What is an Interactive
Science Notebook (ISN)?
Interactive
Science Notebooks (ISNs) allow students to take ownership of their learning.
Students include information from the teacher and work with that information
so that it makes sense to them.
Why do an ISN?
ISNs
have been shown to have a lot of benefits. These include:
-
Letting
students create their own understanding of material
-
Helping
students with comprehension monitoring: they can evaluate whether they
understand material and correct and further understanding of the material
-
Helping
students appreciate the process of scientific inquiry
-
Reflection
has been shown to increase metacognition: thinking about thinking. Students
who think about how they learn and whether they are learning have been shown
to be more independent learners and ultimately more successful in school.
-
ISNs
allow the teacher to assess class comprehension, differentiate instruction so
each student is getting the most out of class, and provide quality, timely
feedback.
How will my science
notebook be graded?
I
will check your notebook periodically to make sure that you have all of your
papers in it, and an up-to-date table of contents. Your notebook is a resource
to help you, but you have to keep it together for it to work.
ISN Resources
Chesbro,
R. (2006). Using interactive science notebooks for inquiry-based science. Science
Scope. April,
2006.
National
Science Resources Center (NSRC). (2000). Science and Technology Concepts for
Middle
Schools.
Burlington, NC: Smithsonian/The National Academies.
Winslow,
J. (2007). An exploration of the use of interactive science notebooks to
increase literacy
skills
of high school students.
Montana State University; Bozeman, MT.
See
reference section for more ISN resources
Young,
J. (2003). Science interactive notebooks in the classroom. Science Scope 26
(4): 44-7.
Interactive Scientist’s
Notebook Rubric
A
·
Notebook
contents are complete, dated, labeled & EDITED
·
Pages
are numbered (odd; right-sided; even; left-side)
·
Right-side/Left-side
topics are matched & contents organized
·
Lecture
notes go beyond basic requirements
·
Demonstrates
frequent use of critical vocabulary (underlined)
·
Uses
pencil only, color pencils and effective diagrams/pictures
that
take up no more than 1⁄4 of the page
·
Shows
impressive, in-depth processing of information & deep
personal
connections to learning concepts
·
YOU
came through in the personalization
B
·
Notebook
contents are complete, dated & labeled
·
Pages
are numbered (odd; right-sided; even; left-side)
·
Right-side/Left-side
topics are matched & contents organized
·
Includes
most of the traits of “6”, but lacks excellence in all areas
·
Demonstrates
some
use of critical vocabulary (underlined)
·
Most
areas meet requirements but do not go beyond
·
Shows
in-depth processing of information, connections to
learning
concepts & personalization
C
·
Notebook
contents are 90% complete, dated & labeled
·
Pages
are numbered (odd; right-sided; even; left-side)
·
Right-side/Left-side
topics are matched & contents organized
·
Uses
pencil, color and some diagrams
·
Information
shows basic understanding of content topics
·
Some
areas meet requirements, but don’t go beyond
·
Shows
limited, but real processing of information &
personalization
D
·
Notebook
contents are 80% complete, dated & labeled
·
Pages
are numbered (odd; right-sided; even; left-side)
·
Right-side/Left-side
topics are matched & contents organized
·
Uses
pencil, minimal color and few diagrams
·
Information
shows limited understanding of content topics
·
Some
areas meet requirements, but do not go beyond
·
Shows
some processing of information &
personalization
F
·
Notebook
contents are incomplete
·
Some
attempt at dating & labeling of entries is made
·
Right-side/Left-side
is inconsistent & contents are unorganized
·
Information
& concepts show only a superficial understanding of
the
subject matter and/or show serious inaccuracies
·
Notebook
is not neatly written
·
Shows
little processing of information &
personalization
0
·
Note
book turned in, but too incomplete to score