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Finding Out Before Deciding is a free printable Kindergarten to Grade 2 science worksheet on gathering information to define a problem, aligned to Common Core standard K-2-ETS1-1. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 5 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Finding Out Before Deciding

K-2-ETS1-1

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.The bank by the playground washes away in heavy rain. What is the problem to solve?
  • A.Who owns the bank
  • B.Why it rains
  • C.How to hold the soil on the bank when it rains
2.You gather information and the problem turns out to be different. What should you do?
  • A.Ignore what you found
  • B.Build the first idea anyway
  • C.Change the problem statement to match what you found
3.A pupil says 'make the bank better'. What is missing?
  • A.What better would mean, and how you would know
  • B.A colour
  • C.A name
4.Why ask the caretaker about the bank?
  • A.He has watched it for longer and has information you do not
  • B.He owns a spade
  • C.He is busy
5.Before designing a barrier, what information would help?
  • A.Who noticed it first
  • B.What colour the soil is
  • C.How much soil washes down in one storm
6.Why write the problem down before designing?
  • A.So the sheet is full
  • B.So the solution can be judged against it later
  • C.So it takes longer
7.Which of these is a problem a new object could solve?
  • A.The path is grey
  • B.Soil washes onto the path every time it rains
  • C.It rains in autumn
8.Two pupils describe the bank problem differently. What comes first?
  • A.Building both ideas
  • B.Agreeing one problem to solve
  • C.Voting on who is nicer

LessonPrint · K-2-ETS1-1 · Set 5 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Finding Out Before Deciding

Set 5. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.How to hold the soil on the bank when it rains
  2. 2.Change the problem statement to match what you found
  3. 3.What better would mean, and how you would know
  4. 4.He has watched it for longer and has information you do not
  5. 5.How much soil washes down in one storm
  6. 6.So the solution can be judged against it later
  7. 7.Soil washes onto the path every time it rains
  8. 8.Agreeing one problem to solve

More practice for K-2-ETS1-1

Ask, look and gather information to define a problem worth solving.

Teaching this next? Finding Out Before Deciding is the 50-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Kindergarten to Grade 2 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to K-2-ETS1-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.