Differentiated Lesson for ESL/Special Needs Students:

This guided inquiry activity is designed to help students understand that people get all of their knowledge from their senses, and that is why our senses are so important.

Type: Teaching Idea

Make a Winter Weather Pictograph :

This is an activity on collecting and charting the data of weather conditions. An extension of this activity would be to create different kinds of graphs based on the data collected.

Type: Teaching Idea

All About Motion:

Students will observe and discuss motion in learning stations or in demonstration. They will observe and discuss how a push or pull affects motion.

Type: Teaching Idea

Birds' Bills:

Students will compare and contrast different kinds of birds' bills and categorize pictures. After drawing the bills in each category, they will then compare the bill types with common household items.

Type: Teaching Idea

Investigating Motion With Marbles:

In this guided inquiry activity, students will use 2 marbles of different size and a box to investigate what makes the marbles move and what will cause the marbles to change speed and direction.

Type: Teaching Idea

Moon and Stars:

In this printable craft activity, learners create a string of cut-out moons and stars. This activity is phrased to encourage a parent and child to look at the Moon every night, and make simple illustrations of what they see, but can be adapted for various groups of learners. When learners have three or four different shapes drawn, they can cut out as many as desired and create a pattern, string them together, and hang them in a special place. Learners create simple patterns at first (A, B, A, B) and move on to more complex patterns as they mature and gain experience.

Type: Teaching Idea

Sharing What We Know About Organisms:

Students discuss living and nonliving organisms, including plants and animals.

Type: Teaching Idea

What Is Water?:

The lesson introduces students to the properties of water and its presence in the environment.

Type: Teaching Idea

Unit/Lesson Sequences

Exploring the Five Senses:

This unit explores the five senses and their respective related body parts. It shows how observations of the natural world are made using our senses.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Ladybugs:

These lessons explore the characteristics and behavior of ladybugs, and to create their own paper model of a ladybug.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Touching and Fair Tests with Pill Bugs and Earthworms:

This unit shows students how to humanely handle pill bugs ("roly polies") and earthworms while observing their characteristics. Students will explore the types of conditions that each bug prefers to live in (eg., wet or dry, dark or light).

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Comparing Plants, Animals, and Seeds:

These lessons compare and contrast plants versus animals and seeds versus plants in regards to both appearance and behavior/function.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Fast and Slow Motion:

This unit introduces the terms "fast" and "slow" in regards to motion objects and explore how different objects move.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8

Record Keeping on A Science Investigation:

Join Tallula as she makes observations and records them during her backyard science investigations in this interactive tutorial.

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Original Student Tutorial

Record Keeping on A Science Investigation:

Join Tallula as she makes observations and records them during her backyard science investigations in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Teaching Ideas

Where Plants and Animals Live:

This site features activity ideas on comparing plants and animals in different habitats. It also includes a virtual manipulative, black line masters for activity ideas, and a family newsletter to encourage family involvement.

Type: Teaching Idea

Moon and Stars:

In this printable craft activity, learners create a string of cut-out moons and stars. This activity is phrased to encourage a parent and child to look at the Moon every night, and make simple illustrations of what they see, but can be adapted for various groups of learners. When learners have three or four different shapes drawn, they can cut out as many as desired and create a pattern, string them together, and hang them in a special place. Learners create simple patterns at first (A, B, A, B) and move on to more complex patterns as they mature and gain experience.

Type: Teaching Idea