Five Good Reasons to use Science Notebooks: In-Class Collaborations

Gilbert, J. & Kotelman, M. (2005). Five good reasons to use science notebooks. Science & Children, 43(3), 28-32.

After reading the Gilbert and Kotelman (2005) article above, students were asked to work with their peers to generate ideas about the importance of using science notebooks in a classroom. As a small group (about 3-4 students), the students rendered a main idea and several personal thoughts about each of the five reasons for using science notebooks.

1. Science Notebooks Are Thinking Tools

Personal Thoughts:	Main Ideas:
Students can construct their own understandings	Notebooks served as tools for the students to construct conceptual understandings
Teachers can use them to enhance learning	Wondering
You can see the growth and learning processes	Students were interacting more deeply with the subject
Promotes individual thinking and questioning	Personal Thoughts:
Encourages students to talk with each other	We believe that using science notebooks would be beneficial to students' learning
Allows for follow up
Use writing for thinking and active learning
Puts their thoughts into their own words by allowing them to form their own ideas- freedom of expression

2. Notebooks Guide Teacher Instruction


Main Idea:
Notebooks allow teachers to have insight into their students thoughts. It provides teachers with a direction of where to go next with the lesson.
Personal Thoughts: We like it because…
Student directed learning
Teachers have a clear understanding of where their students are at

3. Notebooks Enhance Literacy Skills


Main Idea: Notebooks offer numerous opportunities to develop and enhance students' communication skills, written, visual, and oral.
Personal Thoughts:
Notebooks are a good idea that help with creating a more comprehensive curriculum. It allows teachers to observe students' thinking and ideas in a tangible way.
Notebooks also help students organize their ideas in a systematic way.

4. Notebooks Support Differentiated Learning


Main Idea:	Notebooks Include:
Notebooks help students write their ideas in ways that they will be able to understand.	Observational Drawings, Graphs, Tables, Charts, Questions, Key Learnings
Personal Thoughts:	Personal Thoughts:
They provide an easy way to organize one's thoughts and findings.	All children can be successful/not compared to others.
They allow students to work at their own pace.	Teachers can give written feedback to each individual and assess their skills/abilities and progress.
A great way to assess students progress by comparing their own work instead of comparing to other students' work.	Students can write in their primary language so it makes the most sense to the individual.
Notebooks help all students at different levels to communicate what they are learning.	We like this because students are able to write in their primary language.
Notebooks provide a space where children who may not be strong writers to illustrate what they are learning.

5. Notebooks Foster Teacher Collaboration


Personal Thoughts:
More than one way to organize and express ideas
Build off of what others think
Allows teachers to try new ideas
Teachers could have notebooks:
Keep notes about what works/fails
Allow teachers to see how students learn

Adam Devitt designed this in-class activity and related assignment as part of his Master's project. See:

Devitt, A. (2010). Science notebook explorations: Week 4. In Implementing science notebooks and reading strategies in a physics course for prospective elementary and middle school teachers. (Master's Project). Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University. Retrieved from http://contentbuilder.merlot.org/toolkit/html/stitch.php?s=68418716982397&id=912672175944477