Observation and Reflection: Journaling in the Science

Classroom

By

Sally Frederick Award-Winning English Instructor

Notre Dame de Sion High SchoolAND

Jan Alderson, South High School

Award-Winning Science Educator

“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 WeaverNorth American Prairie, 1954

Why Journal?

“Like a string of beads—or pearls—these little—or grand—episodes help us link to the larger strand. This stringing of images, thoughts , connections, helps us to have more understanding, reason, compassion, gratefulness.”

Clare Walker LeslieKeeping a Nature Journal

The fallibility of memory: memory is selective, journaling creates a more concrete record of an experience.

WHY JOURNAL

A. Paybacks from journaling

B. How to Get Started

C. Observing: Using Your Senses

D. Recording

E. Using Scientific Language

F. Reflection

Outline

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

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

B. How To Get StartedGetting 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

HEARING GAME

“OKAY, IF YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU’RE 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.

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)

19 19 SENSES?!SENSES?!

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

QuestioningAfter 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. Knapp’s Lasting Lessons: A Teacher’s Guide to

Reflecting on Experience

D. RecordingChoosing 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

Recording continued

• General to specific – big picture to specificity.

• Use as many senses as you can.

• Feelings/ emotions

• How do others react?

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.

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

Carolus Linneas

KINGDOM Animalia

DIVISION/PHYLUM Chordata

SUBPHYLUM Vertebrata

CLASS Mammalia

ORDER Primate

FAMILY Hominidae

GENUS Homo

SPECIFIC EPITHET sapiens

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.

Moving down the ladder from general to specific terminology:

Plant

Annual

Forbe

Compositae

Asteracea (family)

Helianthus (genus)

Helianthus annus COMMON SUNFLOWER

(specific epithet)

Which is a sunflower?

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.

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.

Rosin WeedI 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 cat’s 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.

5. In the reflection process, you are either:• Becoming aware

• Transforming

• Analyzing

• Recapturing/reliving

• Exploring or

• Linking

the parts of what you have experienced.

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?

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.

ReflectionMost 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.

6. EncouragementKeep 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. What’s 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!

• http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5576995n&tag=mncol;lst;8

• BIOMIMICRYBIOMIMICRY

“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

ResourcesConservation 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/summer.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.)

Assignment: Nature Journaling1. 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 20Due on WIKI: Friday, August 20