Gilbert & Kotelma: 5 Good Reasons to Use Science Notebooks

For reference:

1. Notebooks are thinking tools.
2. Notebooks guide teacher instruction.
3. Notebooks enhance literacy skills.
4. Notebooks support differentiated learning.
5. Notebooks foster teacher collaboration.

Due to my background in Reading and Language Arts, I'm very receptive to the idea of a Science notebook. Obviously, I love the idea that literacy, informative writing, and other skills can be incorporated into Science.
Letting students "free-write" about what they learned, what they saw, and what they did will wonderfully reinforce science concepts.

Gilbert and Kotelma explain in the article that "notebooks [are] a tool for every student to use to construct his or her own conceptual understandings." Having to put their experiences into words and pictures helps students solidify what they understand and what they didn't, rather than coming in the next day with vague memories of the lesson.

Everything I love about writers' notebooks is mentioned in the article. As a teacher, this provides a comfort zone for me that I did not expect to have in the Science classroom.
1. Reading students' science notebooks help me as the teacher to gauge what they are understanding, what concepts they have missed, and even what the class as a whole latched on to. (I will forever remember how to tell boy and girl "roly polies" apart, but don't ask me what else I learned on bug day).
2. I also love that Science Notebooks are such a smooth and inconspicuous way to differentiate instruction for different ability levels. Students can keep their notebooks private if they choose, or may choose to share beautiful artwork (ahem, diagrams) that demonstrates their understanding without requiring laborious lab reports. (Although we might have a few of those too.)

As a student, I think I would have loved science notebooks. As a visual person, I often could not really get a hold of complex concepts until I completely re-drew the diagram myself (be it the human heart or the Krebbs cycle). I think science notebooks really lend themselves to different learning styles or intelligences. Draw, chart, graph, write, question. They all work. Students may need to be encouraged to mix it up, but anything is better than choosing one worksheet for 30 kids.

The only part of the article I was dubious about was rule number five, "Notebooks foster teacher collaboration." These teachers were able to share their experiences with coworkers because the entire district was using Science notebooks. What if I am alone? What if everyone else is filling out worksheets and quickly grading multiple choice? What if parents want to see "results" (numbers and grades)? Ironically, these parents are often the ones whose students are doing just fine!

Maybe science notebooks would not rock the boat and produce raised eyebrows like Writers' Workshop would, but I want to know what to do as a little first-year teacher if I'm the only one.