Personal Action Research Plan

My Wondering:  How can I use the Science Notebook with my students as an effective assessment tool?

Part A Context:  Description of Topic and Students

            I am a first grade teacher at Joyce Kilmer Elementary, Indianapolis Public School #69.  I am getting ready to start my sixth year of teaching.  I have spent the last five years teaching second grade at a different school within the same school district in Indianapolis.  My new school is a turnaround school.  It is a turnaround school because our students have been in the bottom twenty percent of all elementary schools in Indiana for their performance in language arts and math on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP).  There is a new principal at my school and half of the staff is new to the school.  If my school does not make major gains and raise student achievement on our state test it is at risk of being taken over by the state.  To prevent this my principal has mandated that teachers teach only language arts and math on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  Teachers are to teach Science, Social Studies, and Health on Fridays only. 

My school district just adopted FOSS (Full Option Science System) as our new science kit based curriculum. I am very excited about using the FOSS kits and hands on, inquiry based materials in my classroom. Students are expected to use Science Notebooks as a tool to keep track of their learning. I recently attended a teacher training on using the FOSS materials and notebooks, but I am concerned about assessing my students learning using the Science Notebooks. I would like to research this question to find effective ways to assess my students’ notebooks regularly to make sure that they are learning the desired content and gaining deep scientific understandings.

Although I do not know the specific demographics of my class for next year, the majority of the students who attend Joyce Kilmer Elementary School are African American.  Most of the students receive free or reduced lunches.  There are little to no English language learners and nearly one-fourth of the schools population receives special education services (Indiana Department of Education, 2011).

As a Science Lead Teacher for my school district, I am responsible for sharing science information with my colleagues.  Also, I meet with the science department head for the district and other science lead teachers to discuss high quality science.  Together we decide the best ways to implement our science program into our classrooms and share our ideas with the staff members at our schools.  I am passionate about teaching science and feel that it is a very important part of the curriculum. I try to be a model science teacher to help my colleagues become more comfortable and excited about teaching it efficiently.  It is my job to show my excitement and passion for teaching science to other teachers so that the students in my school receive the best science education possible.  I am very interested finding ways to use the Science Notebook as an effective assessment tool for my students so that I can share my findings with my colleagues.  It is my hope through this action research plan that I become successful at assessing my students learning using their Science Notebooks and share my knowledge with others.

Part B Literature Related to My Topic

            I enjoyed searching for and reading literature about using Science Notebooks to effectively assess student learning.  I reviewed several different studies where researchers examined wonderings similar to mine.  I noticed many common themes while reviewing literature on effectively assessing students’ Science Notebooks.  Many of the same ideas appeared in the research that I reviewed.  According to my research, in order to effectively assess Science Notebooks, teachers must know what to assess and how to assess it, they must use the data to inform their instruction, give timely feedback, and attend professional development.  Most importantly, teachers must have a deep understanding of the content knowledge they are teaching (Aschbacher & Alonzo, 2006). 

            “The science notebook is the means by which students communicate their understanding” (Amaral & Klentschy, 2008, p. 121).  Teachers do not need to assess every single thing that is put into a science notebook.  Teachers need to think about the most important concepts that they want their students to learn during the lesson and tell the students what they will be looking for when they assess their notebooks.  Perhaps the simplest way to plan for assessment of the Science Notebooks is by designing a rubric.  Both the teacher and the students need to have a clear understanding of how the notebook will be assessed.  This gives the students the opportunity to self evaluate their notebooks prior to being assessed by the teacher.  After examining student Science Notebooks with rubrics, Amaral and Klentschy suggest that the most important parts to assess are the students’ claims and evidence and their conclusions (2008).  This is where the students have the opportunity to make connections to their prior learning and real life experiences.

            Aschbacher and Alonzo compared two different groups of teachers, some with professional development on using Science Notebooks and some without, and examined the students’ Notebooks (2006).  They concluded that teachers must use the data that they collect from assessing the Science Notebooks to inform their instruction.  In order for the Science Notebook to be an effective assessment tool, teachers will need to make adjustments based on their students’ notebook entries.  Teachers may learn about misconceptions that students have from assessing the notebooks.  This gives the teacher individual data on how each student is doing, as well as possible gaps in learning that many students may have.  Teachers may need to go back and reteach certain lessons or design new investigations to help students achieve the desired learning outcomes (Aschbacher & Alonzo, 2006).   

            Teachers should give written feedback in the students’ Science Notebooks in a timely manner.  Amaral and Klentschy propose that the longer that a teacher waits to give students’ feedback, “the longer it takes for students to clear up misconceptions” (2008, p. 125).  Students need teacher feedback to improve over time.  This can be done through the use of rubrics or teachers can write feedback and questions directly in the students’ Science Journals.  Teachers should monitor students to see that they are making improvements in their Science Journals based on the feedback that they receive from the teacher.

