Content Notebook Heuristic

Purpose:
The purpose of having students set-up a content notebook is to allow students to learn
content organization. With the notebook, students can organize key science skills learned,
essential scientific information, analyze & interpret lab data, as well as make connections to
other contents & higher level science contents.
At collegiate levels of science & mathematics, students are expected to be able to
accurately document processes, reasoning, data, and conclusions within a format similar to a
scientific notebook. These notebooks are also expected to be graded, and presented to
professors and principal investigators when required; some notebooks within particular research
laboratories are mandated to be in this format or similar format due to the legal requirements of
intellectual property.
Content notebooking is also considered a transfer skill that students can also use to
organize their thinking and work into other various contents or life skills.

CDE - Essential Skills Addressed in Content Notebooking:

● Communicator: Communicates experiences, ideas, information, and feelings effectively through verbal
and non-verbal language, media, art, and data, as well as listening to others’ experiences, ideas, and
feelings. Communicators use literacy, numeracy, and computational thinking skills to interpret and create
new understanding from spoken language and writing, and from a wide variety of visual representations and
media.

○ Media Literacy: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act through the various
forms of media, including: the ability to analyze the reliability of information, claims, and sources
presented in the various forms of media.

○ Data Literacy: The ability to identify, collect, evaluate, analyze, interpret, present, and protect
data.

● Problem Solver: Generates, evaluates, and implements solutions to problems. A capable

decision-maker can identify alternatives, think computationally, and weigh trade-offs to make well-reasoned
decisions and solutions individually or in collaboration with others.

○ Critical Thinking and Analysis: The ability to apply a deliberate process of identifying
problems, gathering information, and weighing possible solutions, including: making choices rooted
in understanding patterns, cause-and-effect relationships, and the impacts that a decision can have
on the individual and others.

● Community Member: Demonstrates concern for the welfare of others, for cultural resources, and for
the natural world. Community members are respectful and inclusive, consider multiple perspectives, and
honor others regardless of differences.

○ Civic Engagement: The ability to develop and apply knowledge, skills, and habits gained from
experiences - within communities of diverse perspectives - to address issues, affect change, and/or
solve problems.
 ● Empowered Individual: Empowered to make a difference by understanding strengths and limitations,
acting on curiosity, taking leadership roles, demonstrating respect and responsibility, taking informed risks,
and persisting in the face of challenges.

○ Self-Management: The ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in
different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations, including: the capacity to delay
gratification, manage stress, stay productive and accountable, and feel motivation & agency to
accomplish personal/collective goals.

○ Career Awareness: The ability to apply the knowledge and understanding of how one’s
dreams, experiences, and interests translate into career fulfillment and lifelong pursuits in local,
regional, national, and global career pathways and opportunities.

CDE - 21st Century Skills Addressed in Scientific Notebooks:

● Critical Thinking and Reasoning
○ Critical thinking and reasoning are vital to advance in the technologically sophisticated world we
live in. In order for students to be successful and powerful readers, writers, and communicators,
they must incorporate critical thinking and reasoning skills. Students need to be able to successfully
argue a point, justify reasoning, evaluate for a purpose, infer to predict and draw conclusions,
problem-solve, and understand and use logic to inform critical thinking.

● Information Literacy
○ The student who is information-literate accesses information efficiently and effectively by reading
and understanding essential content of a range of informational texts and documents in all
academic areas. This involves evaluating information critically and competently; accessing
appropriate tools to synthesize information; recognizing relevant primary and secondary
information; and distinguishing among fact, point of view, and opinion.

● Self Direction
○ Students who read, write, and communicate independently portray self-direction by using
metacognition skills. These important skills are a learner’s automatic awareness of knowledge and
ability to understand, control, and manipulate cognitive processes. These skills are important not
only in school but throughout life, enabling the student to learn and set goals independently.

● Invention
○ Applying new ways to solve problems is an ideal in reading and writing instruction. Invention is one
of the key components of creating an exemplary writing piece or synthesizing information from
multiple sources. Invention takes students to a higher level of metacognition while exploring
literature and writing about their experiences.

Alternative Content Applications & Iterations:

● Writing journals and diaries (English & Social Studies)
● Engineering Notebooks (PLTW Engineering)
● Scrapbooking & Charting (General Life Skill)
● Art Portfolios (Art)
● Math Process Notebooking (Mathematics)
General Content Notebooking Lesson Outline:
● 1 min - Review learning objectives & target for lesson
● 5-10 min - Pass out content notebook page(s) to students, and materials necessary to
have students place pages into their notebooks (tape, glue, scissors, etc).
● 5 min - “I Do” of Notebook Page Skill
● 10 min - “We Do” of Notebook Page Skill
● 20 min - “You Do” of Notebook Page Skill
● 5 min - Reconvene with class to address any questions of skill practiced
● 1 min - Review learning objectives & target for lesson

Total Time for Notebooking Lesson: 37 - 42 minutes (approximately 0.5 - 0.75 of class period)

Average Notebooking Per Week: 1 - 2 times if necessary, depending on what skills are being
addressed and needs scaffolding

Content Notebook Process Matrix:

This is matrix is intended for a teacher or PLT to calibrate their content notebook process
to the following guidelines:
● Content knowledge presented is narrowed, and focused.
● Content knowledge is presented in an accessible manner.
● CLDE supports are built-in where needed
● Mathematical supports are built-in where needed
● Evidence of IEP & 504 accommodations are present
● Contains some variation of a table of Contents, page numbers, and/or other identifying
information to support content organization
 Inquiry Process
Is the content page focused on one key skill
or topic according to the academic
standard(s) being addressed?
Can the skill and/or topic be fit to one page?
Does the notebook page(s) provide
differentiated modes of learning (visual,
mathematical, kinesthetic, etc)?
Does the notebook contain a Table of
Contents and/or some other organizational
strategy that makes finding information
predictable for students?
Does page(s) contain support for IEPs,
504s, and ELL students?
Rationale Achieved? Adjustments Needed
(Y/N)
Too many pages containing multiple topics and/or
skills can confuse students in terms of learning targets
assigned to each skill page.
Minimize pages to fit one key skill or topic associated
with the lesson target.
Skills & topics should be simplified to one page if able
to help with students in accessibility and the narrow
focus of the scientific notebook standard.
Remember, the scientific notebook is meant to support
student access and apply scientific knowledge, not to
just search & find basic scientific facts/answers.
To the best ability possible, notebooks as a whole, and
individual notebook pages in general, should provide
different views and modes of learning to students to
apply their knowledge into specified context by
increasing accessibility in terms of page set-up.
This differentiation also aligns with specific IEP/504
accommodations and CLDE strategies/supports.
Not every notebook page can have multiple modes of
learning presented; however, teachers & teams should
strive to have as many modes presented throughout
the entire notebook as possible.
As part of the key purpose of scientific notebooks,
students should be setting up their notebooks in an
organizational manner using a table of contents, page
numbers, and other identifying information.
Alterations to typical organizational manners can be
made, but the content knowledge location should still
remain predictable to the student and any other
reader.
To increase accessibility to students with learning or
language obstacles, notebook pages should
implement scaffolded supports, and be thought of as a
teaching tool instead of just a basic glossary of
scientific facts.