Science
Notebooks
Writing About
Inquiry
Science Notebooks
Writing About Inquiry
Brian Campbell and
Lori Fulton
ISBN 978-0-352-00568-3
www.heinemann.com
List Price: $21.25
Web Price: $17.00
Grade Levels 2-6
Using Science Notebooks
in the Elementary Classroom
Michael P. Klentschy
ISBN 978-1-93353-103-8
www.nsta.org
NSTA Science Store
Member Price: $19.96
Nonmember: $24.95
Grade Levels K-5
Writing Tools
JOURNAL – A book where students write reflections
about their learning. Normally used after an activity
or investigation is done and materials are put
away.
LOG – A book where students record data over
time. Normally used during the procedure of an
investigation but not during class discussion.
NOTEBOOK – A book where students record notes,
technical drawings, observations, data, what they
think and what they have learned as they do
science. Used before, during, and after science
investigations and is an authentic reflection of their
knowledge and skills.
Purpose of a
Science Notebook
1. To build science content and
process skills.
2. To increase student participation
and practice in science, math,
writing and communicating.
3. To assess student achievement
formatively.
What can I use?
Composition books
Spiral notebooks
Three ring binders
Three-prong paper folders
Folded stapled paper
Where to begin?
What will students regularly write about in
their notebook?
What should be included with every
student entry?
What organizational tools and learning
strategies should students use?
What experiences will provide students
with meaningful experiences?
Use the “Science Notebook Thinking Points” to insure your
notebooks stay authentic to learning science
Develop a Regular Routine
Teacher Role : Student Participation









Introduction : Record your prior knowledge/KWL/OWL
Hypothesis : Write your prediction
Materials : Identify your science tools
Procedure: Do the activity and record your data
Observations: Draw and label what happens
Question/Analysis: Write what you are thinking
Conclusion: Write what you learned
Communication: Share team results with class
Reflection: Expository writing/poem/song-rap
Have students critique their own knowledge and skills
What should a Science
Notebook look like ?
DRAWINGS
DIAGRAMS
TECHNICAL VS.
DRAWINGS
Labels
No Labels
CLASS NOTES
CONCEPT MAPS
EXPERIMENTS
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
ENERGY PYRAMIDS
FOOD WEBS
DATA TABLES
GRAPHS
WRITING
REFLECTION
Grade 5
My Science
Notebook
Hand outs
Work With Students On
• Drawing and recording
observations
• Measuring and recording data
• Calculations and graphs
• Reflecting and writing about
what they learned
Practice
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Making Predictions
Making Technical Observations
Recording Data
Measuring and Doing Calculations
Graphing Data
Making Inferences
Expository Writing
Review with Students
Self Reflection
Peer to Peer Review
Summative Assessments
State Assessments
Year to Year
Is my Science Notebook helping me learn?



Use your science notebook to answer these questions.


 Do my notes help me understand the
Yes
No
lesson?
  Should I spend more or less time on my
More
Less
drawings?
  Do I write enough labels (words) on my
Yes
No
drawings?
  Do the questions and answers
Yes
No
I write in my notebook help me learn?
  Do I record more pictures or words
Pictures Words
in my notebook?
  Do my observations include
Numbers Words
 
