Virtual+Scientist's+Notebook

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Virtual Science Notebook
Notebooks are used by scientists the world over to record their inquiries. We will be using this same practice with our students to promote rigor and relevance as they study science. Science notebooks are a great way to allow students to document learning across the content areas. Notes about experiments can be kept. Illustrations and sketches can be added. Graphs and data can be placed where they are pertinent. Many more resources can be written or glued into a physical science notebook. However, another option exists. You can create a virtual notebook inside a wiki.

The virtual notebook has many great features that either surpass those of the physical notebook or simplify them. Digital pictures can be inserted into the correct page. Organization is made by use Table of Contents on pages that can go on to extensive lengths. Graphs and charts can also be built or imported to help manage and interpret data. Working hyperlinks to websites with more resources can be included so those students can click to jump to the resource. Audio notes can be added to record the students' ideas faster than they can type. They can then come back to type the notes later. This also allows for easier reflection.

After sufficient practice students who keep scientist's notebooks should be able to do the following:
 * Increase their understanding of science concepts based on the standards for each grade level.
 * Using writing as a process for discovery.
 * Improve their ability to organize ideas and information.
 * Recognize the connection between thinking and writing.
 * Write more freely, more comfortably, and more often.

Write often. Date each entry. Sharpen your ability to observe and reflect through practice. Take risks and explore your writing potential. Be complete and accurate. Support your thoughts with clear supporting information. Have fun as you write.
 * A Virtual Scientist's Notebook might include, but not necessarily limited to:**
 * Your reactions to class experiences.
 * Sketches, drawing, diagrams (either harvested from the internet and appropriately cited OR draw by students and captured with digital camera ...remember your document camera is a camera!)
 * Thought about the science you are learning.
 * Things you find confusing or unclear.
 * Connections between this class and other parts of your life.
 * Questions that arise about science topics.
 * Ideas for the future that you want to remember.
 * Links to information such as articles, poems, cartoons, pictures.
 * Work done by peers.
 * Class notes.
 * Activity data.
 * To improve your writing:**

1. My first impression of is ... 2. Today in class I learned that ... 3. After today's class ... 4. I still want to know more about ... 5. I wonder what the reason might be for ... 6. I have questions about ... 7. The results from today indicate that ... 8. From the observations/data I suspect that ... 9. I can make the following conclusions about ... 10. In a nutshell, I discovered today that ... 11. What still puzzles me is ... 12. The purpose of today's lesson/activity is...
 * Writing Prompts:**

**Quality Feature of Scientist's Notebook**
Language Features ||~ Formal Features ||~ Cognitive Activity || personal || frequency of entries || observation || conversation || length of entries || doubt || informal || clippings || connections || emotional || evidence of care || information || experimental || candid || speculation || context clear || grammatically correct || problem posing and solving || questioning || confirmation || dialogue || revision || self-awareness || digression ||

**Set Up Directions**
-Each classroom teacher will need to begin their class wiki. This wiki can serve multiple purposes and content areas. I would suggest using Teacher Last Name Grade Level - Moore STEM ..... ex. Gooch 5th - Moore STEM as the name of the wiki. We will continue to use Wikispaces. When you create your wiki you will have the option of choosing for Education which will give you a larger storage and email them to remove ads. -Each student in your class will have to be invited to join so that they can work on their own pages. -Think of this as a huge resource repository / journal / notebook. -The number of pages added if virtually limitless. -You might consider using the navigation on the side of your wiki like chapters in a book. We will need to go in and edit this. Default settings allow every page added to the wiki to appear in the navigation. It soon become too long and cumbersome. -I would use my Content Areas like Language Arts, Social Studies, Science etc. Then on pages as needed (like Science) create links to each student so that they can then create their own Scientist Notebook. -Glossary is a very important element for Scientist Notebooks.... we will link to the Glossary that will be created and grow from the Moore STEM wiki..... every class can link to the exact page on the school wiki. This will promote collaboration and team work. Different classes should assume the lead on Glossary Entries for each unit of content. Other classes may then peer edit and add optional details. (Wikis all provide history of pages. If any work is accidentally lost it can be recovered.) -Be sure to date all entries.
 * Important Note* Wiki pages can be extremely long...we will learn to use **Table of Contents on Pages and Headings**.

@http://www.ebecri.org/custom/toolkit.html @http://www.ebecri.org/media/Science%20Interactive%20Notebook.pdf
 * For more information for using Scientist's Notebooks**

Open Science Notebook
is a great place to start investigating how many actual scientists and programs of study make use of a Scientist Notebook.

Science Notebooks
Our goal here is to provide you all the help you need to create a classroom wiki and allow your students to each a page(s) to use as their science notebook. Step 1 would be to create your classroom wiki. There are many good wikis out there but for consistency we are going to use Wikispaces. We will create your classroom wiki together during one of our trainings. Each student will have one or more pages. These pages "GROW" as they add content. Each student's page will be named first.lastinitial to help maintain privacy. (ex. HelenG) Those names will appear in the navigation frame just like the ISTE NETS appear in this wiki. We will also show you how to use //Table of Contents// on pages and //Heading features// so as pages become lengthy you can move within the page quickly.

Always remember HELP is a very powerful feature in most programs today and in wikispaces that can also be said. If you need help try searching in the help section for the answer.

Inquiry Template
media type="custom" key="5796285"

Web2.0 Tools
//These can be easily embedded in a student's page. You will find them using these features often.//
 * VoiceThread
 * Surveys
 * Image Search
 * Google Maps