What are the four main components of Science Notebooking?

     There are so many different approaches to science notebooking and my approach is based on the method developed by FOSS and the Lawrence Hall of Science.  I have been to a week long training with them at the NSTA conference in Philly as well as a few other sessions in St. Louis.  I have seen a sneak peek into the new 3rd Edition of the FOSS kits and know that notebooking will be embedded in each and every lesson! 

    But, I also know that science notebooks can be used with any kind of inquiry approach to teaching science.  Inquiry is all about questions...which is why we start with Focus Questions for each lesson.  But what comes next?

    Science Notebooks should be broken into four main components:

1. Planning the Investigation (includes Focus question, predictions, planning and procedures)
2. Data Acquisition and Organization - narratives, drawings, charts and tables, artifacts, or graphs
3. Making Sense of Data - frames and prompts, claims and evidence, conclusions and predictions, and I wonder statements
4. Reflection and Self-Assessment - teacher feedback, self-assessment and lines of learning

I highly recommend that you go to my documents page and download the science notebook folio from FOSS for more information.  In the next coming posts I will spend some time talking about data acquisition...it's not just numbers!

Until then...Gotta run!