Science textbooks & learning to take notes......

[fiddle]

Not sure what science we're using this year but I want my dd middler to learn how to take notes this year from a science textbook.  Looking for suggestions on how to do this...... is there DVD based instruction out there for this?  That also guide them along and also show them how to write lab reports?

I am open to any type of science (earth, life, physical, etc.) and Christian or secular.  I would like to use the time during the middle school years to get dd to learn how to study from a textbook.

 

Thanks :)

Paula

 

 

[mothergooseof4]

We used Apologia General for 7th last year.  The student notebook did a great job of guiding them through the notetaking process.  There is also a study guide to be filled out, a summary to fill in, and lab forms for each lab.  

[sagira]

You may be interested in this thread on developing reading comprehension skills specific to science textbooks: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/467812-developing-advanced-reading-skills/

[KarenNC]

We've used the Holt Science and Technology series with the directed reading sheets and study guide.

 

[fiddle]

Some great ideas, thanks!  It seems like I read somewhere that the BJU middle science books have the kids outlining and there might be some guidance in the Teachers Manuals... but I can't seem to find where I found that info.  Maybe someone on here has experience with the BJU texts?

I know DIVE gives them experience with taking notes from lectures and maybe some help with labs.   But I'd really like her to learn how to outline the textbooks and just not sure I can teach her that skill.....I need something like WWS for science!!!

 

Any other ideas for me to mull over?  Thanks so much!

Paula

[Heathermomster]

DS started outlining and notetaking with science last year using a Holt Life Science text.

 

I started by teaching textmapping and demonstrating how to skim and discover the general layout of the texts. We went over the glossary and index. (DS thought the only glossary was in Spanish.)  I followed that up with teaching both topical and full sentence outlines using instructs found online and by reading WTM and postings by Lewelma.  He also practiced taking notes using mindmaps.

 

For lab reports, I found information over a Donna Young and use that.

 

ETA:  All lessons learned with WWS apply to science.  

[...................]

Calvert 6th walks students through every stage of the learning-to-study process.  So far in Science, he has learned to make flashcards, and keep them in a neat pile and review them daily.  He has also learned to answer end of section questions orally with me, but you could do that on paper.  

[HootyTooty]

We've used the Holt Science and Technology series with the directed reading sheets and study guide.

 

Where you got the reading sheets and study guide from?

[lewelma]

I am about to overwhelm this thread! :001_smile:
 
I have been working on just this issue with my older son.  He is a good reader of nonfiction, attacking it with enthusiasm and focus.  But I have noticed three things when discussing his chemistry: 1) He is not always crisp in his language when discussing scientific issues, 2) although he generally knows the topic, he is not really clear in his head about the organization of the ideas presented, 3) he does not remember most of the very specific details - like chemical equations.  This is something I need to rectify.
 
I have just finished reading Study is Hard Work by Armstrong and What Smart Students Know by Robinson.  I have also spent quite a bit of time thinking about my own skills, the failures of my high school students (when I was teaching science), and my own ds's approach to studying. I wanted to apply the general ideas of these study-skills books to science specifically, and I wanted to clarify in my head how all the different study-skills pieces that you hear about fit into a whole.  After about a month of thinking, I have come to quite a few conclusions which I am going to share.
 
I am big on identifying goals before finding solutions.  So my main question has been *why* take notes?  Really, why?  It is only useful if actually used to better learn the material, and that is definitely *not* what many students do (ask me how I know!).  I have seen it over and over, sometimes note taking is done like an automaton, or even worse notes can be used to avoid memorizing/learning material on the spot, and then the notes are never revisited. The goal of note taking is to help a student learn the material better, but note taking, in and of itself, does not *make* a student learn the material better.  Some additional effort or skill must be employed. 
 
*******
 
So what is studying?  It is a four fold process:
1) Understanding concepts (input from textbooks, lectures, etc)
2) Imposing structure (summarizing, outlining, etc)
3) Memorizing (big picture, details, words, equations, scientific phrases)
4) Producing (writing test answers, essays, verbal discussion)
 
Reading a textbook only accomplishes #1, outlining only #2 (and not always effectively), and you still need to teach #3 and #4. And there is a fifth step – review, which reinforces in the previous 4.
 
So lets go through all 5:
 
Step 1) Understanding Concepts
 
A student needs to be able to read a science textbook and understand the material.  If you do not understand, you first need to actually identify this lack and then need to find answers.  These answers can come from another person, another book, the internet, lecture material, whatever.  But the understanding must be there before steps 2-4 are effectively achieved (although adding structure can often clarify material, so 1 and 2 can overlap for some people in some topics).  You need to teach your student to check their understanding. At the end of a paragraph or section, you need to stop reading and make sure that you understand.  And if you do not comprehend the material, you MUST make an effort to understand.  Many students just keep reading.
 
