© 2019 Tyler Loyd Observation Unrecorded is Knowledge Lost: How Nature Journals Create Better Observers By Tyler W. Loyd B.A., University of Wyoming, 2013 Plan B Project Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science in Natural Science in Middle Level Science in the Science and Mathematics Teaching Center at the University of Wyoming, 2019 Laramie, Wyoming Masters Committee: Dr. Ana K. Houseal, Associate Professor, Chair Dr. Brian J. Barber, Co-Chair Bethann Merkle, MFA Dr. Kate Muir Welsh, Associate Professor Dr. Christine Wade, Associate Professor, Outside Member Abstract Making excellent observations is one of the key aspects of being a scientist. Because of the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (2013) by many states, teachers are trying to find ways to engage their students in science. Nature journals may be one way to help students become better observers of what they see in everyday life. They may also help students make stronger connections from what they are doing in the classroom to what they observe in their own communities. In this study, a class of 3rd grade students spent one month constructing and keeping “nature journals,” a detailed record of observations made outside. After a month of keeping journals and being given feedback about their journals, these students’ observational vocabulary increased significantly. The students also showed an increase in the number of journal “elements” included in each entry. This project explored what might make these prompts more effective. 3 Acknowledgments I would like to start by thanking my chair, Dr. Ana Houseal for her mentorship these past three years. Your teaching has gone far beyond the scope of this paper and has led to my growth as an educator. Thank you Bethann and Brian for getting me interested in this topic. Thank you also to Dr. Welsh and Dr. Wade for patiently waiting for me to finish. Thank you to Sylvia Parker and Lindsay Galey for all they do at the SMTC. A big thanks as well to all the other students I had classes with the past several years, your thoughts have challenged me to think deeply as an educator. I would also like to thank Micah Herrboldt and Amanda Lopez for starting me on this course as a younger teacher by suggesting the SMTC. I’d like to thank my family, my mom and dad for providing me with outdoor opportunities in my youth and continuing to support me as an adult, and my Uncle Howard and Aunt Karin for being role models in how to live and teach. Finally, thank you Sheridan for all your support during this process. I can’t imagine doing it without you by my side. 4 Table of Contents List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... 7 List of Figures .................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 9 Statement of Problem .................................................................................................... 11 Purpose .......................................................................................................................... 13 Questions ....................................................................................................................... 14 Significance ................................................................................................................... 14 Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature .............................................................................. 16 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 16 History ........................................................................................................................... 17 Defining a Nature Journal ............................................................................................. 19 The Practice of Nature Journaling ................................................................................. 20 Observation .................................................................................................................... 23 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................. 29 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 29 Setting ............................................................................................................................ 29 Population ...................................................................................................................... 30 Instructional sequence ................................................................................................... 30 Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 34 Data analysis .................................................................................................................. 35 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 41 Analyses of Letters: Change in Vocabulary .................................................................. 41 Change in Observations ................................................................................................. 45 Personal Reflection Findings ......................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 5: Discussion ...................................................................................................... 50 5 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 50 Methodological Limitations .......................................................................................... 51 Pedagogical Limitations ................................................................................................ 52 Pedagogical Recommendations ..................................................................................... 53 Unintended Benefits ...................................................................................................... 57 Authentic Journaling and Three Dimensional Learning ............................................... 58 Research Recommendations .......................................................................................... 60 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 61 References ........................................................................................................................ 63 Appendix A IRB Approval Letter .................................................................................. 68 Appendix B CNPS Rubric .............................................................................................. 69 6 List of Tables Table 1. Practices/techniques suggested in the literature. ............................................................. 22 Table 2. Timeline of journal activities. ......................................................................................... 32 7 List of Figures Figure 1. Timeline of Nature Journals ........................................................................................... 18 Figure 2. Satellite image of Creston Park ...................................................................................... 30 Figure 3. Student journal entry ...................................................................................................... 38 Figure 4. Student journal entry ...................................................................................................... 39 Figure 5. Words used by students in Letter assessment A ............................................................ 43 Figure 6. Words used by students in Letter assessment B ............................................................ 44 Figure 7. Side by side comparison of amount of describing words in Letter A vs letter B .......... 45 Figure 8. Box and whisker plot ..................................................................................................... 46 Figure 9. Weekly journal scores .................................................................................................... 47 8 Chapter 1: Introduction The Lewis and Clark expedition changed the face of the American West forever. It opened the area of the Louisiana Purchase up to fur trapping and homesteading. One of the greatest products of these expeditions was very nearly lost to the American public. Meriwether Lewis, during his time with the Corps of Discovery, kept extremely detailed journals in accordance with Thomas Jefferson’s wishes. Ambrose (1996) says about the expedition, “The Enlightenment taught that observation unrecorded was knowledge lost” (Ambrose ,1996, p. 420) This was how Thomas Jefferson and other men of the Enlightenment felt. Lewis’ journals reflected that sentiment and set a standard for subsequent scientific observation and record generations to come. The nature journal has been used over the years to record the observations of scientists. The practices and strategies used by many naturalists today are very similar to those used by their predecessors such as Darwin, Muir, and even Leonardo da Vinci. A nature journal is a way to record observations of everyday life. People tend to take their observations and internal questions for granted. According to Laws (2016), “Ninety percent of the greatest scientific discoveries have not been ‘Eureka!’ moments, but rather moments where a person looks at something and thinks to themselves, ‘Hmm… That’s weird’” (p. 20). Over the past few years I have had the chance to work in a school focused on starting professional learning communities, which is a system designed to encourage collaboration between teachers so students learn (DuFour, 2006). These communities (or teams) value utilizing the community when teaching instructional units. This included visiting local areas for field trips, speaking to people who work in the community, and generally showing students the value of understanding the region on a deeper level. I have found that, not only are students more 9 engaged in the learning, I am too, because I am teaching about subjects I care about. Recently, I was able to bring a local author who writes for National Geographic into my classroom where he talked about his writing process. I found myself more engaged in learning about his travels and adventures, which ultimately led to students being more engaged in learning as well. We had more in-depth discussions about the writing process and writing authentically than we had all year up to that point. According to Lemov (2015), keeping students engaged in writing and discussing writing makes them better writers and puts them on the path to college. Two years ago, during my summer graduate education classes, one of my professors introduced us to nature journaling, and how nature journaling can be used in all types of classrooms. The professor brought in a guest instructor to teach us some of the basics of drawing in a nature journal, focusing more on looking at the subject of the drawing rather than on the drawing itself. In this way, the drawer paid more attention to the subject rather than their drawing, and thus observed the subject in more detail. I appreciated this mini workshop, and saw that it aligned with what I read about Lewis and Clark. I started to think about how I could use this as a tool for instruction in my own classroom. After consulting with my chair and other advisors, I decided an action research project would help me determine the uses for nature journals in a classroom by helping me see the impact on student observation and help me reflect on my own instruction. While teaching, I found it helpful to practice journaling myself so students could see me modeling what it should look like. It was also a tool I used to make suggestions to students both while they worked on and after reading their journals. The literature bears this process out. In order for nature journals to work as intended, it is important to engage in the process yourself as a teacher (Leslie, 1999). 10 Statement of Problem Humans and the human brain evolved in nature. Making observations about plants, animals, and geographic features helped humans figure out when and how to hunt, farm, find and divert water. This examination of the land helped humans become the dominant species on the planet. Zwinger (1999) argues that nature is our best teacher, but only if careful observation of nature is taught. Recently, I was a chaperone on a field trip to one of the most beautiful places in Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park. As soon as the magnificent arêtes loomed into view as our bus coasted down Togwotee pass, I ran to the back gleefully pointing out the peaks to the students who had never seen these mountains before. I had great experiences visiting the Tetons when growing up and wanted these students to have a similar experience, and a similar appreciation for this area. To my surprise, most were less than impressed with the view and quickly returned to a game of hangman they had been playing. During our journey to and time spent in this part of the state, most of these same children gained some sort of appreciation for them after hiking, learning, and eating well. As Richard Louv states in his book Last Child in the Woods (2005), many children suffer from “nature deficit disorder” a term he invented to describe how children lack meaningful interactions with their environment. As with many aspects of 21st century children’s lives, the onus often falls on schools to provide and structure these interactions for students. How do we make the most of these interactions? One concern of teachers is that they do not have time to provide all of the experiences that help to develop a well-rounded child and learner. Many people argue that children find technology interesting. I would argue the opposite. Kids are most interested by what they find interesting. Sometimes, it may be some sort of video 11 game or YouTube channel. Other times, it may be digging in the mud with a stick. An ancient Chinese philosopher once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” (Xunzi, 2003, p.29). Children crave involvement. When they are involved they tend to see the importance of what it is they are learning. The feeling of being involved is being present and mindful about what you are doing. In this way, the practice of nature journaling can be incredibly powerful. Leslie (2003) noted that, “what we know about the ancient world, is in large part due to what they (ancient humans) recorded” (p. 14). I think everyone can relate to having trouble trying to remember what happened a month or a week ago. In cases like this, our minds are not able to recreate the past for us.. Journaling can help us, through recording a moment in time, to recall that moment. One that might be lost to eternity if not recorded. Hinchman (1997) summed this up saying, We have a vivid recollection from childhood of how the seasons felt; the smell of dust on a hot street when the first drops of rain hit. The apparently random details cohere. They form memories that are distinct, unique, and eternally fresh. (p. 24) Leslie (1999) wondered if recent innovations in digital technology have made pencil and paper journals “obsolete,” “Why not continue the tradition?” Leslie asks. Plowman and McPake (2013) argue that, “children of this age are not ‘digital natives’ [those who have grown up with technology and feel comfortable using it]. They can feel a bit overwhelmed,” by modern technology (pg. 28). They further suggest that some of these technologies that claim educational benefits are instead “mundane educational tasks disguised as entertainment.” There is power in the experience of having students draw and write. Writing and drawing can be an incredibly evocative experience because when we describe an event or a feeling in 12 enough detail, it reproduces the images that our brain held on to. This is incredibly important for three reasons: 1. The practice of reflecting and writing down something that you saw, learned about, or made a connection to solidifies the experience in your mind. (Coskie & Davis, 2008) 2. The practice of being mindful about what we draw and record makes us much more observant of the world around us. (Leslie, 2003) 3. Drawing gives teachers a window into how students understand concepts. Purpose Nature journals are an outlet to express and preserve memories, observations, ask questions, reflect on learning, as well as a means to engage in many science and engineering practices. According to the Wyoming Science Standards (Wyoming State Board of Education, 2016), which are heavily based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Quality science education enables students to learn science by being actively involved with scientific and engineering practices as they progress from kindergarten through 12th grade. They are encouraged to be inquisitive, to actively explore their environment, and become productive, scientifically literate citizens. (Wyoming State Board of Education, 2016, p. 3) If educators seek to implement these standards by 2021 (the goal of the Wyoming Department of Education) there must be discussion about how best to engage students in the practices they describe as important. The document also suggests, “These [cross curricular connections] are intended as suggestions for areas where other content standards can be integrated in the teacher’s instruction and lessons” (p. 3). 13 Leslie (2000) defines nature journaling as, “the regular recordings of observations, perceptions, and feelings about the natural world around you.” (Leslie & Roth, 2000, p. 46) The primary purpose of this study was to reflect upon and change my own instructional practice in terms of how I used this tool (nature journaling) as an instructional strategy. In this, I instructed my students in how to keep and use a nature journal as a tool for scientific observation. I looked for how this practice impacted my teaching as well as student learning. Questions The research questions used to guide this project are: 1. What does the literature say about nature journaling and how to use nature journals with students? 