The role of children's journals in elementary school science activities

Abstract

This article reports on a study that investigated the ways that children's use of science journals aided their acquisition of science understandings in one kindergarten and one fourth‐grade classroom. The questions for investigation were: how does the child contextualize the science experience on the journal page? How do child‐produced graphics on the journal page reflect the children's experiences with other school texts? The study found that children recontextualized their understandings of the science investigation and phenomena by using three types of mental contexts that were reflected in their science journals: these contexts were imaginary, experienced, and investigative worlds. By drawing on these three worlds or internal contexts, the children were able to pull the external phenomenon into an internal context that was familiar to them. The child's construction of ideas about a current science experience as expressed on the journal page may reflect experiences with other conventional texts. In this study the children's representations of their imaginary, experienced and/or investigative worlds were shaped by other texts and structures such as school science texts. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 43–69, 2001

Elementary Students' Laboratory Record Keeping During Scientific Inquiry

“…The laboratory notebook is considered a thinking tool for the students where language, data, and experience operate jointly to form meaning for the student, thus where students can apply language arts not only to develop a deep understanding of science content but also to attain scientific literacy (Amaral, Garrison, & Klentschy, 2002;Klentschy, 2008;Klentschy & Molina-De La Torre, 2004;Rivard & Straw, 2000;Shepardson & Britsch, 2001;Saul, Reardon, Pearce, Dieckman, & Neutze, 2002). Under the assumption that laboratory notebooks become a thinking tool for the students, Amaral et al (2002) go a little further and claim that students should be provided with the opportunity to write to themselves in their laboratory notebooks.…”

Science Journals in the Preschool Classroom

“…Although children are often creative about the aspects of their knowledge and experiences that they incorporate into a journal entry (Shepardson and Britsch 2001), sometimes their entries reveal a true misconception. For example, one of our 5-year-old students drew the results of an experiment in which grass seed sprouted in soil but not sand.…”

“…Journals meet this need because they require students to communicate their understandings about science and to revisit these ideas while choosing which aspects of an experience to represent. Second, journals function as an assessment tool by providing teachers with critical information about how individual children conceptualize a particular science experience and interpret it within the context of other knowledge and experiences they bring to the learning situation (Shepardson and Britsch 2001). In addition to being consistent with the NSES, the advantages of science journals in elementary classrooms have become a focus of educational research (e.g., Shepardson 1997;Shepardson and Britsch 2001).…”

Conceptualizing Magnification and Scale: The Roles of Spatial Visualization and Logical Thinking

“…Other important topics such as molecular motion, continental drift, virus replication, limits to size, and evolution are all abstract concepts dependent on properties of size and scale (e.g., Brown et al 2000). Shepardson and Britsch (2001) have suggested that children contextualize their science experience into three different 'worlds' or mental contexts including imagination, previous experience, and the science investigation itself. Shepardson and Britsch (2001) note that it is crucial for students to link the 'visible world' of their lab experiences with the 'invisible world' of abstract science conceptions and phenomena that exists outside of the human sensory experience.…”

“…Shepardson and Britsch (2001) have suggested that children contextualize their science experience into three different 'worlds' or mental contexts including imagination, previous experience, and the science investigation itself. Shepardson and Britsch (2001) note that it is crucial for students to link the 'visible world' of their lab experiences with the 'invisible world' of abstract science conceptions and phenomena that exists outside of the human sensory experience. When the invisible world includes both abstract concepts as well as materials that are too small to be visualized, the student faces a particularly difficult conceptual challenge.…”