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It’s been a debate among my colleagues; Science notebooking or journaling? ...perhaps both??

Adah, Thank you for the feedback and the resources... yanni

This Science Journals Collection is definitely a great resource and tool; I will be adding these resources to my PD Planner as well as discussing it with my peers.

Science writer Sy Montgomery talks about keeping a field journal http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/montgomery/ The Boston Globe once described Sy Montgomery as "part Indiana Jones and part Emily Dickinson" in recognition of her adventurous spirit and passionate voice as a writer. She is a naturalist, devoted conservationist, author, documentary scriptwriter, and radio commentator who writes for both children and adults. Among her award-winning books are Encantado: Pink Dolphin of the Amazon, Search for the Golden Moon Bear, and Spell of the Tiger — which was made into in a National Geographic television documentary that Sy scripted and narrated.

Great info Pamela; thank you for sharing! :)

anyone familiar with ScienceSaurus books? are they available as an ebook?

Adah, thank you so much for the info on "Diigo." I wasn't aware of it... yanni

I think students should use science notebooks and journals. They should be able to write their steps of what they have done and share their feelings about their experiments.

Yanni, I see the two as synonymous in terms of the physical housing of the book. There are times in my middle school class that students are notebooking their investigation’s steps and procedures, and other times they are journaling their thoughts, reflections or anecdotal observations. I want the students to see the two can go hand in hand and are equally important. As for the ScienceSaurus, I have used them for years and years and years and love them to death. No, they are not in e-book format as of yet.

As long as students are writing observations and data and synthesizing new information I think it's 6 one half a dozen the other.

Does anyone have any experience with interactive science notebooks? If so, are they different from science notebooks/journals? If yes, then how do they differ?

Hi Myetta,
There is a difference. Here is the explanation of an interactive science notebook from this journal article: Integrating Interactive Notebooks
An interactive notebook can be a powerful instructional tool, allowing students to take control of their learning while processing information and engaging in self-reflection. The three-part learning cycle of an interactive notebook makes it easy to use and integrate into the science lesson. The basic ideas has its roots in a number of programs (TCI 2000; AVID 2007), but applying knowledge about how students learn science can make this an even more effective tool. In addition to presenting techniques for design, implementation, and assessment, this article describes how interactive notebooks empower students for science achievement.
The article does a great job of explaining how to use this type of notebook in the science classroom.
Also, if you do an advance search in the Learning Center, using interactive science notebook, you will see many more articles on the topic.
Hope this helps,
Carolyn

Have you considered using the lab notebook/Journal for recording data,observations, etc.. It can become their most valuable resource. Don't grade the Journal for content, only for organizational skills, depth of data (use a holistic rubric for this). Then pose short quizzes (on notebook paper) based on the data that the student collected. Let them use their Journals to answer the question(s) using their data to support or justify their answer. Let the questions be just specific enough to require data that all of the student should have gotten. Your LA teachers, using the Common Core framework, can help you develop a rubric that would work with your particular activity/observation/lab. My LA teacher loved doing this and the writing skills of my 6th grade students is increasing daily. It does take time to get used to doing this (develop a good question or set of questions that will be rigorous enough to require their actual data for each activity) But now, I am not grading Journals as much as I did before and the students are writing more in their Journals knowing that they get to use them for their quizzes. I like what is happening with my kids. They are writing more, take pride in their Journals, and at my school we are being interdisciplinary in their use and development. (I posted this also in Chemistry>to Journal or not)

My school district uses the term Science notebooks. My fifth grade students keep a science notebook to journal in. They put their notes in there, Thinking Map entries and even Dinah Zike foldable pages into their science notebooks. Science notebooks always come in handy right before state testing to review all the material that we studied.

This year in 7th Grade Science I have incorporated the Interactive Science Notebooks, at least this is what we call it. Everything is included in it. The left-side is for student input, such as homework, data, Dinah Zeke foldables, and more. The right-side is for teacher input, such as notes, background info, and Lab procedures. So far it has worked out very well and is the best organization tool I have used in the last 20+ years.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I will definitely consider using the interactive notebook for next year.