USING SCIENCE NOTEBOOKS Family. Specialty School the of member a What Is a Science Notebook? response sheets. The latter option, through Education, prompts and organizers, ensures that students A science notebook is simply a written account address important questions and record key data. Delta by of what students do and learn in science class. Whatever the form, the notebook allows students permission. Notebooks provide students with a place to write to thoroughly document what they have done. further regularly about science and to compile an ongoing It thus becomes a source of information for Copyright © record of all their science observations and discussion and for further writing, inquiry, and without discoveries. When they write in their science exploration. Guide, use notebooks, students model a key characteristic of scientists through the ages and across all Teacher’s classroom disciplines: recording information. Getting Started than Science notebooks can take many forms, When you introduce science notebooks to Populations other depending on the grade level and instructional students who have never used them, you will use goals. They might be stapled sheets of plain, lined, need to give students a purpose for writing. Animal or or graph paper with construction paper covers; Explain to students that they are scientists, and and composition books; spiral bound notebooks; loose- scientists always document their work in writing. Plant leaf binders; folders with pockets and fasteners; A scientist’s notebook is always on the worktable redistribution, DSM or booklets of printed student recording and or laboratory bench, and it is always open. from resale, for Excerpt Not Plant and Animal Populations 149 Also, scientists must be able to repeat their What Goes Into a Science experiments. They record data carefully and in detail in order to be able to reconstruct the who, Notebook what, where, when, how, and why of their science work. And scientists must be able to share their Student Entries ideas, plans, discoveries, and questions with As a practical consideration, have students date others. Notebooks are the foundations of science and number the pages of their notebooks. They communication. can then maintain a cumulative table of contents, which will be valuable as they use the notebook Students unfamiliar with notebooking may also for reference or review. need to be told at first what to record. Be explicit in your guidance. Use posters or overheads to Although your students’ notebooks will all look show sample notebook entries. Build into your different, certain common elements are essential science instruction the practice of writing while to every entry: investigating. Explain the importance of recording • Date of the entry on the go, not relying on memory later. Pause • Title of the activity, problem, or reading periodically during class to remind students to write about what they did or noticed, to record • Subheadings to organize the work their questions, to note any surprises, and so on. Subheadings for recording an investigation To ensure that students include meaningful might be reflections, post prompts or questions on sentence Question —What I want to find out strips around the room, such as Prediction —What I think will happen I predict . because . Plan —Materials and procedure I want to find out . Observations and Data—What happened I still wonder . Conclusions —What I learned This reminds me of . Next Steps —What new questions arose I learned . Subheadings for taking notes on a science As students become more proficient in using reading might be Predictions, Main Ideas, their notebooks, they lessen their dependency New Words, and My Questions. on reminders and prompts. Notebook entries can take a variety of forms, With practice, students should come to use their reflecting the diversity of activities in a science science notebooks as scientists would, before, unit. Given the various types of information being during, and after every hands-on investigation recorded and the various ways of organizing ideas, or other science experience, such as reading the following are only a few of the possible entry or field trips. For example, formats: • Before—formulate the question, tap prior knowledge, make predictions, develop Activity sheets—prepared worksheets to hypotheses, plan the investigation, state guide students as they design, conduct, and a purpose respond to an investigation. This instructional support, or scaffolding, helps students build their • During—record materials and equipment, understanding of new content and processes. procedures, observations, data Drawings —sketches, illustrations, or diagrams • After—reflect, interpret, draw conclusions, showing materials, setups, observations, and generate new questions, communicate outcomes. Remind students always to use labels ideas to others on their art. 150 delta science modules Procedures, notes, and observations— lists, outlines, notations, and brief descriptions. Teacher Feedback Quick and versatile, this is probably the most The science notebook is a working document common method of recording data in notebooks. whose primary audience is the student. However, let students know that you will be reviewing their Graphs, charts, and tables —graphic methods notebooks periodically to track their progress. for recording and displaying data and results By ongoing interaction with notebooks, you can for at-a-glance visualization and comparison. Bar question and prompt each student’s thinking graphs show how much or how many; line graphs to further his or her learning. show how things change over time; pie graphs show the relationship of parts to the whole. During science class, circulate to be sure that Charts and tables sort information into groups notebooking is occurring throughout the class for evaluation and comparison. period. That is, do not relegate notebook work to the closing two or three minutes of the lesson, Graphic organizers—pictorial formats, such when it is too easy to drop altogether. This also as KWL charts, Venn diagrams, flowcharts, sends the message that writing is marginal to T-charts, cause-and-effect charts, and concept science inquiry. As students are investigating webs, that show how ideas, objects, and events are and writing, ask guiding questions to stimulate connected. Consider preparing a bulletin-board and encourage the process. or poster display of sample organizers, so that students can explore these alternative ways to Periodically collect the notebooks and read them communicate information and, even better, to check for understanding. Write feedback to develop their own. students in the notebook, either directly on the pages or on sticky notes. Make feedback concrete Inserts —supporting materials such as and constructive. An effective critical comment supplementary readings, photographs, artifacts, has two parts: (1) recognizing what the student samples, or models attached to a notebook page has done well, and (2) explaining how he or she or placed in a pocket. can improve. Let students know what they are doing right. Compliment them, as appropriate. Responses to writing prompts —written Then, be specific: answers to teacher-provided writing generators, such as cloze statements, designed to trigger • Press for explanations: “I’m not sure what ideas and access knowledge. For example, this diagram shows.” • Challenge them to go further or dig deeper: Write what you already know about _____. “Why do you think this is important?” How is _____ similar to (different from) _____? • Invite connections: “Does this remind you Explain why _____. of anything else we have studied?” Prompts are especially helpful for students • Ask them to fix something: “Add column as they begin using notebooks. heads to the table.” If data is missing, remind students to get the information Glossary—science vocabulary and definitions, from their small group or science partner. written or drawn. Students can create a unit • Encourage elaboration: “What would glossary at the back of their notebooks or happen if . .?” integrate a vocabulary feature into every entry. In addition to the new word and its meaning, a glossary entry might include examples and the word used in an original sentence. Plant and Animal Populations 151 Science Notebooks Help Students Because of the strong relationship between science processes and reading comprehension Building Science Comprehension skills and strategies, both are enhanced in science Writing about science is essential to the process notebooks. A scientifically literate student can of learning science. In fact, notebooks and inquiry • state main ideas • use new vocabulary science go hand in hand. As students record their • note details • link cause and effect investigations, they clarify their thinking and deepen their conceptual understanding of science • compare and contrast • make inferences facts, principles, and vocabulary. Notebooks are an • predict • draw conclusions effective tool for making students better observers, • sequence events • generate questions planners, communicators, questioners, describers, • distinguish fact from • summarize classifiers, interpreters, and analyzers—in short, opinion • recognize patterns scientific thinkers. In addition, because notebooks can be used Organizing Knowledge successfully with students of every age and Writing about science also demands that students ability—including English Language Learners— find meaningful ways to record and reflect on they are a means for ALL