Science Notebooks as the Scaffolding for Minds-On Learning in a Hands-On Curriculum.

1. NISMEC Talks HASTI 2009
Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Collaborative
8:30 Thur Science and Math of Origami.
9:30 Thur Student Notebook as the Scaffolding for Minds-On
Learning in a Hands-On Curriculum.
9:30 Thur Indiana AP Bridge Project.
9:30 Thur Integrating Middle School Math and Science Using
Guided Inquiry
12:30 Thur Teaching and Learning by Guided Inquiry, What do
Teachers Say?
12:30 Thur Mangos: A Fruitful Approach to Science and Literacy
1:30 Thur Reform Teacher Observation Protocol (RTOP): What It
Is. What You Can Do With It?
2:30 Thur Integrating Middle School Math and Science Using
Guided Inquiry – Math Using Science
2:30 Thur Science Adoption Approaches: Steps to Support
Change to Kit-Based Instruction Consistent with
Indiana Academic Standards

2. Science Notebooks as the
Scaffolding for Minds-On Learning
in a Hands-On Curriculum
Joseph J. Bellina, Jr., Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN
jbellina@saintmarys.edu 574-284-4662
Karen M. Morris, Dept of Chem and Biochem, U. of Notre Dame.
kmorris@nd.edu 574-631-6945
Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics and Engineering
Collaborative (NISMEC)
Support provided by Saint Mary’s College, the University of Notre Dame,
and the Indiana Department of Education

3. On Learning
• People of all ages come to class with ideas.
• These ideas are often different from the
scientifically accepted ones.
• They are strongly held, since they are based
on the person’s own experiences,.
• Research indicates that “telling” and rote
learning does not change the person’s beliefs
about the world.
• Change can occur by active engagement,
analogous to how scientists learn.

4. Why notebooks?
How good is our memory?
• Memory a construction of expectations.
• Consider scenario:
– Student predicts results of experiment
– Does experiment
– Gets unexpected result
• Perhaps due to preconception of what will happen.
– Three weeks later tries to recall what happened in
the experiment…

5. What do Students Remember?
• Does the student remember what actually
happened or what he believes would happen.
• Often students remember what they believe would
happen, based on prior misconceptions
• Misconceptions are very firmly anchored by the
students’ prior experiences.

6. Why Notebooks?
• When the outcome of an experiment is
unexpected, the only way to reliably recall the
result is by writing it down at the time it was
done.
• Otherwise you don’t know if you remember
what happened, or what you thought would
happen.
• This applies to scientists as well as students.

7. Different kinds of science
• Private Science
– What scientists do when they learn.
• Public Science
– What the scientists and journalists say.
• School Science
– What teachers have generally experienced
when they learned.

8. Private Science
(apprenticeship)
• Scientists are guided by each other’s work,
– solving problems, learning from mistakes.
• Students are guided to solve problems,
– rather than given answers.
• Students develop confidence in their own
ability to work through their mistakes.
• Private notebooks, rich in brief notes,
sketches, reflections, in addition to data.

9. Science Activity Model
(William S. Harwood, et al.)

10. Private Science
A Scientist’s Perspective
• Being wrong is an opportunity to learn
• Being right feels good, but doesn't get you any new
information
• When you are doing something you have never done
before, why would you expect to be right even half the
time?
Niels Bohr:
• "An expert is someone who knows from her
own bitter experience almost all possible
mistakes in her field.”

11. School Science
• Traditional:
– Distilled summary of Public Science.
– Masks completely how the science was learned.
– Encyclopedic textbooks.
– Replication with less attention to understanding.
– What most teachers experienced as students.
– No real need for notebooks.
• Reformed:
– Mimics the private guided inquiry done by scientists.
– Learn in cooperation with peers.
– Guidance from mentor-teachers.
– Focuses on developing understanding.
– Requires rich notebook strategies.

12. Like Scientists,
Students Use Notebooks
• Students write and draw the same as scientists.
Predictions
Observations
Descriptions
Organize data
Reflections
• Observations recorded as soon as possible.
– Memory is a construction based on expectation.

13. Students Use Notebooks
• As a guide and/or reference
• As a place to collect and record claims, and
evidence to support their inquiry and talk.
• To make thinking visible
• To document understanding of concepts over
time
• To think of new questions to be investigated
• To replicate an experiment

14. Teachers Encourage Students to
Use Notebooks
• Writing and drawing…
– Supports concept development and different learning styles
– Enhances cross-curricular connections
– Is authentic literacy
• At a time for discussions (literacy)
– Encourages Making Meaning – “science learned in
conversation”
– Makes thinking public
– Below the line – a strategy for whole group discussions
• As a place to raise new questions to be investigated

15. Teachers Engage Students
with their Notebooks
Through Questioning:
• How would you describe that in your notebook?
• What is the best way to record your results?
• How does your data compare with your classmates?
• What evidence to you have to make that claim?
In Discussions:
• Share with the class what you drew in your notebook.
• Please read … from your notebook.
• Present your experiment results using your notebook
data as evidence.

16. Teachers Use Student
Notebooks
• Normative assessment
– Teacher compares student notebooks to each other
• Formative assessment
– Teacher circulates to assess student work while
writing in notebook (“over the shoulder”)
– Teacher/students read notebook and reflect on work
(“two wishes and a star”)
• To Enhance Cross-curricular Connections

17. Student Notebooks
Move the Hands-on to Minds-on by:
• Providing a place to document work and ideas
in order to develop concept understanding
• Providing a place for reflection and drawing
conclusions
• Being an authentic learning experience

18. Books Worth Reading
• How People Learn
– National Academy of Science (downloadable)
• How Students Learn
– National Academy of Science
• Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching in
Grades K –8
– National Academies Press
• Ready, Set, Science! Putting Research to Work in the K-8
Classroom
– National Academies Press
• Science Notebooks, Writing about Inquiry
– Heinemann
• Linking Science and Literacy in the K-8 Classroom
– NSTA Press
• Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms
– NSTA Press

19. NISMEC Talks HASTI 2009
Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Collaborative
8:30 Fri Student Misconceptions About the
Particulate Theory of Matter
9:30 Fri Professional Development for Teachers and
Administrators to Support Change to Kit-
Based, Student-Centered Classrooms
Consistent with Indiana State Academic
Standards.
1:30 Fri Science Literacy – More Than Reading
Books