            It is helpful for teachers to attend professional development to feel more comfortable in using Science Notebooks with their students and assessing them.  Both teachers and students need to be taught how to use the Science Notebooks effectively.  Through professional development workshops teachers can practice using a Science Notebook, assessing it based on a rubric, and provide feedback to other teachers.  According to Alonzo, typical Science Notebook entries should include the “date, time, title, question, prediction, materials, procedure, data/observations, and a conclusion” (2008, p. 84).  Teachers need to provide guidance to students in using the notebooks, but it is important that the notebook belong to the student.  Students may need to be prompted or given examples in the beginning of how to use the notebook in order for the higher order thinking and responses to take place.  The students need to have the opportunity to explain what they understand in their Science Notebooks in their own words (Aschbacher & Alonzo, 2006).       

Teachers need to understand the science content knowledge they are teaching in order to assess what their students know effectively.  It may be very difficult to assess a student’s Science Notebook if the teacher does not fully understand the content in which he or she is teaching.  The teacher needs to have a clear idea of what key understandings he or she is looking for within each Science Notebook entry.  A teachers’ understanding of the lesson content has a huge impact on what the students learn (Aschbacher & Alonzo, 2006).  The teacher must have specific learning goals in mind for the students and have a clear understanding of the concepts taught in order to assess the notebooks.  Amaral and Klentschy note that it can be difficult to understand how to follow a student’s reasoning in a notebook entry without having a deep understanding of the science content (2008).  Teachers must have a firm background in the science content knowledge that they are teaching in order to assess their students’ learning (Aschbacher & Alonzo, 2006).  

In Morrison’s research, she studied elementary teachers who used Science Notebooks during their methods course.  She found through collecting data from their Science Notebooks, written assignments, and keeping a researcher’s log that many of the teachers struggled with keeping Science Notebooks.  The teachers wanted their notebooks to be neat and free of errors.  This is not possible because the purpose of the notebook is to record student growth in understanding.  Morrison concluded that without having the teachers use and organize them themselves they would not have the knowledge necessary to use them effectively with their students (2008).

There are both strengths and weaknesses in each of the articles.  Several of the articles that I reviewed did a good job of showing examples of student work in Science Journals and showing examples of sample rubrics to use to assess them.  One weakness that I noticed was that the articles suggested teachers provide feedback to students in their science journals, but not one of the articles showed examples of this.  I would have liked to have seen rubrics completed by teachers assessing student work and the comments that they provided their students.  I believe this would be helpful because it would give me some real examples of student work and show me the ways that it was actually assessed effectively instead of just telling me about it.

In my research I found that many teachers struggle with assessing students’ notebooks.  There are so many important aspects to look at when thinking about assessing Science Notebooks.  Through time, practice, and collaboration with colleagues teachers can learn to use Science Notebooks as effective assessment tools to drive their instruction and ultimately, help students learn science concepts at high levels.

Part C Writing Wondering Questions

            I have so many wondering questions that are related to science it was difficult to come up with just one question to research.  Moving to a new school, teaching a different grade level of students, having new science materials, and having only one day to teach science brings up a number of questions that I could research.  Originally, I thought I would write a question that dealt with the lack of time to teach science.  I had a very difficult time wording this question in a way that would make a good action research project.  I also struggled coming up with ways that I would be able to measure and collect data to answer this question. 

            After playing the Litmus Test Wondering Game and getting feedback from my colleagues I decided that the best question for my action research project was:  How can I use the Science Notebook with my students as an effective assessment tool?  This question is a “how can I wondering” question, it is “focused on student learning”, it does not have a yes or no answer, it is “clear and concise”, and it is a “real” issue that I am facing (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  In response to my wondering that I posted in the discussion forum, Dr. Garner said, “This question is a good wondering question, as assessment is the learning outcome and it is based on what you can do” (2011). 

I was able to find a lot of relevant literature during my literature review that will help me find answers to my question.  

Part D Ways I Will Collaborate With Colleagues as I Engage in Action Research

            As Dana and Yendol-Hoppy said, “Teacher talk is important!” (2009, p. 61).  I plan to collaborate with my first and second grade colleagues throughout my action research inquiry.  We will meet weekly for our structured teacher planning time in a professional learning community.  I plan to use this time to ask my colleagues about how they are using the students’ Science Notebooks as assessment tools.  Together we will talk about ways that we can use them effectively to assess how our students are doing with the science concepts we are teaching.  I will also talk to my colleagues daily in the hallway before and after school.  It is best for me to talk about things shortly after they happen. 

I would also like to talk with other veteran teachers about how they are assessing their students’ Science Notebooks.  As a Science Lead Teacher for my school district, I attend all professional development related to science that my district offers.  This gives me the opportunity to talk with other teachers in different buildings throughout our district.  I could gain valuable information from discussing my action research project with other veteran teachers.  This would give me insight into how they use their students’ Science Notebooks to assess student learning.