Interactive Science Notebooks: A Parent's Guide

1. Interactive Science
Notebooks
A Parent Guide by Mrs. Dunne

2. What is an Interactive
Science Notebook?
 A tool to help students develop,
practice, and refine science
understanding, while also
developing reading, writing,
mathematic, and communication
skills.

3. Benefits
 Develop critical thinking skills
 Improve organization
 Demonstrate understandings in
creative ways
 Foster literacy skills (mandated by the
Common Core State Standards)
 Provides a portfolio of student
learning throughout the school year

4. Keeping Current
 The COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS (2010)
calls for embedding literacy into science and social
studies
 Students are called to:
 Read closely and make inferences
 Determine central ideas
 Analyze text
 Interpret texts
 Assess points of view
 Integrate and evaluate content
 Delineate and evaluate arguments of claims
 Analyze ideas across texts
 Read and comprehend informational texts

5. Interactive Notebooks
and the Brain
 Interactive Science Notebooks are
supported in current brain research
 The set up of each notebook aligns
with the functioning of the
hemispheres of the brain
 Allows the brain to analyze, interpret,
and synthesize information
 Synthesis of skills aids in transferring
information into the “long term
storage” area of the brain

6. Notebook Set Up
Left Side- Right Side-
Student Output Teacher Input
 Concept maps  Lecture notes
 Drawings  Lab activities
 Questions  Video notes
 Data and graphs  Summaries
 Self reflections  Textbook notes
 Data from experiments  Procedures for experiments
 Cartoons  Classroom specifics
 Writing prompts  vocabulary

7. Prompts to Push Student
THINKING
 As students work in the left side of the notebook,
they think about the following:
 What are students curious about?
 What would they like to test/ experiment?
 What was the main idea?
 What are the important details to remember?
 How does the information relate to life?
 What do students still not understand?

8. Further Resources
 http://www.nonags.org/members/dasaunders/index
2.html
 http://info.teachtci.com/forum/isn.aspx
 http://www.mrgreer.net/interactivenotebook.html
 http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/snguyen/Physical
%20Science/Interactive_Notebook.htm