Interactive Notebook Parental Reflection
Dear Parent or Significant Adult,
This interactive notebook represents your student’s learning to date and should contain the work
your student has completed in class such as notes, homework, classwork, reflection on the unit,
etc. It should be neat in appearance, have all materials glued in, include color, we are up to page _____in the notebook.
In order to initiate and continue communication between you, your student, and me, I ask that you
please take some time to look at this notebook with him/her, read their reflections, and respond to the following items. Thank you for your time and support of our class and your students’ academic growth.
1) The work I found most interesting was…….. because…….
2) What does the notebook tell you about your student’s learning habits or talents?
3) My student’s biggest concern about his/her learning is…
Parent Name______Parent Signature______
Parent’s Email (please write legibly) ______
Student’s Name______Student’s Period______Date______
Comments? Questions? Concerns? Feel free to contact me at
Student Reflective Questions:
1) Select up to 2 items that represent your best work – 1 from the left side, 1 from the right side. In two reflective paragraphs, address the specific reasons why you chose these items as your best work as well as what these assignments reflect about your skills as a scientist-student.
High quality reflection includes your consideration of the following in reference to your best work: what you learned from the activity, how you learned from it, what aspects of the work were high quality, what you would do differently in the future (and why), what makes you proud of this particular work, what made the activity worthwhile for you, how does the work impact your view of the word, what information did you learn that was new to you, etc. High quality reflection also examines your skills as a student and as a scientist. Skills you might discuss are organization, analysis, logic, creativity, thoroughness, accuracy of information, ability to put new information together, understanding new concepts, etc. Please note: Reasoning that it was “fun” or just that you liked it is NOT adequate reflection.
2) Indicate your overall rating of your notebook based on the rubric. Explain why you have earned this rating. Has your notebook improved from past notebooks?
3) What specific study skills have you employed to be successful in this class? What organizational strategies appearing in the notebook helped you learn the most? Elaborate.
4) What are your goals for improvement in this class? List specific areas in which you feel you need to improve or need help improving.
5) What specific changes would you like to see in this class? Explain.
Interactive Notebook Rubric
6 Excellent
Notebook contents are complete, dated, and labeled
Pages are numbered (odd: Right side, even: Left-side)
Right-side/Left-side topic are correct and organized
Notes and writing go beyond basic requirements
Uses color and effective diagrams
Notebook is neat and shows attention to detail
Shows impressive and in-depth self-reflection about work
5 Above Average
Notebook contents are complete, dated, and labeled
Pages are numbered (odd: Right side, even: Left-side)
Right-side/Left-side topic are correct and organized
Most areas meet requirement but don’t go beyond
Uses color and effective diagrams
Includes traits of a six, but lacks excellence
Shows in-depth self-reflection
4 Average
Notebook contents are 90% complete, dated, and labeled
Pages are numbered (odd: Right side, even: Left-side)
Right-side/Left-side topic are correct and organized
Information shows a basic understanding of content and topics
Uses color and some diagrams
Some areas meet requirements but don’t go beyond
Shows limited but real self-reflection
3 Below Average
Notebook contents are 80% complete, dated, and labeled
Pages are numbered (odd: Right side, even: Left-side)
Right-side/Left-side topic are somewhat organized
Information shows limited understanding of content and topics
Uses minimal color and few diagrams
Few areas meet all requirements
Shows some real self-reflection
2 Inadequate
Contents are incomplete
Some attempt at dating an labeling is evident
R side/L side inconsistent an unorganized
Information shows superficial understanding and inaccuracies
Sloppiness prevails
Shows little self reflection
1 Incomplete
Too incomplete to grade
Toward the end of each unit, you will be called upon to reflect upon your work. This writing sample is completed in your notebook, although may be typed and glued into the notebook. While there is no required length, high quality reflection uses 1-2 pages of the notebook. Attach the parent review form (with comments and signature) at the bottom of the right-hand page at the end of each semester.
1. Select up to two items that represent your best work. In a reflective paragraph, address the specific reasons why you chose these items at your best work, as well as what these assignments reflect about your skills as a science-student.