One of the best ways to insure that a student actually knows if he has understood is to do the S and Q of SQ3R before he reads (Survey and Question). 1) Survey the section -- this means getting the big picture of what you are going to read about in the next 45 minutes.  Look at the headers and the diagrams etc, then 2) make up some questions that you want answered after you read the material.  Then, and only then, do you read (the first R of SQ3R).  After finishing the section, ask yourself the questions and make sure you know the answers.  This method can be taught very explicitly, and is easily implemented by students.  It is much clearer than just 'make sure you understand it before moving on.'
 
In sciences that contain math, like physics and chemistry, working the problems and doing the math is a part of understanding the material, so problem solving really falls in this step. Depending on the science you are studying you can spend more time in step 1 (like with physics) or more time in step 3 (like in biology). So you need to adapt to what you are learning.
 
Step 2) Imposing Structure
 
All textbooks have structure, but some are better than others. The structure is usually in the sub-headers which hopefully make up a clear first-level outline. Your goal in this step is to identify the organization and internalize it. The key here is to INTERNALIZE it.  Really get it.  This is the first half of the 2^nd R of SQ3R – recite. Reciting is both step 2 and 3 – you must impose structure and then recite it to commit it to memory. It is often better to impose structure *after* you have read the section because then you are more likely to see the big picture and identify what is important and what is not. If you take notes as you read for the first time you will almost always write down too much. (although there are some students who need do this to improve their reading skills. And then these students would need to rewrite their notes to impose better, shorter structure).
 
So after you have read and understood the material, how exactly do you rank the topics and details explicitly. You need to see the big picture easily enough that you can summarize, but then also know where all the little details fit into the big picture. There are many ways to do this step, and which one you choose really depends on the student.
 
a) written outline (I, A, 1, a) this is effective for students that like to write
 
b.) note cards – with a broad question on one side and answer on the other.These note cards are for imposing structure. You can also use note cards for memory aids like vocab, but please be clear on the difference. One of the benefits of note cards, is often material found later in the section that applies to a card can be squeezed in so it all fits together.
 
c) Cornell notes – Not as formally structured as above, but then you go back and add more structure to your notes by writing down questions and summaries
 
d) Mind maps – visual organization.  You can even use color!
 
e) Writing in the textbook – actually creating a formal outline with I, A, 1, a, or less formal with just 1,2,3. You can also move material around -so if you like a diagram, you can copy the text description into the diagram so you have a single location for study
 
f) Highlighting – this generally does NOT work because it does not impose a hierarchical structure, but rather just notes the important material. Avoid this unless you have a really good system.
 
You should pick what you think will work best for your student, but then obviously change to a different approach if your first pick doesn't work. So how do you know if it works? Well, you need to ask questions and give answers. First you need to know which questions to ask. Do you? If you don't, then you have not really internalized the structure and you need to go back and find the question. My older has found it effective to put a Q next to whatever phrase can be easily turned into a question which then has the 5 points (or whatever) under it. Name 5 things that.... Explain this process.... etc. If you have internalized the structure, you should be able to get about 60% of the answers to your questions from memory, and then go back and remind yourself of some of the details you did not recall. So in this checking process, you are also starting step 3 – memory.
 
The last thing you need to do in step 2 is keep a global study sheet – this is 1 piece of very large paper divided into however many chapters there are in your textbook that you will be covering during the year. Then after finishing a chapter, you need to add in very small print the most important information in each chapter. Not random details that you can't remember (that is for the memory work below) but rather the big picture outline. And at that time you need to think about how the current chapter fits into the whole of the course. And review it.
 
Step 3) Memorizing the material
 
Yes, this must be done. Once again there are many ways to do it, many of which use the structure that you have created above. You can:
 
1) cover material and verbally quiz yourself
2) rewrite your notes in a shorter form or with a slightly different structure
3) use quizlet or some other online quizzing system
4) find a partner and quiz each other
 
Whatever works for you. But you should be very clear from your imposed structure in step 2 what you should know. And if you don't know it, or it doesn't make sense then you need to go back and reread and reorganize. This is often an iterative process.
 
Step 4) Production
 
All classes require you to produce something. This step is a mix of communication skills and test-taking skills
 
a) Communication skills. All sciences have their own special vocabulary and phrases that you must learn to be able to succinctly express yourself. You need to make sure that you identify these words and phrases in step 2 and memorize them in step 3. Step 4 is about actually using them. You need to practice talking about the scientific processes you are learning using the appropriate terminology. And you need to practice writing about the material you are learning and comparing your answers to 'model answers' to check that you are using the words and phrases correctly. This step cannot be skipped, or your student will end up being incredibly frustrated because he knows the material but cannot explain it – a truly horrible fate!
 
This is also the step where you check that you can graph appropriately, or write all the equations with the proper notation, or where you verify that you are writing the math out in the way that is expected of you (meaning how much work should you show?)
 
b.) Test taking skills. In the production step you need to make sure that you can actually write the answers in the time required, that you know how to read the questions, and that you answer the question fully. Practice tests are best, especially because they identify your weak areas where steps 1,2 or 3 must be revisited. Different tests require different types of preparation.
 
