Observation and Reflection: Journaling in the Science Classroom

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Observation and Reflection Journaling in the
Science Classroom

• By
• Sally Frederick Award-Winning English Instructor
• Notre Dame de Sion High School
• AND
• Jan Alderson, South High School
• Award-Winning Science Educator

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Nature is an open book for those who
care to read. Each grass-covered hillside is a
page on which is written the history of the past,
conditions of the present and predictions of the
future. Some see without understanding but let
us look closely. ----John Weaver North
American Prairie, 1954
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Why Journal?Like a string of
beadsor pearlsthese littleor grandepisodes
help us link to the larger strand. This
stringing of images, thoughts , connections,
helps us to have more understanding, reason,
compassion, gratefulness. Clare Walker
Leslie Keeping a Nature JournalThe
fallibility of memory memory is selective,
journaling creates a more concrete record of an
experience.
WHY JOURNAL
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Outline
A. Paybacks from journaling B. How to Get
Started C. Observing Using Your Senses D.
Recording E. Using Scientific Language F.
Reflection
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A. PAYBACKS FROM JOURNALING
1. SCIENTIFIC AND AESTHETIC OBSERVATION 2.
CREATIVE WRITING, DESCRIPTIVE WRITING 3. LAYOUT
AND PRESENTATION OF IDEAS AND OBSERVATIONS 4.
PERCEPTION AND ANALYSIS 5. QUESTIONING,
INVENTIVENESS, SYNTHESIS 6. REFLECTION,
SILENCE 7. MEDITATION, FOCUS, PERSONAL HEALING
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Paybacks (continued)
8. GREATER APPRECIATION OF NATURE AND PLACE 9.
SHARED EXPERIENCE FAMILY, FRIENDS, CLASS 10.
FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE, LEARNING TO OPEN
YOURSELF TO NEW EXPERIENCES 11. SELF-CONFIDENCE
AND THE ABILITY TO EXPRESS YOURSELF from
Keeping a Nature Journal
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B. How To Get Started

• Getting started is always the hardest part. When
  starting a journaling activity include some of
  the following
• What I did. . .(FACTS). Date, where you went,
  what the weather was like.
• What I saw. . . DESCRIBE. . .details, details,
  details
• What I thought . . .what ran through your mind?
  Memories, connections, realizations.
• What I felt. . .feelings both inside and outside.
• Use other senses such as smell, what I heard, .
• Dan Kirby U of
  Georgia-Athens

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HEARING GAME

• OKAY, IF YOU CAN DO THIS, YOURE ALRIGHT. IF
  YOU DO THIS, YOU ARE A DUM DUM DUMMY!!!!
• This shows that we use our sense of vision far
  more than using our sense of hearing.

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C. OBSERVATIONS using your senses
Can you use all 5 of your senses in the
observation process at once? You might be
surprised at the results of exploring beyond
SEEING which is 90 of our observations as
humans. So, be sure to touch, smell, even taste
(with adult guidance), be aware of the sound
around you as well. Monarda, bergamot, bee balm,
horsemint Sight Shape, color Smell/Taste
fresh, lemony or citrus Touch square (stems)
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19 SENSES?!

• See powerpoint 19 Senses which addresses the
  complete set of proposed human senses.

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Questioning

• After the experience, ask might ask yourself
• What happened?
• What did you see?
• What did you feel?
• Why was that significant
• Why do you think it happened?
• Cliff E. Knapps Lasting Lessons A Teachers
  Guide to
• Reflecting on
  Experience

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D. Recording

• Choosing a medium
• Photography
• Drawing/Sketching
• In this 20th century, to stop rushing around,
  to sit quietly on the grass, to switch off the
  world and come back to earth, to allow the eye to
  see a willow, a bush, a cloud, a leaf. . .I have
  learned that what I have not drawn I have never
  really seen. from Frederick Franck The
  Zen of Seeing
• Collage (collecting from nature)
• Writing

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Recording continued

• General to specific big picture to specificity.
• Use as many senses as you can.
• Feelings/ emotions
• How do others react?

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E. Using Scientific Language

• The language for all good writing has similar
  characteristics
• 1. Concrete
• 2. Descriptive
• 3. Colorful (variety of adjectives and phrases)
• 4. Metaphoric
• 5. Reflection
• 6. Encouragement
• Whether you are writing in your science journal
  or an English essay, try to remember these
  criteria.