2. How does nature journaling impact a student’s ability to observe their surroundings? Significance According to Cormell and Ivey (2012) teachers should use nature journaling as a teaching practice because, whether at home or school, students spend the majority of their time indoors. Thus, it is more important than ever that students are more involved in the outdoors. The decreased amount of time spent outside for many students at school may be remedied by incorporating nature journaling into the curriculum. This may lead to increased engagement in learning for students (Schlechty, 2011). The process of planning for student engagement can be challenging. To do this the teacher needs to make lessons relevant and student centered, even though this type of engagement is messy (Buskit, 2018). Quiet, reflective time for children has decreased since the invention of television (Plowman & McPake, 2013). Students benefit from reflecting on and being inquisitive about the 14 environment (Sobel, 2004). Nature journaling provides a time for reflective meditation and opportunity to evaluate the places we live (Leslie & Roth, 2003). Definition of Terms Nature journal - or a science notebook/journal or a naturalist’s notebook/journal used to keep records of a place and the investigations undertaken or conducted within a place. Includes living and non-living subjects- anything natural. Observations - the process of looking at something in order to gain information about it. 15 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature Introduction The goal of this literature review is to understand how nature journaling helps students make observations. Specifically, I review the literature demonstrating connections that emerge from observing and sketching to determine what makes a “good” observation and why this is important to the scientific process. I also looked for instances in the Next Generation Science Standards that require observation as a precursor to meeting the standard. This literature review used books, articles, videos, personal communication, and artwork related to nature journaling. This helped me understand what nature journals are and how they may help students learn about the natural world. To start the review, I explored articles with keywords related to nature journaling. These included: nature journaling, science notebooks, drawing, and observation. I also combined searches of these words and connected vocabulary. I discovered two major authors who focus primarily on the concept of using nature journaling as a tool in education: Laws et al. (2012) who mainly discussed methods for drawing and how to introduce nature journaling as a method of instruction and Leslie & Roth (2003) who explores the history of nature journaling and best practices associated with nature journaling. Next, I searched for articles that cited Leslie or Laws in their work. I also found that several authors had written on related topics such as science notebooks. Fulton & Campbell (2014) has published a great deal of information on science notebooks (e.g. Fulton & Campbell, 2014; Fulton, 2017; Fulton, Collins, Poeltler, Pearson, 2018; Paek & Fulton, 2017). I also identified Hinchman (1991, 1997) and Tomlinson (2010) as prominent authors in the field of nature journaling. Finally, when I found articles that were particularly helpful and cited other authors for the information they presented, I read those to learn more about how the original author presented the information. 16 For example, in one case author “A” cited author “B” as finding information about how Japanese students learn to draw. I would skim “B’s” article for information the author cited to get a clearer picture of what claims author “A” was trying to support. History The concept of recording observations is an ancient one. Leslie (2003), explores the connection from pencil and paper records in journals to cave paintings which might have depicted hunts or the position of the stars. Hinchman (1997) mentions the people who these civilizations counted on to record and observe were incredibly useful to society because of their visual prowess. They created better tools because they were more skilled at seeing and understanding how objects worked. Nature journals, like those of Lewis and Clark were used as a tool of scientific observation (Fulton, 2014). Ambrose (1996) quoting Theodore Roosevelt remarks of science relayed through a journal, “Few explorers who saw and did so much that was absolutely new have written of their deeds with such quiet absence of boastfulness, and have drawn their descriptions with such complete freedom from exaggeration.” (p. 109) The practice of science journaling is one that has been undertaken by many now-famous naturalists such as Thomas Jefferson (who tutored Lewis), James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, and Charles Darwin, to name just a few. Many scientists since the early 20th century have used similar journals and notebooks to record their observations. Rachel Carson and Olaus Murie also kept nature journals. Carson used it as a method to make observations that led to the conclusions of her groundbreaking book Silent Spring, published in 1962. This book was a main factor in starting the conservation movement. Olaus Murie was a self-taught artist who studied elk in the Jackson Hole Valley back in the early 17 1960s. His work studying elk was slightly different than some of the more common methods of wildlife biology. Using his field journal and observation, Murie discovered the cause of the winterkill problem with elk near the national elk refuge (Glover, 1989) He found that historically the elk lived in the more mountainous regions rather than on the plains near human development. This led to overcrowding in the winter on the elk refuge led to higher winterkill because of a response the elk had to being so close together and eating a type of grass that was not one they ate in their historical habitats. Murie surmised that if humans were better stewards of elk habitats in the first place, they wouldn’t have to supplement their diets in the winter. If such complicated problems can be discovered using simple observation and recording methods naturalists have been using for centuries, recording observations in such a way will continue to be useful to scientists today and in the future. Below I include a brief timeline of how humans have used some method of recording observations to their benefit. Figure 1. Timeline of Nature Journals 18 Defining a Nature Journal The definition of a nature journal used in a classroom is sort of tricky to define because Fulton, Leslie, and laws differ slightly in their definitions. They can easily be confused with science notebooks because both require students to make observations (Fulton, 2014). According to Leslie (2003), everything from paintings, drawings, and musical notation to mathematically precise recordings fall under the concept of nature journaling. Fulton (2014), on the other hand, argues that science notebooks are different than science journals because science journals are “kept in the desk until after the learning is done” and usually start with “Today in science I…”(p. 3). In other words they are used to reflect on what was learned. Science notebooks are used to collect data during investigations. Fulton’s definition of a notebook is tied up in conducting investigations. The sentiment of Fulton’s work is that investigations are conducted, with careful records being kept in the notebook. Leslie (2003) expresses that nature journals are only kept when making observations outdoors. However, Leslie (1999) also mentions that occasionally specimens must be brought inside and redrawn under better lighting. Fulton (2014, p. 3) also notes, “Teachers often refer to them as science journals or logs, as well as notebooks.” But Fulton’s primary descriptor of a science notebook is something that allows students to record their observations, questions, and data. This opinion syncs with Leslie’s and Law’s observations about the uses of a journal as a scientific tool, it also reaffirms Fulton’s suggestion of science notebook’s use as a tool when investigating a science topic. Leslie and Fulton would agree, science journals and nature journals are closely related, with nature journals slightly more concerned with observation and science journals more devoted to reflection about a topic learned in science. 19 Thus, for the purposes of this study, a nature journal is a broadly defined tool, created by students, for exploring the natural world. It includes sketches created by students to help them observe an object more closely. It also contains the words students use to respond to a prompt or describe an object they observed in more detail than they were capable of presenting with a drawing. The nature journal also includes metadata students collect on a day-to-day basis, that, over time, informs their view of a place. While all of these elements are a part of the nature journal, it is important to remember the primary purpose of the journal is observation. Students should not make observations for observation’s sake (such as, “today I saw a green bush”), but genuine observations that spark curiosity. An example of a genuine observation might be: “There are larger branches and smaller branches on this tree. Some are really tiny while others are huge. What causes this?” This line of thinking is what can drive journals to become a tool for self- directed learning. The Practice of Nature Journaling There is no universally accepted way to keep a nature journal. However, there are a few common practices that many journal keepers employ. Leslie & Roth (2003) proposed a set of standards concerning what should always be included when keeping a journal. This list focuses primarily on basic information which includes a record of the name of the observer, date of observation, place, time, and weather. After all of these are included, the next task is drawing. According to Laws (2016), “Drawing develops skills that are essential to recording accurate scientific information” (p. 6). If students are expected to keep a nature journal then they must be taught to properly draw the landscapes and specimens they are observing. “We treat visual skills as if they were rare and mysterious, granted only to a few. But we expect everyone to master to basic skills of language.” (Hinchman,1997, p.24) Even in the late 20 1990s Hinchman saw how the focus of formal schooling was drifting further away from the ability to communicate through drawing and refocusing on textual literacy. The argument that Hinchman and other authors (e.g. Cohn, 2012; Weekes, 2005) make is that drawings can communicate an idea better than just writing, especially if that drawing is accompanied by text. Hinchman (1997) argues that children, if educated in the basic practices of drawing more thoroughly would be, less susceptible to the power of image. What Hinchman means by “the power of image” is that a