Step 5)  Review
 
You need to create a review schedule. It is best to review your outline/notes the day after you made them and verify that you know what questions to ask, that you can recite the material (or are beginning to), that you see the big picture, and that you still understand the material. Then, you need to have a weekly review where you go over the material from the week before -this can be done daily for a few minutes or weekly for a 20 minute chunk. Or whatever. But you really need to explicitly discuss the review schedule with your student. Cramming the night before does not lead to mastery, only to achievement on tests (sometimes).
 
***********
Ok, if you have gotten this far you are doing well!
 
So how do you *teach* the material above? Personally, I believe that you must model the above steps and teach them explicitly, although I know that some kids can find their own way. The approach I am currently using (as in I completed the first week yesterday, and am planning the second week now) is as follows:
 
Week 1 (1 hour per day)
 
Monday: Discuss steps 1-5 – really discuss. Think about what type of note taking and memorizing would be effective for your student. Be realistic. Discuss the pieces of the book – glossary, review questions, chapter summary etc and how they can be effectively used (or not, not everything is useful for every student). SQ3R is a helpful guide as long as you realize that the 2^nd R includes both Imposing Structure and Reciting to check. So S Survey, Q question, R read, R impose structure and recite, R review. Go over this with your student, or whatever other method you plan to teach.
 
Tuesday: 1) Survey chapter together. Show ds what I look at and how I start to memorize by reciting back the list of topics. Start thinking about how they relate to each other and to previous chapters in the book. Predict what I expect to read, form questions, etc. 2) More closely survey first section of the chapter. Show him how to survey and form questions. Read the section side by side, stopping to check understanding. Model what types of questions I ask myself. Express my thinking process out loud so he can hear all the steps I go through. This can really take some thought on your own part if you have never tried to explicitly do this.
 
Wednesday: Read first section again to refresh, and then start the creation of structure. Insure the student really understands that this is not just about outlining – rather it is about imposing structure -- identifying the important information, seeing how this material fits into the big picture, finding questions to ask myself, finding where the text overlaps and choosing what area I want to use, understanding how the diagrams and text reinforces each other, etc. Demonstrate how to create the structure by verbally asking myself questions and making choices. My son has decided to outline in the text, so I show him how I would use outlining marks, (stars, numbers, arrows, adding text details to diagrams). This is the day that *I* do the work and he watches and asks questions. I make sure to look for specific phrases that seem to be really important to being able to communicate the material. You need to use these in your notes or underline them in your book. Also, make sure you use the phrase while you are reciting the material at the end of each study session.
 
Thursday: 1) Review previous section. Show him how to use the questions he has made to quiz himself. Show him how to go back over any material that was not well structured on the previous day. Stress that it is an iterative process. 2) Start section 2, have each of us survey and create questions silently, and then compare and discuss what works and doesn't. Read silently side by side. Have *him* impose structure while I watch and help, asking lots of questions and guiding where needed. Have him check his structure by quizzing himself with the questions. Show him how to memorize on the spot anything he can easily, and then how to make note cards for the numerous equations that must be memorized.
 
Friday: Do the entire 5-step process (well most of it). Step 5) Watch while he reviews previous section without my guidance. Step 1) Then, ask him to survey and prepare questions for the new section, and I leave the room for 3 minutes. Come back in and see how he has done. Read silently side by side. Step 2) Watch him impose structure without my help. Only give suggestions if needed. Step 3) Watch him prepare memory aids where needed and show him how to drill.
 
(Please bear in mind that this approach will be different for a more mathematical science – there will be much more time on problem working.)
 
********
 
Next week, we start the global study sheet, the weekly review, and the model test taking skills. I will write up this process also after we go through it next week.
 
 
Wow this has gotten long. Hope it is helpful!
 
Ruth in NZ

[warneral]

Ruth this is awesome! Thank you for taking the time to share your research on this topic.

 

To OP, my kids will be using BJU science 5 this year. Years 5 and 6 have a brief exercise about PQ3R. The chapters are pretty easy to outline. There are also teacher questions in the TM to test comprehension. There is also the activity guide which asks questions about the text.

 

I will be working with my kids on learning from a textbook. Ruth's explanation sounds like what our goal will be. This year, I want to teach my kids to interact with the text book and next year, we will put pen to paper with explicit note taking/ outlining.

[fiddle]

Wow, I'm excited to see more replies and also to know I'm not the only one mulling these things over. 

 

Ruth- some really good info.  I think I need to have more confidence in my ability to teach these skills to dd.  Funny, but the highlighting material worked well for me but I must be in the minority LOL  I guess it's the perfectionist in me so I want something with all the answers so I know I'm doing it "correctly"- The reasons *behind* outlining the text, i.e. for the student to process the info, was a great reminder and somehow I feel a bit less pressure to be "perfect" in this area.  Thank you for the awesome reminder.
 

Warneral/loesji-  You helped answer my questions about BJU!!!!  Thank you!

 

I feel like I've got some great info to make a decision and (maybe) more confidence in moving forward in science. 

Thanks, hive!!!!

 

Paula