Scientists Notebook

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Scientists Notebook
Science Math Inquiry and Literacy for Every
Student
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Students Model the way that a Scientist Works

• Each scientists notebook is unique to that
  person, that experiment, that situation
• The notebook is a collection of thoughts, ideas,
  sketches, data, equations a running record of
  the scientists thoughts
• It is not necessarily organized or neat
• There is no right way or format

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Why Scientists Notebooks?
Essential element to enhance inquiry/kit based
programs
Notebooks reinforce concepts from the
standards/GSE
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Support a variety of literacy skills in the
science classroom

• Comprehension strategies
• Written and Oral Communication skill
• Vocabulary development (glossary)
• Expository reading skills
• Sharing thinking (Making Meaning Conference)
• Supporting ideas with evidence (Claims and
  Evidence)

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A vehicle to drive scientific inquiry

• Moves the focus away
• from the
• traditional experiment/ lab report
• format

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Ultimate Teach Re-teach Situation

• Drives instruction by monitoring student
  performance

Weaknesses
Strengths

• Misconceptions

• Understandings

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Students use notebooks during class

• As a guide and/or reference
• As a place to record
• data,
• observations,
• illustrations,
• reflections
• questions,
• ideas while working
• As a place to collect and record claims and
  evidence to support their inquiry
• To make thinking visible
• To document their organizational growth over time

• Notebooks
• make
• students
• accountable
• for
• their
• learning

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Using the Scientists Notebook
Activating prior knowledge Asking question
Before.

• Thinking strategies

During.

• Entries from the notebook template

After..

• Content reading and writing related to inquiry
• Making connections

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BEFORE..
Concept maps
KWL
Anticipation guide
Quick writes
Visualizations
I Know/ I Wonder chart
VIP/MVP
FQR
During
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DURINGImplementing the scientists notebook
template

• Focus questions
• Predictions
• Planning
• Data/observations
• Claims and evidence
• Making Meaning Conference
• Conclusions

After
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AFTER ..

• Summarizing
• Making connections
• Note taking from a reading
• Key word/key idea drawings
• Compare/contrast charts
• VIP/MVP
• Information circles
• Revisit KWL and I wonder charts

Next
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Students Guide to Scientists Notebook

• TITLE OF LESSON
• FOCUS QUESTION (Big Idea)
• What do you have to investigate or figure out in
  this lesson that is related to the big idea?
• What will be the main question that will guide
  your learning?
• What, How, Does are good beginnings
• PREDICTION/ HYPOTHESIS
• What do you think will happen (USING PRIOR
  KNOWLEDGE)
• If I do then will happen because
• I think because
• PLANNING
• (Dont rewrite procedures- use if you need to
  design a procedure)
• DATA
• Record the data in a way that will make sense to
  you later
• Paragraph, Bullets, Table/Chart, Drawings,
  Graphs, etc.
• Title and label diagrams and pictures
• Measurements should be specific, accurate, and
  units labeled
• NEVER erase your work Simply cross out any
  errors
• CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE

• MAKING MEANING CONFERENCE
• Make your thinking public in a class discussion
• Turn and Talk
• CONCLUSION/REFLECTION
• Restate the focus question as a topic sentence
• In this investigation
• In this inquiry.
• I (we) learned that..
• Use details from your claims and evidence (data)
  chart to answer the focus question.
• Every claim must be supported by evidence.
• I (we) liked/did not like because
• My (our) prediction that..was..because.
• This reminds me (us) of.. because.
• I (we) discovered that..
• Now I (we) think that.because
• Refer back to your hypothesis
• My hypothesis was correct/incorrect because
• Record your thoughts after the experiment
  
  (Understandings, Likes, Related Thinking,
  Connections)
• Include a summative sentence that can be a
  restatement in different words of the topic
  sentence.

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THE FOCUS QUESTION

• What will be the main focus of the inquiry?
• What, How and Doesare good beginnings
• Students may need to be prompted or given an
  example or a list to chose from.
• or
• Showing the materials to students and asking
  questions like" What can we find out
  about..by using these materials?
• or
• Ask questions like What might we want to find
  out about..?
• or
• An engaging scenario

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THE PREDICTION/ HYPOTHESIS

• What you think will happen (USING PRIOR
  KNOWLEDGE)
• If I do then will happen because
• I think because
• Students will need some prior knowledge to make a
  meaningful prediction.
• If not
• Readings
• Video segments
• Demonstrations
• Students work in collaborative groups to develop
  sound and well written hypothesis based on their
  prior knowledge
• Not all activities will need this entry

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THE PLANNING

• The Materials List
• What you will need to conduct the experiment
• The Procedure
• Tell what you will do with the material
• List the steps
• PLANNING (Dont rewrite procedures- use if you
  need to design a procedure)
• Not necessary for activities that have a
  procedure in the student guides
• May be essential if students are creating a plan
  to carry out an experiment in order to address
  their focus questions

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THE DATA

• Record the data in a way that will make sense to
  you late
• Paragraph, Bullets,
• Table/Chart, Drawings, Graphs, etc.
• NOTE
• Title and label diagrams and pictures
• Measurements should be specific, accurate, and
  units labeled
• NEVER erase your work Simple cross out any errors

• Work toward student generated data tables
• However
• Have a model data chart on the overhead
• Have graph and chart templates available for
  pasting into notebooks (if needed)
• Copy and reduce size of the templates from
  student worksheets
• Give students more complex illustrations and have
  them label key parts or create a key

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THE CLAIMS AND EVIDENCE

• What do you claim to be true?
• How can you prove what you are stating? (Back it
  up)
• I know this to be true because I observed
• I claim that when , then .. (happens)

Put claims and evidence in chart form
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THE MAKING MEANING CONFERENCE
V I T A L

• Make your thinking public
• Class discussion
• Turn and Talk
• Discussions can be small group or whole class
• Students should revisit and revise their claims
  and evidence

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CONCLUSION/REFLECTION

• Refer to the focus question to create a topic
  sentence
• Use the claims and evidence chart as a graphic
  organizer to write your conclusion.
• If students made a prediction have them determine
  its validity were they correct or incorrect and
  why.
• Extend learning with after reading strategies
• Make connections to real world applications

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What are the differences?

• Journals
• Reflections of student learning
• Used after work is done
• Logs
• Books where students record data
• Used during an investigation
• Notebooks
• Records planning, thinking, data and reflections
• A tool to use before, during, and after an
  investigation

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The Notebook

• Determine the type of notebook
• Composition book
• A spiral notebook
• A three ring binder
• A three prong paper folder
• What type of notebook will you use?
• Use what works in your classroom

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Reference
Science NotebooksWriting About Inquiry Brian
Campbell Clark County School District, Las Vegas,
NV Lori Fulton, Clark County School District,
Las Vegas, NV