Science Notebook

What are some commonalities in the articles you read and the presentation?  
The commonalities I read in the articles were reiterating how science notebooks are a tool for students. Notebooks are a place where students can store important vocabulary and hold their conceptual understanding of a topic. Several of the articles mentioned notebooks as a way to guide teacher planning and incorporate science into co-curricular subjects such as math or literacy.
Are you currently using science notebooks in your classroom?  If so, how are you using them?  If not, how might you use them?
I currently am using science notebooks as a way for students to reflect upon experiments and record important science vocabulary terms I want them to practice and remember.

What are two new things that you learned from the readings and/or PowerPoint or something that reinforces what you are already doing with science notebooks in your classroom?
One thing I would like to add in is having students use their notebooks as an observation tool and the second is for data collection. I am interested in finding a science experiment for my student that requires them to collect information as they test. A notebook would help them to organize and store important information.

What are some advantages and disadvantages you see of using science notebooks?
The advantages are how it would assist in teacher planning and help to guide instruction. Another advantage is how it is student guided and can be kept as a resource throughout a unit for students to look back on content already covered. Some of the disadvantages to using a science notebook is when working with young students who haven't quite developed enough reading/writing skills to really be able to record or read much information themselves independently. It would be a challenge to differentiate a notebook while also keeping the complexity and the inquiry-based design.

In what way, if any, do science notebooks help support what we have explored this week with regard to "How Students Learn Science"?
Ask, anticipate, identify, confront/build, test, and internalize scientific models can all be held within a science notebook. You could put each of these into the sequence in the notebook and have students continue it as a working document just like science is expected to be used. It's never quite finished but should be retested and challenged by peers- a notebook full of information would make for one beneficial tool!

I use notebooks as a book.  Students write down content and "notes" about the subject we are learning.  I love the fact that you have students use the notebooks to write down their experiments that they conduct in your room.  

Enjoyed reading about the disadvantages.  Being MS teacher, students come prepared with the skills of writing and reading.  Not thinking about lower elementary lacking those skills.  I believe that using a lot of diagrams and students writing simple words to explain/measurements.  Get them acclimated to the notebook would be beneficial and as they grown older in the grades they can expand their thoughts.