visual example of something can heavily impact our concept of it. Hinchman (1997) also criticizes art classes as not being rigorous enough, by simply praising whatever work students turn in rather than holding them to a high standard. Hinchman (1997) suggests giving students very focused feedback on specific skills. Something I found a lack of in the literature was an objective rubric on which to judge the quality of a drawing. The lack of a rubric makes it difficult for educators, who may be worried about criticizing drawings out of the fear that it may suppress the students’ creativity. A common mistake in nature journaling is ‘turning students loose’ to journal or draw whatever they want. It is essential young students be given structure for nature journaling by their teacher so those they can make accurate observations. Leslie (2015) suggests keeping original prompts given to students very specific instead of letting them draw whatever they want. Laws (2016) also stresses that the focus should not be on students producing “pretty drawings” but on students’ observations and reflections. This is more effective if the observations include metadata (i.e. weather data, place, date, etc.) associated with drawings and entries. Laws developed a curriculum for nature journaling that includes a set of instructional videos that help students learn some basic techniques used to draw subjects. This includes plants, animals, landscapes, etc. After including these observations, Laws emphasizes the importance of 21 making written observations and labels for drawings. One of the most helpful routines is using Law’s (2016) steps when making observations using sentence starters like: I notice…, I wonder…, I think…. This prompt reveals the inherent nature of making inferences when making observations or “notices”. Though as Scribner-Maclean (2009) points out, inferences are often wrong. It is very important for students to have practice making observations they can connect to their inferences. Leslie & Roth (2003) provide similar suggestions for making observations. They suggest having students start making observations at ground level (i.e. grass, base of a tree), move to eye level, and finally look above eye level (i.e. tops of trees, clouds). Other authors emphasize the importance of recording metadata when making observations, primarily date, name, location, weather, and time (Laws, 2016; Leslie, 2000; Tomlinson, 2010). These practices, and others from the literature are highlighted in Table 1. Table 1. Practices/techniques suggested in the literature. Practices Advice Citation Use familiar sentences starters when Sentence starters making observations like I notice… I Laws (2012) wonder… I think… “Where to look...:” Start at ground level, move to eye level, look upwards Leslie (2003) Start collecting certain data every Collect Meta Data day (i.e. weather, time, location, Leslie (2003) date, etc.) Drawing technique Look at the drawing less and the Laws (2012) object more. Try to sit in only one place, returning Laws (2012) Sitting to the same place can be interesting when thinking about phenology 22 Nature journals are a “vehicle to observe the natural world” (Leslie & Roth, 2003). In the NGSS and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (CCSSO & NGA, 2010), a key word used in both is “notice.” Students are expected to notice different “elements” within text in the CCSS and natural phenomenon in the NGSS. The ability to notice, and make note of one’s observations is key to developing a questioning mind (Laws 2016). If observations lead to asking questions this skill is directly linked to the CCSS Standard R.I. 3.1, which states students can, “Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding.” (CCSSO & NGA, 2010) This particular standard reflects a student’s ability to ask and answer questions based on text evidence. What is the cognitive level of difference between asking and answering questions with text evidence and asking and answering questions with written or sketched evidence from the natural world? The literature has lead me to believe that when students take ownership over collecting evidence to support an argument they are trying to make, they are more engaged in their learning. There should be opportunities for students to collect evidence in what they read and what they investigate on their own. Nature Journals provide a means of doing so. Observation Observation is a tool for understanding and is key to scientific understanding and growth. Observation is the foundation for all other scientific practices. However, modern approaches to teaching science are expanding to recognize and teach the value of observation. For example in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) observation is an underlying theme of many of the scientific practices. Daston (2008) noted, observation is “everywhere and nowhere” (p. 97) in science, partially because it is so fundamentally basic to the practice of “doing science” that it has not received a great deal of attention from the researchers of the history or philosophy of science. 23 As a teacher, in order to teach to the level of rigor required by the NGSS, it is important to be thoughtful about scientific observation and where it appears in the standards. One of the three “dimensions” included in these standards are crosscutting concepts (CCCs). These CCCs are concepts that extend beyond one discipline of science and make connections among all of the different disciplines (earth science, physical science, life science). Two concepts related to my project are identifying patterns and cause and effect relationships. Once a student starts to master these concepts, they can start making observations that lead to hypotheses about the phenomenon(s) they observe. The other two dimensions were also important in this project. The Disciplinary Core Ideas, or DCIs reflect the content portion of the standards such as a life science or earth science concept. The Science and Engineering Practices, or SEPs reflect the skills and abilities students must have in order to engage in science practices. These SEPs are important to consider in nature journaling because many of them are very closely related to observation, the primary purpose for journaling. The primary motivation for having my students nature journal is so they can make better observations. According to Arias and Davis (2016) there are five elements of recording a good observation specifically when working with elementary students. 1. The journal entry or observation needs to be clear enough that someone could look at it later and use it to find a similar place to the one described or to support a point they are trying to make. 2. The observation needs to be completely recorded, using all of the relevant detail 3. The level of accuracy needs to be precise. The scientist should record information related to every sense they are able to. 24 4. The observation should not be in any way subjective or related to feeling but rather some sort of imperialistic measurement. 5. The observation should be accurately labeled using specific scientific vocabulary (p.55). When students are better able to make observations, they become more aware of the world around them (Cormell & Ivey, 2016). However, everyone struggles with making quality observations. According to Garcia-Mila and Andersen (2007) students tend to think they will remember everything they see, hence do not write down everything they observe. In this case the student tends to lose some of the knowledge or experience they would have otherwise gained. As Arias and Davis (2016) suggest, observation is essential to conducting investigations, which is a scientific practice (NGSS Lead States, 2013) in many grade levels. Another challenge with making observations is mentioned by Smith and Reiser (2005). They found that students tend to write down inferences rather than observations. As an example, when I was journaling with students, a student recorded ,“there was a deer in the area.” They did this instead of writing they had observed deer tracks and scat at Creston Park. Smith and Reiser suggest giving students extra space to record inferences as opposed to observations. It is important to discuss the differences between these two skills (observing and making inferences) to help students see the value in a scientific mind, and a logical mind. A logical mind will ask questions that come to mind based on the observations it makes though. It is important for students to generate questions while nature journaling, but these questions must be authentic. They should not be questions just to ask questions. These questions are important because students sometimes struggle to notice details that help answer the questions they have asked (Eberbach & Crowley, 2009; Ford, 2005). There is the expectation, 25 within the science and engineering practices of the NGSS, that students in upper elementary grades are able to discern between questions that can be answered through a test (scientific) or not (non-scientific) (NGSS Lead States 2013). When students can generate these types of questions in their work, it gives the teacher an authentic opportunity to discuss what makes a question testable in science (or not). Having an opportunity to discuss these types of questions (and then hopefully going about the work of answering them) is a prime opportunity to engage students in the practices of science. Connection between drawing and observation There is not a substantial amount of research about how drawing impacts memory or observation (Fernandes, Wammes, Meade, 2018) Fernandes, Wammes, and Meade (2019) recently conducted a study where they looked at how drawing, writing, and doodling influenced “to-be-remembered” information. They found that doodling had no impact on remembering, writing had a slight impact on remembering, while drawing to-be-remembered information had the highest impact on memory. They theorized this was because of the visual, motor, and semantic memory activated while encoding this information. Craik and Lockhart (1972) assert that a memory is more efficiently encoded when there is both a semantic relationship (which if you are drawing something related to an idea you are trying to remember, there is a connection) and if you activate a sensory skill related to a memory (saying something verbally, writing it down, or drawing it [motor]). Although Weekes (2005) does not have literature to support his observation that since it is impossible to fake a detailed drawing, it is impossible to fake a good observation connected to it, Fernandes, Wammes, and Meade (2019) back up that idea with their research. This also lines 26 up with what Laws (2016) says about spending enough time to draw something in detail requires detailed observation. Observation and memory are linked in science. If an observation is not recorded, not remembered, it is indeed knowledge that is lost. This is why it is so important to get students in the habit of writing down their thoughts and observations. They will forget otherwise (Garcia- Mila and Andersen, 2007). At the age level I teach, many student are entering a “period of oppression” (Plowman & McPake, 2013) or a time when their learning, specifically skill in drawing slows down then stagnates unless they are given instruction in how to draw and what to look for. I used an action research study for the purpose of improving my practice with a specific tool, nature journaling. An action research project is used to research a topic while in the process of practicing it. This seemed beneficial to my purposes because I was able to combine learning about something through literature, while testing it out in my own classroom. Conclusion Students should be given a variety of opportunities to explore the natural world. Not all of the learning they do should solely come from one place. I believe the literature supports the idea that varying student investigations through the use of nature journals and background knowledge gained through reading text both support a richer academic experience for students in science. In my practice, I have students make greater gains in understanding when they do both of these things supported by a teacher. The best example I can think of was a lesson I taught recently on why lakes freeze from the top down. This was a difficult phenomenon to tackle, but by reading about what was happening, making observations, of what was happening, and then explaining using pictures and words of what was happening, most students in the class were able 27 to come up with satisfying (scientifically accurate) explanations of what was happening. Students need background knowledge to make sense of what they see, but they also need to practice observing like a scientist and asking good questions that lead to greater understanding. 28 Chapter 3: Methodology Introduction I conducted this action research project to understand how students observed nature. I also looked at how the practices I used in this process helped students learn. I used several data collection tools in this process. This chapter is arranged as a quick overview of the setting and population. It also provides an overview of the journaling instruction I gave to students. As a reminder the research questions are: 1. What does the literature say about nature journaling and how to nature journal with students? 2. How does nature journaling increase a student’s ability to observe his/her surroundings? Setting Stark Elementary is located in a rural western state. The school where this study took place is in a culturally and socioeconomically different section of town. The town has a population of about 30,000 with a state university located on the opposite side from the study school. Fifty-three percent of the school’s students qualify for free and reduced lunch (Propublica, 2019). The school’s population is a mixture of students who live in the rural area west of town and students who live in the apartments and trailer parks adjacent to the school itself. The school is situated catty corner to a nine acre park named Creston Park (see figure 2). The park features a variety of trees, shelters, playing equipment, and grass soccer fields. Students came here on a daily basis during class for a four-week period to nature journal. 29 Figure 2. Satellite image of Creston Park Population The study took place in my own classroom the sample for the study, thus I used convenience sampling. Students were in 3rd grade and ranged from 8-9 years old. Thirteen students participated in the study. All of the students had a week of nature journaling experience prior to this study, which occurred four months earlier in the year. Instructional sequence During the month of September, students were provided with five days of instruction on keeping a nature journal, for 45 minutes each day. On the first day, I introduced students to nature journals, why someone might keep one, famous scientists who had kept them, and what those scientists had learned by keeping them. The next day, students were tasked with drawing 30 an object (in this case an elk antler) at first only momentarily looking at their drawing, then looking at their drawing less, and then finally not at all. We talked about the purpose of not looking at the drawing: the more time spent looking at the object, the better the observation was likely to be. On the third day, we talked about different types of metadata. For example, it might be important to know about the wind speed, temperature, location, date, and time for a particular observation. We practiced writing where and how this data should be recorded. The fourth day, I taught students about the importance of labeling their drawings and keeping detailed notes that accurately captured what they were trying to express. Finally, the students and I went to our school garden and sketched an object that was interesting to them, notating written details on the side of the page, and recording metadata. Then in the spring, over one week, students designed their own journals as part of this project. I picked a design for a journal out of LaPlantz (2015) and we gathered materials and pictures to add to the laminated front and back covers of their journals. I wanted to let students personalize their journals, so they would take care of them. Pages were added to the journal in an accordion fashion, so that students could pull them out to see their progress over time. The process of constructing the journals took about four class periods of 40 minutes each. After finishing journal construction, I took my class to Creston Park where they selected areas they would spend their time in the coming month. This became their “sit spot.” This was the area students returned to each day, alone to make observations. 31 Table 2. Timeline of journal activities. Day Instructional Activity Journal Construction March 19 Made covers to journals by making a collage using the pictures from old magazines March 20 Used contact paper to connect collages to hardcover boards March 21 Made accordion pages for journal by pasting edges together March 22 Glued together binding and spine of the book using book cloth and book binding fabric March 23 Helped students who were not finished complete journals Days with Prompts March 26 Prompt of, “Using pictures and words what is unique about your spot?” March 27 Prompt of, “Sketch and label five different types of leaves you can find.” March 28 Prompt of, “Find five objects that are similar, show how they are similar.” March 29 Prompt of, “Describe the smells of your area, are they like anything you have smelled before.” March 30 Prompt of, “Study the clouds in your area, make notes about what you see in them.” April 2 Prompt of, “Find a few different examples of lichen, noting its description and where you found it.” April 3 Prompt of, “Find something you have seen before, what do you notice about it?” April 4 Prompt of, “Find three different types of grass. Note the differences you see in each type.” April 5 Prompt of, “What have you notices about how the trees have changed in your area?” Days without Prompts April 9-26 Students were given an open prompt of, “Pick an object close to your spot and describe it using drawings, labels, and descriptions.” 