2. Indicate your overall rating of your notebook based on the 1-5 rubric. Include several sentences using specific details, on why you’ve chosen this rating. Has your notebook improved from past notebooks?
3. What standards did we cover in this unit ? Which activities or study skills have you employed to help you learn these topics? Explain.
4. What are your goals for improvement in this class? List specific areas in which you feel you need to improve or need help improving.
5. Pick one topic that was confusing to you. Explain how you might change your study habits to make it more understandable.
What about the left-side activities helped you better understand and recall the material?
How did you use different levels of questions to help you reach a deeper level of understanding?
What did you learn from the activity (both content-wise and learning-wise)?
What aspects of the work were high quality and why?
What you would do differently in the future (and why)?
High-quality reflection includes your consideration of the following in reference to your best work: what you learned from the activity; how you learned from it; what big ideas it relates to; what aspects of the work were high quality; what you would do differently in the future (and why); what makes you proud of this particular work; what made the activity worthwhile for you; how does this work impact your view of the world; what information did you learn that was new to you; etc. High-quality reflection also examines your skills as a student and a scientist. Skills you might discuss are organization, analysis, logic, creativity, thoroughness, accuracy of information, ability to put new information together, understanding new concepts, etc.
Please note: Reasoning that it was “fun” or just that you liked it, is NOT adequate
reflection.
IB Peer Review
IB Research
WHAT RESEARCH SUPPORTS USING INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS?
Notebooks support effective science instruction in a multitude of ways.According to
How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom (Donovan & Bransford, 2005) science
instruction should
INTRODUCTION 5
Figure 1.1 By looking at this sample of a student’s observations, one can see that the lab experiment helped guide the student to his final concluding ideas. His use of diagrams is helpful to the teacher because they show what he
observed, and they make it easy to follow his thinking process. The diagrams become evidence for his final ideas. In those concluding ideas, he sums up Newton’s first law.
Elicit and address students’ prior conceptions of scientific phenomena;
Help students build deep understandings of science subject matter and of scientific inquiry (i.e., what it means to “do science”); and
Help students monitor and take control of their own learning (metacognition). Thoughtful use of interactive science notebooks can help meet all three of these recommendations. The interactive science notebook allows students the opportunity to identify their preexisting ideas, deepen and refine their scientific ideas throughout the learning activities, and reflect on their learning. Beyond the connection to the general findings of Donovan and Bransford (2005) about effective science instruction, researchers have found specific evidence of how interactive notebooks promote student learning and increase achievement.
Science notebooks expose students’ thinking, providing important insights about student understandings and serving as formative assessment tools (Hargrove & Nesbit, 2003; Gilbert & Kotelman, 2005).
Notebooks encourage active learning and provide opportunities for students to pursue their own interests and tackle authentic problems (Hargrove & Nesbit, 2003; Gilbert & Kotelman, 2005).
Notebooks offer numerous opportunities to develop and enhance students’ writing skills (Gilbert & Kotelman, 2005; Young, 2003).
Notebooks provide a structure and support for differentiated learning, helping all students to achieve (Amaral, Garrison, & Klentschy, 2002; Gilbert & Kotelman, 2005).
Interactive notebooks help improve students’ organizational skills (Madden, 2001).
Notebooks facilitate communication with parents and can be used to provide them with evidence of student growth (Hargrove & Nesbit, 2003; Young, 2003). Some of the research on the use of notebooks focused directly on students’ understanding of “doing science” and the nature of science and found that
Thoughtfully implemented science notebooks use reflectivewriting and include a think-aloud feature that is common to the notebooks of actual scientists as they explore the world in a first hand manner (Magnusson & Palincsar, 2003);
Science notebooks engage students in authentic science processes, such as recording information and data and engaging in research, collaboration, and analysis (Hargrove & Nesbit, 2003; Young, 2003); and
Using an interactive notebook allows a student to think, record data and observations, and reflect just as professional scientists do (Young, 2003).