List
Table
 
Explain Graph
 
Yes
No
more numbers or words?
What type of data recording can I
do best on my own?
What type of data analysis can I
do best on my own?
Will my notebook help me
study for science tests?
Science Notebook Thinking Points
As you begin co-construct of the content with your students in their science notebooks
over the first six weeks, take some time to reflect on and answer the following questions
about how you’ve tried improved the “authentic purpose” of your student’s Science
Notebook.
WEEK 1
1. What type of notebook will you use?
2. What do you expect your students to accomplish with their science notebook?
3. What organizational tools do you want your students to use in their notebooks? (i.e., Will
students make use of expository text features like table of contents, glossary, index, etc.
in their notebooks?)
4. What information will you expect students to include in all entries?
WEEK 2
5. What opportunities will you provide for students to connect their notebooks to reading?
6. What will you use to determine prior knowledge before each lesson?
7. How will you promote writing in the science notebooks after an investigation?
8. What student benefits and limitations have you observed regarding various degrees of
structure you have added to the notebooks?
WEEK 3
9. To what extent do modeling science process skills seem necessary for your students?
10. How will you use data form the science notebooks to formatively assess your students?
11. What organizational expectations will you have for your students as they record
information in their notebooks? How will your expectations change over time?
12. How do your instructional decisions impact what your students view as important?
WEEK 4
13. How do technical drawings fit in with how you teach science?
14. What opportunities within your curriculum allow students to use technical drawings?
15. What are reasonable expectations for your students in terms of developing and recording
their own questions to be investigated (i.e., Inquiry Place Think Sheet)?
16. How and when will you provide time for students to reflect in writing on their science
lesson experiences?
WEEK 5
17. How will you gather evidence of how your students are learning information from each
strand in their science notebooks?
18. What opportunities will your provide to allow students to improve their learning in each
strand and how will it be reflect in their science notebooks?
19. How will you look for evidence of content and or process understanding when your
students use their notebooks?
20. How will you look for evidence of science as inquiry when your students use their
notebooks?
WEEK 6
21. How will you look for evidence that your students are using unifying concepts: system,
order, and organization; evidence, model, explanation; consistency, change, and
measurement and/or are using the science process skills: predict, observe, identify,
experiment, measure, collect and analyze data, infer; when they record in their science
notebooks?
22. How will you incorporate science talk in your classroom?
23. How will your students formalize the information in their science notebooks to share it
with a broader community (other classes, other schools, in their community)?
24. What role have science notebooks played in literacy development in your classroom?
Authentic
Learning Tool
Real scientists use science notebooks
all the time. For this reason, using
science notebooks to teach is a very
“authentic learning experience.”
Here are some real examples of some
incredible science notebook pages.
Einstein’s Notebook
Theory of
Relativity
Galileo’s Notebook
Drawings of the
moons of Jupiter
Observing Phases of the Moon
Photograph
Water Color by
Galileo
Wilber Wright’s Notebook
1903 Flyer
Darwin’s Notebook
Elementary
Illustrations of
Darwin’s Ideas
Leonardo’s Notebook
Vitruvian Man
Any Questions?
November 12-14, 2009.
DIVE INTO SCIENCE!
Hosted by
www.fastscience.org
Diving Into the
“Next Generation” of Science
STRANDS INCLUDE
1. Enhancing Science
Teaching and Learning
with Instructional
Technology.
2. Teaching Ecosystems,
Climate, and Climate
Change.
3. Keys for Student
Success: Curriculum
Integration and Student
Inclusion.
Members Save $74 on
Conference Registration
Registration Fees
Early Bird Advance Late
Sept. 25
Oct. 9
Current NSTA member or applicant
$135
$145
$170
FAST, ACS, AAPT, and NABT
members (for current FAST members)
$135
$145
$170
$209
$80
$80
$65
$60
$219
$90
$90
$75
$70
$244
$110
$110
$95
$85
(all three days)
Nonmember
Retired NSTA member
International (except Canada)
Full-time student
Nonteaching spouse/guest
Go to www.fastscience.org/membership.aspx
GRANTS AVAILABLE
Area
TRAVEL GRANTS to Ft. Lauderdale to attend the NSTA
Conference . Both FAST & BaP Opportunities up to $500
WWW.FASTSCIENCE.ORG
hands-on
TEACHER CLASSROOM GRANTS for projects and
activities up to $1000
.F
S
.O
WWW
AST CIENCE
RG
thePROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT SCHOLARSHIPS to
NSTA Learning Center for teachers for annual subscriptions
(full year) WWW.FASTSCIENCE.ORG
Thank You!
Thomas Medcalf
2009, FAST President