Teaching Science With Interactive Notebooks

Book excerpt: "Easy to read, with good examples and illustrations. The rationale is spelled out for every step, the setup for the interactive notebook is clearly explained, and you can hear the enthusiasm of the author, which makes the reader enthusiastic about trying the strategy." —Maria Mesires, Seventh-Grade Science Teacher Case Middle School, Watertown, NY "In an era when science teachers are being asked more and more to teach writing skills and build science literacy, this book presents an engaging and creative way to answer that challenge and encourage the use of higher-order thinking skills." —Michael Baker, Eighth-Grade Science Teacher Memorial Middle School, Albany, OR Increase student learning in the inquiry-based science classroom! Interactive notebooks allow students to record and analyze observations, reflect on their learning, and self-assess their work. Teaching Science With Interactive Notebooks gives educators a step-by-step process for introducing interactive notebooks to students and using notebooks to develop students′ communication skills, cognitive organization skills, and sense of responsibility for their own learning. Packed with examples from actual student notebooks, this detailed guide explains the unique features that make interactive notebooks more effective tools than conventional notebooks for science classrooms. This resource: Describes the nuts and bolts of implementing interactive notebooks, including execution, time management, and grading Uses the 5E Learning Cycle (engage, explore, elaborate, extend, evaluate) as the framework for science instruction Emphasizes the importance of writing in science and provides strategies for modeling effective writing Explores strategies to encourage collaborative student inquiry and foster whole-class discussions By implementing interactive notebooks in your classroom, you can gain deeper insight into each student′s understanding, learning progress, and thinking!