The Role of Childrens Journals in Elementary School Science Activities

This article reports on a study that investigated the ways that childrenʹs use of science journals aided their acquisition of science understandings in one kindergarten and one fourth-grade classroom. The questions for investigation were: how does the child contextualize the science experience on the journal page? How do child-produced graphics on the journal page reflect the childrenʹs experiences with other school texts? The study found that children recontextualized their understandings of the science investigation and phenomena by using three types of mental contexts that were reflected in their science journals: these contexts were imaginary, experienced, and investigative worlds. By drawing on these three worlds or internal contexts, the children were able to pull the external phenomenon into an internal context that was familiar lo them. The childʹs construction of ideas about a current science experience as expressed on the journal page may reflect experiences with other conventional texts. In this study the childrenʹs representations of their imaginary, experienced and/or investigative worlds were shaped by other texts and structures such as school science texts.