32 The first day of journaling focused on learning to record metadata. Students learned to record weather and temperature, location, and date and time. Students practiced recording data during this unit to allow them more time to make observations later. For the first ten entries, I gave students specific prompts. One example was to find five different types of leaves and describe their differences. Students were given daily written feedback but not graded on the quality of their journal entries. Feedback was intended to encourage certain journaling behaviors, by praising the amount students had written, the effort spent on drawing, or the uniqueness of an observation. I especially sought to praise work that was not rote observation (i.e. the tree is a bluish green color, the type of observation that only makes observations without any deeper exploration or wonder). Rather, I encouraged discriminative observations such as, “There are some spongy, ball shaped things that are right next to the roots of a cottonwood tree.” I took time at the beginning of several lessons to highlight and provide positive feedback for these types of entries in some of the students’ journals. Students were often excited if their journal was displayed on the document camera for everyone to see. I pointed out what that student had done well, and specifically suggested that everyone try to do something similar in their own journal. I would also occasionally take a mediocre example and talk about how the observation could be improved. This gave students a specific example of how to improve their work. For example, “The tree is a bluish green” could be more accurately depicted by writing, “The spruce has needles that have a distinct green near the base that develops into a powdery blue near the tip.” Specific prompts were not provided for the final eight journaling lessons. Instead, students were given a general prompt which was, “Please find, sketch, and describe something interesting in your area of the park.” 33 Data Collection This study looked at assessment of nature journal entries using the California Native Plant Society’s (CNPS) rubric (Laws 2010) for scoring journal entries. I reflected on my own observations and processes by taking notes of what I was observing during the project. Students wrote letters about the area they observed in the park both before journaling and after journaling for four weeks. The first letter was used to determine what students already know about the place they would be journaling, they were instructed to write the letter as if they were writing to someone who had never been to the park, describing the park to them. Students wrote the second letter with the same prompt and I analyzed the differences between the two letters. Letter A will refer to the letter written before journaling, and Letter B will refer to the letter written after journaling for four weeks. I analyzed the amount of science identification words and adjectives used to describe objects in these letters. Students were photographed in the areas in which they used their nature journals to observe their space. During the instruction I also took photographs of every journal entry for a period of four weeks, and used these for analyzing student data. I conducted data collection in the spring of 2018. After journaling was completed, students were asked to write a description of their “sit spot” to students outside of the state. Students were encouraged to use the observations they had made previously but were not given their journals as a source of information. I analyzed nouns and adjectives used by students in these letters as measures of student progress. An increase in variety and number of times used indicated a greater observational vocabulary. I compared these using several graphical tools. Prior to initiating journaling, students were instructed to write a letter (letter A) to a peer at a different school. This letter was intended for students to describe the area around Creston 34 Park. I photographed these letters and compiled them into an online “wordle” program that presented the size of the word depending on how often it was used. I only included nouns and adjectives in this wordle presentation. Of the sixteen elements I looked for in the student’s nature journals (date, place, time, weather, drawings/diagrams, notes/descriptions, details of interesting parts, labels on drawings, color notes, identification, habitat sketch, indication of size, indication of life size, magnification, connections, questions) Laws (2016), I instructed students in only six elements to complete during their independent time. These were: notes and descriptions, drawings and diagrams, details of interesting parts, labels, notes about colors, and an identification of what they thought they were drawing and taking notes about. Four of the elements were always completed together (date, weather, time, and place). These elements are shown in the rubrics in Figures 2 and 3. I kept a journal recording my own observations of students work and how to improve my own practice. This journal also contained notes on how to better initiate the nature journaling process with classes in the future. Another use for the journal was comparing my observations of students to the data collected from analyzing their journal entries. I divided my observations into three code groups: interactions and feedback for students, student behavior during journaling, and student feelings about journaling. This data point served as a way to qualitatively analyze the effects of journaling. I reflected both during and after journaling time on a daily basis. Data analysis Two basic methods were used to assess students’ ability to make observations. First, I analyzed student journals. I took a picture of every student journal entry. Each set of photographs were organized chronologically and stored into a folder. I analyzed each journal entry using the 35 CNPS rubric (see Figures 3 and 4, Laws, 2010). The rubric details several different characteristics to look for in student journal entries. Even though not all of these characteristics were taught, some students still included them in their entries. For this reason, the points were divided into three categories. These were (a) the parts of the project we had done together, (b) elements that had been done independently but that students had received instruction on over the course of the project, and (c) elements on which students received no instruction-but incorporated anyway. After rating all of the journal entries based on the CNPS rubric I started to analyze the different sections of the rubric for patterns and asked myself several questions: 1. What can we learn from student’s responses without instruction? 2. What do scores on the independent portion completed with instruction show? 3. What do student responses when given a prompt show? 4. What do student responses without a specific prompt show? I attempted to answer these questions by making graphs and analyzing these graphs for any patterns or interesting issues. I also ran several T-tests to look for any statistical significance in not providing students with prompts, and whether or not providing instruction some elements improved student observation scores. An “element” in this study is defined as an aspect of an observation a student makes (i.e. color, texture, or size of an object, etc.). The use of a rubric that only uses a quantitative measure “rigs” the measure against the quality of an observation a student might have made. If this project was only analyzed using a quantitative measure, it would not be accurate to say a student improved as an observer only if they completed each task on the rubric. In the quantitative measure, I gave students a point for making a note about color, even if that observation was of low quality (i.e. “the tree is green.”). 36 I used several t-tests to determine statistical significance of several sets of data. These data include: change in independently instructed elements vs. elements without instruction, change in vocabulary in Letter A vs. Letter B, and scores when given prompts and when not given prompts. Each of these tests was a two sample test assuming equal variances. In order to be considered statistically significant, the test had to have a p-value of less than 0.05, meaning less than a 5% chance of the outcome being random. I also looked for trends in my own journal reflections and categorized them as mentioned above. I counted how many entries fell into specific categories as a quantitative measure, but also took notes of my observations and reflected on the general contents about what could be learned from my observations from an instructional standpoint. 37 Figure 3. Student journal entry with arrows drawn to the sections where points were given. Yellow indicates what was done together, Blue indicates what was done independently with instruction, and green designates what was done without instruction. 38 Figure 4. A student journal entry with arrows are drawn to the sections where points were given. Blue indicates what was done together, Yellow indicates what was done independently with instruction. 39 In addition to showing the scoring rubric, Figures 3 and 4 display how I assessed student work. Students scored 0 points if they did not complete a given element, 1 point if the element was completed. For example, a student could label the color of one object in their drawing and receive both a point for a label and a point for adding detail about color. It did not matter if they did this one time or many times, they still would only receive one point. The Wordle® program was a useful tool to visually compare student vocabulary in Letters A and B. I graphed usage of descriptive vocabulary in Figure 5. To account for students who used the same word more than once (for example, if they said blue spruce twice in their letter) I only counted the first time they used that word. Conclusion The tools I used in this action research projected were suited towards answering the second research questions. I further discuss the answer to the first question in chapter five. Some of these tools were more helpful or easier to use than others. I found that the Wordle® program presented a less subjective measure of student progress. One of the frustrations of measuring the quality of a journal entry, some subjectivity is required- teachers should be continually checking in with students to advise them in subtle differences that make better observations. 