Interactive Notebooks in Middle School Science

What are Interactive Notebooks?

Interactive notebooks (INBs) are essentially a hybrid between a notebook and a scrapbook. Students use them to take notes, draw diagrams, create graphs, and paste in photos or other visuals to help them better understand the material. INBs are fantastic tools for teaching and learning in the classroom. They allow students to organize their notes and class materials in a creative and interactive way, making the learning process more engaging and enjoyable.

One of the great things about INBs is that they offer a way for students to personalize what they’re learning. Being creative and expressing themselves by using color to decorate their notebook helps students learn actively.

Another benefit of INBs is that they help students stay organized. Gone are the torn up folders with papers stuffed inside. Since the interactive notebook is a bound notebook, losing notes is a problem of the past. By having all of their class materials in one place, students can take control of their own learning.

How do you create an Interactive Notebook?

The first step in creating an interactive notebook is to choose a notebook that will work best for your students. I prefer hard covered bound composition notebooks – pages stay in place and nothing gets lost. Alternately, you can choose a spiral notebook or a binder with loose-leaf paper.

Students will want to design their cover. Let them be creative, use color, and glue pictures or stickers on the cover if they want. Give them a prompt like “Decorate your notebook with your favorite science topics” or “Make your notebook uniquely yours.” Some teachers prefer to provide students with a template to color and glue onto their composition notebook.

Be sure students write their names on the covers of the notebook. I also like to have students write their name on the top edge – it makes it easier to keep track when I’m grading.

I have students go through the entire notebook and number each page in the top right corner. Then, page 1 becomes the table of contents. As  new topics get added to their notebook, they should update the table of contents with the topic name and page number to make it easier to navigate.

If you’re going to collect and grade notebooks, another option is to have students glue the notebook rubric into the inside front cover of their INB. I grade notebooks at the end of every quarter. Students are expected to have notebooks that are neat, legible, well organized, and complete. All components must be correct. The rubric that I use to score INBs is here:

Decide how you want students to organize their notebooks. Some teachers have students use the right side of each page for teacher-directed activities such as notes and then use the left side for a student-directed response to the notes. Alternately, you can have students complete the activities in chronological order with each activity following the previous one.

Do you want to have students create a glossary? Some teachers have students set aside 8-10 pages at the end of the notebook for a glossary in which to list vocab terms and definitions as they are taught. Other teachers prefer to have a vocabulary page at the beginning or end of each unit.

Student directed pages in an INB

As a rule, I alternate between teacher directed and student directed activities in the INBs. For example, page 4 might be notes that students either write directly in the notebook or on a handout that students will tape/glue into their notebook. Then, page 5 is some kind of student directed activity that provides them with an opportunity to connect with the information. Here are some ideas for student input pages:

• illustrate this concept
• color by number
• glue in a Tarsia puzzle
• sketch notes 
• draw a Venn diagram
• sort cards into pockets
• word search
• crossword puzzle
• foldable
• Frayer model for vocab review

Tips and Tricks

• Students will need glue sticks, tape, scissors, and colored pencils/crayons. Hang a pencil case with supplies from each desk, or place a bucket of supplies on each table.
• I create a notebook along with my students. Not only does this help clarify expectations, but it also serves as an exemplar for absent students.
• Use tabs to separate individual units.

Try out a free interactive notebook about minerals here.