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1. Concrete Language Using the Ladder of
Abstraction

• The following words give you an example of how
  the ladder works going from general to specific

General vehicle automobile
SUV Specific Honda Pilot
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Carolus Linneas
KINGDOM Animalia DIVISION/PHYLUM Chordata SUBPH
YLUM Vertebrata CLASS Mammalia ORDER Primate
FAMILY Hominidae GENUS Homo SPECIFIC
EPITHET sapiens
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Taxonomic Systems
Among the goals of a taxonomic system are
establishing LANGUAGE, in this case standard
names, so we can COMMUNICATE about them. For our
observation and identification assignments, we
will be concerned with the FAMILY, GENUS, and
SPECIFIC EPITHET of the plants we observe. For
the most part, we will be observing both FORBES
and GRASSES.
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Moving down the ladder from general to specific
terminology Plant Annual Forbe Compositae Astera
cea (family) Helianthus (genus) Helianthus
annus COMMON SUNFLOWER (specific
epithet)
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Which is a sunflower?
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2. Descriptive and 3. Colorful Language
When is a sunflower not a sunflower? Just
because the inflorescence (bloom) of a forbe has
yellow petals encircling a central disk, does not
mean it is a sunflower. It could be rosin weed,
compass plant, cup plant, or others. We must
examine the plants carefully, and describe their
bloom, stem, and leaves. Words describing shape,
size, color, texture are all indicators for
identifying a plant.
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4. Metaphoric Language
Metaphors are for English class, right?
Actually good descriptive writing uses
figurative language to make comparisons which
helps a reader to visualize or see. Take a look
at the following description. Can you find the
figures of speech.
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Rosin Weed
I think I am looking at a plant called Rosin Weed
(asteraceae, helianthus, silphiumfolium integri,
muck sunflower.) This one is about 3 feet tall
with tea-cup sized blossoms. A series of
golden-yellow petals surround a pale greenish
center circle edged by little tubes. The leaves
are rough like my cats tongue when he licks my
hand. I crinkled one leaf and tore another from
the stem. The leaves left a sticky residue on my
fingers which gave them a brown stain like
chewing tobacco or grasshopper spit. The leaves
are narrow, have no stalk, and grow on opposite
sides of the stem. It has no distinct odor or
fragrance.
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• 5. In the reflection process, you are either
• Becoming aware
• Transforming
• Analyzing
• Recapturing/reliving
• Exploring or
• Linking
• the parts of what you have experienced.

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Thinking About Thinking
In order to learn from the experiences you will
have, you must take time to sort the relevant
from the irrelevant and the useful from the
useless. After an experience, you can identify
the important elements by asking, What was
significant to me? What did I feel?
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• The means to achieve these end are either
• Drawing conclusions
• Evaluating
• Decision making
• Thinking about relationships
• Describing
• The aim of reflection, simply put, is to promote
  meaningful experiential learning.

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Reflection
Most of the presentation has been on observation
and the language we use to make those
observations clear. These are teachable
skills. Reflection is harder. It is most likely
encouraged rather than taught.
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6. Encouragement
Keep track of all your questions, even the ones
where you have no idea where to look for the
answers. Slow down, get in touch with yourself as
you notice and observe. Notice your breathing,
your heart rate. Whats happening to you, your
body and your spirit. How can you connect this
experience to your life, the one you actually
daily live? Any realizations? Truths, even
ironies in your experience. Does this bring back
any memories experiences you have had, books
you have read, classes you have taken. ENJOY!
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• http//www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id5576995nta
  gmncollst8

• BIOMIMICRY

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A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.
Aldo Leopold
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Resources
Conservation Commission of the State of Missouir.
Public Prairies of Missouri. Jefferson City,
MO Missouri Department of Conservation, 2003.
Denison, Edgar. Missouri Wildflowers.
Jefferson City, MO Missouri Department of
Conservation, 1978. Ladd, Doug and Frank Oberle.
Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers. Guilford, CT
Falcon, 1995. Leslie, Clare Walker and Charles E.
Roth. Keeping a Nature Journal Discover a
Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You.
North Adams, MA Storey Books, 2000. Leopold
Project. LEP Educator Guide. Go to page
https//dnr.state.il.us/education/habitatposter/su
mmer.htm (Inspired by the Prairies Across Kansas
program, Konza Biological Station, Manhattan, KS,
and Jan Alderson, science teacher Raytown South
and Shawnee Mission South High Schools.)
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Assignment Nature Journaling

1. Prepare your comp book date, time, location
2. At the first stop, use all your senses in
   describing the area. Use as many sense-based,
   descriptive terms as possible.
3. This time, focus on one living thing, then
   describe as fully as possible in the time
   allowed.
4. Finally, as a group, shout out and write down as
   many descriptive terms as the group shouts out
   during observations of what you have been asked
   to describe.
5. Reflect on this question What do you gain from
   the SMESL experience?
6. Using the General Reference resource, type up and
   send to WIKI site. Due on WIKI Friday, August
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