40 Chapter 4: Results Introduction I used several tools to measure the results of my students’ journals. This chapter presents data and visual comparison regarding changes in students’ vocabulary use in the A and B letter assessment, and in their journals. This chapter also presents several summaries of the quantity and quality of observations in student journals as a class and at the individual level. I also present the findings of my self-reflection notes, which show my thoughts on and observations of my own teaching and student learning during this process. Analyses of Letters: Change in Vocabulary I compared the amount of descriptive vocabulary in Letter A to Letter B. I also compared Identification words in Letter A to Letter B. This produced a mean of each student using about four identification words and about five adjectives in their letter after they had journaled for four weeks. This is compared to a mean of less than one instance of either adjectives or identification words for each student when writing their first letter. In Figures 3 and 4, I portray the amount and variety of nouns and adjectives students used in the initial and final written letters they wrote to describe the park near our school, using a Wordle® program. This program increases the size of a word based on the number of times it was used. Figure 7 is a graph comparing the change in vocabulary for the class. This graph demonstrates that on average students used fewer than ten identification words in letter A, and almost fifty identification words in Letter B. Figure 7 also shows the difference in the number of adjectives used to describe an object in Letter A with an increase in Letter B. After running a t-test on the change in vocabulary between letters A and B I found there was a p-value of 0.0161, meaning there was less than a 2% chance that the change 41 was caused randomly. This result, while interesting is not meaningful since the sample size is small. 42 Figure 5. Words used by students in Letter assessment A, Several words blacked out to provide anonymity. 43 Figure 6. Words used by students in Letter assessment B, one word removed for anonymity. 44 Amount of Unique Vocabulary Used in Letters 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Letter A Letter B Letter A Letter B Identification Identification Adjectives Adjectives Words Words Types of Descriptive Language Figure 7. Side by side comparison of amount of describing words in Letter A vs letter B Change in Observations To get a clearer picture of how many times students identified plants and animals throughout the course of their journaling experience, I tallied all of the times each student made an identification. Figure 8 depicts the data spread in a box and whisker plot. This plot (n= 12) shows the following: 1. 25% of students completed 0-4 journal entries in which they made a plant or animal identification 2. 25% completed 4-7 entries identifying a plant or animal 3. 25% completed 7-12 entries identifying a plant or animal 4. 25% completed 12-16 entries identifying a plant or animal. 45 Number of Occurrences in Letters Figure 8. Box and whisker plot showing the spread of data for how many entries students made identifications in. I used the CNPS’s rubric to grade each individual journal entry. Students scored out of a possible sixteen elements (see Figures 3 and 4). The figure shows an initial steep increase before the scores leveled off and gradually increased each day after the first week. There were two days the entire class scored lower than the trend in the data, which can be observed in Figure 9. This coincided with days where it was snowing heavily. This supports Leslie and Roth’s (2003) idea that if the teacher does not want to go out in the weather, or is a little cold, students are miserable and are probably not going to be able to do great work. 46 Journal Scores for Third Grade Class 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Ma r ar ar ar r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r 6- 7-M 8-M 9-M 0-M a -M a 1-A p 2-A p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 1 3- A 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 -A 5-A 6-A 7-A 8-A 9-A 0-A 1-A 2-A 3-A 4-A 5-A 6-A -A -A -A1 1 1 1 1 1 1 17 18 19 Day of Journaling Baseline Data Independent With Instruction Independent Without Instruction Figure 9. Weekly journal scores for students with trendline reflecting increase in student scores on independently completed elements with instruction 47 Combined Class Score Figure 9 shows the scores of only the independently completed portion of student journals. I stopped giving prompts to students on April 9th. I present a sum total of the class scores in these areas for each day of journaling and then graphed these data over the course of the journal entries. A t-test to determine whether there was statistical significance between giving prompts and not giving prompts showed a p-value of 0.199, which showed these data were not statistically significant. A t-test was also run to determine any statistical significance between the increase in independent elements that were instructed on in student journals and the independent elements not instructed on. In this case there was a p-value of greater than 0.05, the value needed to determine whether a data set is statistically significant or not. Personal Reflection Findings Through my self-reflection on how to improve instruction, student feelings, and student behaviors I made 34 observations. Nineteen were focused on ways to improving the nature journaling process. Eight were focused on student feelings about journaling. Seven observations were focused on student behaviors while journaling. I discuss and analyze these reflections for improvement in chapter five. Many of the improvements I mention have to do with the logistical problems I had with student journaling. Some of these reflections also include how I could better manage student behavior while journaling. I also discuss this issue further in chapter five. Conclusion Across the whole class, the mean average score on journal entries increased sharply in the first week of receiving instruction on journaling. Their scores increased gradually over the following three weeks. The trend line increase in independently completed portion of the journal was the most significant change in the scores of the journals. There was no statistical 48 significance between using prompts and not using prompts. There was a significant difference in the vocabulary used by students between letter A and letter B. This observation is supported by the data depicting the increase of scientific observation vocabulary found in students’ preliminary letters and post-journaling letters. This result was found to be statistically significant in a two tailed t-test measuring the significance of the data. 49 Chapter 5: Discussion Introduction The purpose of this action research project was to determine if and how keeping a nature journal changed students’ ability to make informative observations. To answer my first question (What does the literature say about nature journaling and how to nature journal with students?), the literature gives many suggestions about how to begin nature journaling with students. Not all of this literature is tailored to help a classroom teacher. It is treated as more of a novelty rather than a consistent practice. Much of the literature is concerned only with “getting started,” but does not focus on the deeper scientific practice of nature journaling. In this chapter, I will explore some recommendations for nature journaling with the intention of moving towards making this a deeper and more consistent practice to facilitate scientific learning. To answer the second question (How does nature journaling increase a student’s ability to observe his/her surroundings?), there are many ways in which nature journaling may benefit a student and improve his/her ability to observe. I focused primarily on the impact of journaling on the types of words students used to describe their observations and the elements of an observation as defined by the CNPS. The change in students’ language usage is reported in chapter four. One interesting observation I made when analyzing the scores of journal entries was the average number of points when students had prompts versus when students had only a general prompt. What I found conflicted with what Leslie (2015) had to say about giving prompts. Leslie recommends always giving students a specific prompt when nature journaling. There are several possible explanations for students having higher scores on days with a more general prompt (e.g. find something in your area that is interesting and sketch it providing notes.) First, specific 50 prompts may exclude some types of observations. For example, on one of the days with a specific prompt, students had to make a timeline. On that day students did not draw pictures, and as a result missed many of the points for that entry. The second explanation is that by the time I was only giving general prompts, students were experienced at using their nature journals. A general prompt did not affect their observations as it might have earlier. The final explanation is that it may not be best practice to tell students exactly what to do. Leslie and Roth (2013) suggest giving prompts, but they advocate for students to be distracted if they see something interesting they feel they should journal about. The spirit of Leslie and Roth’s work is about the journaling process being a mindful process. This explanation supports the idea that nature journaling enhances a student’s ability to observe. Likely, students only need to be given prompts initially. Ultimately they become more capable of