Science Lab Notebooks in Book Creator

Contents

Cover photo by Stephen Hocking on Unsplash

Performance Based Assessment

Video & Audio Capture Hands-on Science

Magic Pen for Modeling

Teacher-created Templates

Virtual Interactives bring Abstract Concepts to Life

Supporting ELA Objectives & English Learners

Teacher Feedback with Text, Audio, Video & more

By Melissa Eaton

M. of Ed. @MrsEatonELL
Adjunct Instructor of Education,
K-5 Elementary Teacher, & English Learner Specialist

Performance

Based Assessment

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) set Performance Expectations (PEs) for what students should know as well as what they must be able to do to apply and demonstrate what they know. Traditional pencil and paper tests are not adequate to demonstrate that students have met these standards.

A science notebook in Book Creator serves as a performance based assessment where students and teachers can track a student's growth as a scientist. Features like text-to-speech, videos, voice recordings and the magic pen allow students to show what they know and what they can do in multiple ways. Additionally, teachers can share the published book with parents, who can see their child's work as it progresses throughout the school year.

Listen

Veena's 2nd Grade Lab Notebook

Hi my name is Veena! Come learn science with me. I am doing cool stuff so come and LEARN WITH ME.

I LOVE SCIENCE

Me Too!

Videos & Images

Capture Hands-On Science

Students learn how to use the many interactive elements of Book Creator surprisingly quickly, even for pre-readers and students with very little English. The intuitive, user-friendly menus, complete with pictorial icons, allow the youngest learners to take advantage of all the features, clicking on the plus sign to add in their pictures, writing, and video.

Using teacher-created template pages like the one below, educators can easily send out an assignment to individual students or to every student in the library with only one click. Teachers can add instructions using short

audio clips, so that students can listen to directions multiple times instead of looking up at a SmartBoard, which many find difficult to alternate with doing their work.

Listen

Blank template (remix it)

Modeling

with the

Modeling is a critical component of science science. Students use models to represent their current understanding of how things work and how things change or move. Book Creator has a number of tools to help students create sketches, diagrams, and models so that students can show what they know in a visual way.

In science, a student’s understanding of a concept is often complex, so a voice recording paired with a photograph or model allows the teacher to track a student's evolving understanding of the performance expectations. Voice recordings also make it easier for emerging writers to express themselves, while serving as an ongoing portfolio of a student's oral fluency and progress in speaking.

Listen

Circuits

I chose to draw a model of this circuit because it really works! Batteries have positive + and negative - sides on them.

The way it works is that first it starts from the 9V battery, then the wires transfer the electricity to the motor. Then it goes to the windmill. Then it goes to the LED light and then back all the way to the battery. Then it All turns on!

But If one wire metal does NOT touch metal it does not work at all.

Today in Mrs. Eaton's class we made circuits using wires. It was really fun trying out the circuits. My favorite part was the motor because it spun.

windmill

light

positive wire

negitive wire

motor

We can also use solar cells to get sunlight and make that windmill turn!

Differentiation

made easy

Students at all language levels and with any learning style can find success using features like voice typing, recorded directions, the magic pen, and visual supports like photos, videos, and 3D Models. Having voice recordings and videos of how students speak is powerful evidence of how a student is progressing in spoken English. Students have many ways to "show what they know" and they are much more likely to have success when they use the many features of Book Creator.

Many features of Book Creator especially benefit English Learners, allowing them to demonstrate what they know using multiple modalities. What’s more, science is one of the best ways to develop ELs language through content. Science Notebooks in Book Creator can be differentiated to a student's language level, and a student's native language can be incorporated so that there is a more complete picture of what the student is learning.

Add a caption here

Listen