IBSE Final

Science Notebooks in Middle School 11

Index. Scientifi c academic language is important. FOSS strives to have

students use precise, accurate vocabulary at all times in their writing and

conversations. To help them learn scientifi c vocabulary, students should

set up an index at the end of their notebooks. It is not usually possible

for students to enter the words in alphabetical order, as they will be

acquired as the course advances. Instead, students could use several

pages at the end of the notebook blocked out in 24 squares, and assign

one or more letters to each square. Students write the new vocabulary

word or phrase in the appropriate square and tag it with the page

number of the notebook on which the word is defi ned. By developing

vocabulary in context, students construct meaning through the inquiry

process, and by organizing the words in an index, they strengthen their

science notebooks as a documentary tool of their science learning.

As another alternative, students can also defi ne the word within these

squares with the page references.

A science

notebook index

Table of contents

A science