How People Learn About the World: a skill companion
A small set of reusable sheets about how people learn about the world. Scientists are not the only ones. A vet, a farmer and a cook each look closely and ask questions too, and some things they watch over time. Print the sheets once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.
What a skill companion is
Human Endeavour is about how people learn about the world, by observing and asking. It is not a topic of its own; it grows inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Looking at Living Things, What Things Are Made Of and How Things Move. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the idea on its own first.
Start here: five minutes
- Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
- Print the find-out planner, one per child, whenever a lesson asks how you could find something out.
- Print the observe-over-time frame when a lesson watches something change, like the Moon or a growing plant.
- Cut out the jobs cards once. They are reused all year, in any topic.
- Open the free interactive unit on your board for a worked example, or run the one-page mini-lesson to teach the idea on its own first.
No science background needed
This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives the jobs match, model find-out answers for every Foundation topic and look-fors, so you can walk in and use it.
Slot the skill into your science lessons
The same idea, that people learn about the world by observing and asking, fits into every science unit. This map shows how people used those two moves in each Foundation topic, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.
| When you teach | How people learn about it | Scaffold to slot in |
|---|---|---|
| Looking at Living Things (AC9SFU01) | People watch animals and plants to learn how they live | How-would-you-find-out planner, then the jobs match |
| What Things Are Made Of (AC9SFU03) | People test materials to choose the right one for a job | How-would-you-find-out planner, then the jobs match |
| How Things Move (AC9SFU02) | People watch how things move to build ramps, wheels and toys | Jobs cards first, then the observe-over-time frame |
| Any science topic | A pattern a child watches for themselves, sometimes over time | Jobs cards first, then the find-out planner |
How the scaffolds build the skill
The find-out planner turns a wonder into a plan: watch it, ask someone, or try it out. The observe-over-time frame shows that some things take more than one look, like the Moon changing shape night after night. The jobs cards make the big idea real: all kinds of people, not only scientists, learn about the world by observing and asking. Used together across the year, they make observing and asking a habit.
How would you find out?
When you wonder about something in nature, there is more than one way to find out. You can watch it, ask someone, or try it out.
My question
What do you want to find out? Write it or draw it.
Ways I could find out
Tick the ways you could use. You can tick more than one.
What I would do first
Draw what I would look at
Teacher note: there is no one right way to find out. Help children say why the way they picked is a good fit for their question.
Watch it change over time
Some things take more than one look. When you watch the same thing day after day, like the Moon or a growing plant, you can see how it changes. Draw what you see in each box.
What I am watching
What changed?
Teacher note: one look is not always enough. This frame shows children that watching over time can tell you more than a single glance, just like watching the Moon change shape.
People who learn by watching and asking
Cut out the cards. Each card names a person with a job. For each one, talk about what that person watches, looks at, or asks about to do their job. Scientists are not the only people who learn about the world.
Teacher note: match each job to what that person observes. The answer sheet gives one match for every card. Blank cards let children add a job they know.
How do people learn about the world?
Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the idea on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole idea in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.
We are learning to
- see that people learn about the world by looking closely and asking questions,
- name a way we could find something out: watch it, ask someone, or try it out,
- know that some things we watch over time, not in one look.
Success criteria
- I can name a way people find things out.
- I can say something a person in a job watches or asks about.
You need
- the jobs cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
- the find-out planner and the observe-over-time frame (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
- something to wonder about together: a snail or bug in a jar, a plant, or a picture of the Moon,
- the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).
Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)
| 5 min | Wonder together Show the class something from nature, like a snail, a leaf or a picture of the Moon. Let children call out what they notice and what they wonder. Ask: “What do you notice? What do you wonder about it?” |
| 10 min | How would we find out? Take one question the class wondered about. Fill the find-out planner together: could we watch it, ask someone, or try it out? Tick the ways that fit. Ask: “Would watching, asking, or trying it out help us most here? Why that one?” |
| 10 min | Jobs that watch and ask Tables sort the jobs cards. For each person, children say what that person watches, looks at, or asks about. Bring the class together on the big idea: not only scientists learn about the world. Ask: “What does this person watch or ask about? Are they doing science too?” |
| 5 min | Share A few children share a job and what that person observes, or a way they would find something out. Point out that some things, like the Moon, we watch over time. Ask: “Is one look enough, or would you watch this again another day?” |
Running it shorter? Stop after How would we find out, and pick up the jobs cards inside your next science lesson, where children meet a person who uses that topic.
Watch for these ideas
- Thinking only a scientist in a white coat does science. A vet, a farmer and a cook learn about the world too.
- Thinking you learn only by being told. Watching and trying things out are ways of finding out as well.
- Thinking one look is enough. Some things, like the Moon changing shape, you have to watch over time.
Make it easier, make it bigger
- Easier: sort just four jobs cards and say one thing each person watches.
- Bigger: write a new job on a blank card and say what that person observes or asks about.
Answers and look-fors
The next sheet has the jobs match, model find-out answers for the three Foundation topics, and a quick three-level guide.
Answers and look-fors
Jobs cards: what each person observes
| Job card | What they watch or ask about |
|---|---|
| A vet | watches how a sick animal moves and eats to help it get better |
| A farmer | watches the sky and the crops to know when to plant and water |
| A weather watcher | looks at the clouds and measures the rain to tell us the weather |
| A cook | looks, smells and listens to know when the food is ready |
| A gardener | watches which plants grow well in the sun or the shade |
| A doctor | looks and asks questions to find out why someone feels unwell |
| A builder | watches how things balance and hold weight to build something strong |
| A zookeeper | watches what the animals eat and how they rest to care for them |
Matches will vary in wording, and that is fine. Look for children saying what the person watches, looks at, or asks about. The blank cards children write are matched the same way.
Find-out planner: what a good plan sounds like
Responses will vary, and that is fine. The point is a clear way to find out: watch it, ask someone, or try it out. Here is what an at-standard plan sounds like in each Foundation topic.
| Topic | A question at standard | A find-out plan at standard |
|---|---|---|
| Looking at Living Things | What does this snail like to eat? | I would watch it (observe). I would put some leaves near the snail and watch which one it eats, and I might watch again the next day. |
| What Things Are Made Of | Which material would keep my hands dry? | I would try it out. I would drip water on paper, cloth and plastic and watch which one lets the water through. |
| How Things Move | Does a ball roll further down a steeper ramp? | I would try it out. I would roll a ball down a low ramp and a steep ramp and watch which time it rolls further. |
A quick three-level guide
| Move | Working towards | At standard | Beyond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name a way to find out | names a way with help | names watching, asking or trying it out to find something out | says why that way fits the question |
| Match a job to what it observes | names a job but not what it watches | matches a job to what that person watches or asks about | adds a new job and says what that person observes |
| Watch over time | thinks one look tells everything | says some things you watch again over time to see them change | gives an example, like the Moon changing shape night after night |
A child at standard names a way to find something out and can say what a person in a job watches or asks about. The idea grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.