Using Science Notebooks to Develop
Conceptual Understanding in Science
Pam Van Scotter
Connie Hvidsten
www.bscs.org/sessions
11 March 2011 · NSTA National Conference · San Francisco, CA
Goals for Today s Session
•  Consider perspectives on science
notebooks
•  Engage as learners in science
notebooking activities
•  Practice using sense-making and literacy
strategies
•  Consider how these and other
notebooking strategies empower students
in their learning journey
Perspectives on Science Notebooks
•  Review the Bumper Sticker Quotes about
science notebooks
•  Record in your notebook the letter for the
statement that resonates the strongest
with you.
•  Record why this statement resonates with
you.
Science Notebooks
•  A. Students need to know how to record notes
from the board and during readings.
•  B. Notebooking leads to deeper understanding.
•  C. Notebooks help teachers grade by providing
a record of what the students have
accomplished in class.
•  D. All notebooks in a class should have the
same format and information if the students
complete them well.
•  E. Notebooks are primarily a tool to help
students.
Exploring Notebooking through a Lesson
about Plate Tectonics
Situate Your Learning
•  What do I already know?
•  What do I want to know now?
KWL
Investigation 1:
What is the tectonic
history
of India?
What does this
diagram show?
What I see
1.
Look for changes, trends,
or differences across time
2.  Draw an arrow to
particular point of interest
in your own notebook.
3.  Write what you see.
•  Write something
different for each arrow.
•  Be concise.
4.  Write only the essence, or
highlights, of what you
see.
What It Means
Higher-level thinking:
• Interpret, analyze what you
see.
• Write what each
observation might mean.
• Don t interpret the entire
figure at once, just one
observation at a time.
Caption
•  Think of the caption as an
executive summary.
•  Begin your caption with a
topic sentence describing the
overview of the figure.
•  Join each What I see to its
What it means to form a
sentence.
•  Build a coherent description
in 2 to 3 sentences.
Highlight comments
1. What I see: ___________
2. What it means: ___________
Caption:
Reflection Questions
•  When might What I See—What It Means
be a powerful notebooking experience for
your students?
•  How does this notebooking experience
help students monitor their own learning?
Exploring Notebooks
to Support Understanding During Content
Readings
Investigation 2:
What type of tectonic interaction is taking
place in the case of India?
Jigsaw Readings
• Tectonic Setting 1: Crash—Colossal
Collisions
• Tectonic Setting 2: Stretch—Breaking Up Is
Hard to Do
• Tectonic Setting 3: Grind—Living on the
Edge
Jigsaw Readings
•  Work in a group of three.
•  Assign a Tectonic Setting reading to
each person in the group.
•  Read and take notes on your reading in
the summary table in your notebook.
•  Take turns sharing what you learned
within the group; take notes on others
readings in your notebook
Summary –
Making Connections to Text
Using a Personal Glossary
•  A Personal Glossary within a Notebook
might be used in a number of ways in a
number of places
–  Following a collaborative discussion about a
reading
–  After a reading to capture current ideas
–  At any time to clarify emerging
understandings
–  At any time to record deeper understandings
Using an Explanations Template to
encourage rigor in student thinking
What type of tectonic interaction is taking
place in the case of India?
Adapted from Supporting Students Construction of Scientific Explanations by Fading Scaffolds in Instructional Materials. (2006)
McNeil, KL; Lizotte, DJ; Krajcik, J; & Marx, RW. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(2), 153-191
Characteristics of a
Scientific Explanation
•  Claim
–  An assertion or conclusion that is your best answer to the
original question
•  Evidence
–  Scientific data that supports the claim
•  Must be appropriate and sufficient
–  Can come from an investigation or other source
•  Observations
•  Reading material
•  Archived data
•  Other
•  Reasoning
–  Justification that links the claim and evidence
–  Shows why the data counts as evidence to support the claim
using appropriate scientific principles
Reflection Questions
•  How might the Explanations Template
help students better articulate their
understanding?
•  When might this notebooking strategy be
the most useful for your students?
Elaborating on a Notebooking Strategy:
Using a Sense-Making Strategy within a
Collaborative Learning Strategy
Investigation 3: Is India (the IndoAustralian Plate) still moving?
Red dots represent seismic activity
Orange circles represent earthquakes greater than magnitude 5
I think the tectonic plate
carrying India is (or is not) still moving
(what is your evidence? reasoning?)
•  Think
•  Share
•  Advise
•  Revise
I think India is (or is not) still moving
(what is your evidence? reasoning?)
•  Think
–  Thinking about a question or problem
–  Working individually
–  Accessing what you already know and
understand
–  Recording your best ideas in your science
notebook using sketches and words
Adapted from Supporting Students Construction of Scientific Explanations by Fading Scaffolds in Instructional Materials. (2006) McNeil, KL;
Lizotte, DJ; Krajcik, J; & Marx, RW. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(2), 153-191
I think India is (or is not) still moving
(what is your evidence?)
•  Share
I think India is (or is not) still moving
(what is your evidence?)
•  Advise
I think India is (or is not) still moving
(what is your evidence?)
•  Revise
–  Deciding what advice is useful
–  Revising work in a different colored pen or
pencil based on useful advice from partner
–  Recording why you did or did not revise your
work based on advice from partner
Reflecting on What We Experienced
•  How many different ways did we use our
notebooks?
–  Sense-Making Strategies
•  What I See/What It Means
•  Template for Scientific Explanations
–  Literacy Strategies
•  Template for Summary Notetaking
•  Personal Glossary
–  Collaborative Learning Strategy
•  TSAR
A Case for Science Notebooks
•  Notebooks are a place where students formulate and
record their questions, make predictions, record data,
procedures, and results, compose reflections, and
communicate findings.
•  Notebooks are a place for students to implement
strategies that help them record and monitor their own
learning journey, aligning with the findings from How
People Learn.
•  Notebooks provide a portfolio of student work and
provide teachers, administrators, parents, and the
students themselves with feedback on student learning.
Notebook Entry
•  Record a new bumper sticker phrase for
notebooking
Using Science Notebooks to Develop Conceptual
Understanding in Science
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