You are here: start » strategies » literacy » writing » writingstrategies » sciencenotebookpages » fivegoodreasonstousesciencenotebooksin-class
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
