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“PUTTING JOURNALS IN FOUR WHEEL DRIVE” Therese Arsenault, a fifth grade teacher in the Lansing Central Schools in New York State believes in the power of science journals to reveal students’ thinking, knowledge, and new understandings. At the recently held state-wide conference sponsored by the Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS), Ms. Arsenault used her students’ work to demonstrate how journaling offers rich opportunities for students to develop observation and communication skills, to organize data, to write explanations, and to reflect on what they know. Arsenault explains, “The journal is a compilation of drawings and writings which document what students know and understand and over time show how understandings have changed. The journal is not a finished document. It is a place where students try out their thinking. Journal use is the work of a scientist. I believe my students are scientists! We treasure all that is held within the journal covers.”
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