making their own unique and individual observations, which is supported by my findings. Because of this, I would suggest that open ended prompts should be analyzed by teachers and students. These authentic observations might provide a starting point to learning about a concept in greater depth. If the observations of students start to drive learning topics, the level of engagement may be much higher and more authentic. In essence, as is true for anything a teacher teaches, careful consideration needs to be given to each learner in the class. Methodological Limitations There were 12 students participating in this action research study. This action research study was meant for my own reflection and growth as a teacher. Thus, the results of this study are not generalizable. This study also used a sample of convenience since it was composed only of my class. This meant I was the only person giving feedback to students and coding their entries during the process, so there is likely a certain measure of bias within the scores. It is hard 51 to support whether or not the suggestion of prompts made a statistical difference in what students wrote or drew. This was hard to measure within my project, since it differed from other authors, who suggested giving prompts to students. These authors had stories built into their prompts so each prompt built on the knowledge gained the day before. Because of this difference, connections between days may have been more obvious to students. Pedagogical Limitations A pedagogical limitation in this study was failing to present students with the success criteria. The underlying problem with trying to measure the quality of an observation is establishing what makes a good observation. The California Native Plant Society’s rubric was a way of placing objective measures on an inherently subjective skill. For example, art can be graded by teachers based on the elements of art used, amount of time spent, and originality of the piece; the rubric gave me a lens to look at the entries through in a more objective context. Rating a student’s ability to observe based on a yes/no criteria may have been a poor way of determining whether they have actually improved. I saw several examples where students had high scores on the CNPS rubric, but still had not noticed anything that might lead to more curiosity. Grading observations can be tricky because there can be several “right” answers. I was trying to push students towards what they legitimately found interesting or were curious about. This is a goal and a challenge across the curriculum. For example, I was recently having a discussion with a colleague about the type of observations and questions students should be asking when reading. This colleague pointed out that there are reader questions – questions someone who really is understanding and making sense of a text), curious questions – good questions still, but probably are not able to be answered by the text and do not focus on a central meaning, and bad questions – questions that are irrelevant or show a lack of understanding (A. 52 Patzer, Personal communication, November 14, 2018). In reflection, the same could be said of unrelated observations made when nature journaling, but the similarity between observations and questions highlights why a focus for the journaling activity is important to establish. While providing a prompt may not always be necessary, students benefit from learning to focus. Pedagogical Recommendations Over the course of my journaling activities, I regularly reflected on how I was teaching and what might make the process more efficient and a better use of time for me and my students. All of the aspects of effective teaching are applicable when teaching nature journaling. This makes it extremely important that there are routines and procedures in place for doing nature journaling. This is especially true with a group of younger students (e.g. age 8-9). Some aspects of effective teaching are found in recent literature by Lemov, Hernandez, and Kim (2016) listing 62 of these “best practices” for effective teaching. Lemov, Hernandez, and Kim’s (2016) work was helpful in establishing norms for sharing and collecting classroom work. Even though much of the student’s work takes place outside, Lemov mentions several useful classroom practices. First, I tried to always “be seen looking” by students so they knew the expectations were the same outside as they were in the classroom. This also helped me notice when students might be in need of redirection, or when I needed to talk to them about what they were seeing. I also made use of “showcall,” meaning that I would take examples of student work to show to the entire class under a document camera, bringing up examples of nature journals to discuss aspects of them with the class. These are just a couple examples, but I suggest using as many of the routines you have set up in your class for setting high expectations, increasing the rigor of lessons, and making the most use of your time as possible. 53 One of my initial research ideas was to look at the effects of place on students. Thus, I chose to have students pick one place to sit every day for the entirety of the project. There are benefits and drawbacks to this approach. Specifically, it is harder to manage students when they are spread out over an entire city park. I had to be very careful with where I allowed students to pick their spots, so that I could also keep a close eye on them. Depending on what type of teaching style you prefer, there are a few ways you might change you structure to retain more of the control. I chose to release much of the control to students and counted on their ability to self- monitor, which at times was frustrating, but other times rewarding. On one of the days where we sat together to journal, four students self-reported that they enjoyed working as a whole class rather than on their own. An alternative to this could be to develop a series of mini-lessons and focused prompts for students. In this way, the class could develop skills together, based on observations they make. There are also benefits and drawbacks to having the journals completely made from scratch, which is something I did in this project. Looking back, I would suggest a tradeoff between the two. It might have been easier to have students design some aspect of the journal (such as the cover) and then have to rest of the journal manufactured already. There are also some durability issues with choosing to bind the hand-made journals with students. However, my students seemed to take quite a bit of ownership of their journals. With their other notebooks, over the course of the year, students would occasionally lose or misplace them. We never, in the whole month of journaling, lost one of the journals. Students were eager to take them home at the end of the year, once I had finished scanning their entries. We did, however, occasionally lose a page because of the type of glue we used on the journals themselves. 54 I received quite a bit of assistance from my school art teacher when creating the journals. In addition, I consulted several resources about binding books which added to their durability. In climates like Wyoming, where there is high wind and snowy conditions, inevitably a few pages were lost. Tomlinson (2010) also mentioned creating a template in student journals for recording metadata such as weather, place, and date. Developing this would have been helpful and probably less time consuming for students, and ultimately make the project a more efficient use of time. It is important to take into consideration how much you are asking students to do. On the first day of my own journal reflection, I wrote that it would be beneficial to walk around the entire park and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of picking a specific area to sit. I reflected on the benefits of sitting in one consistent place might outweigh the disadvantages. I also realized it would be helpful to display exemplars of an “excellent journal entry,” specifically pointing out to students the organization, amount of description, size of drawings, etc. I noted in several cases that developing more background knowledge would have benefitted student learning because they may have been able to make more detailed entries. Weaving a story into the prompt would make much more sense than giving disparate prompts day-to-day. It would make more sense to begin with more direct instruction for the first week, rather than having students journal on their own without guidance. I pointed out in another entry that organization within the page and also within the notebook, could be improved if I did this again. Based on this experience, I think that pre-drawn sections for each part (weather conditions, places for pictures, lines to write on, etc.) would benefit student achievement because these would make the project more accessible and less daunting to students who struggle with organization. 55 I quickly learned that when you have 45 minutes to (a) record metadata, (b) walk to a location, (c) get settled, and (d) walk back it was difficult for students to accomplish a large amount of detailed observation work. I found that students were more likely to make detailed observations if they were given prompts only focusing on one or two objects instead of looking at multiple objects. Student feelings (affect). After two weeks of journaling I noticed that students started to talk to me about journaling. They wanted to discuss things they had noticed in the park and around their own homes. On a particular day when it snowed, one student observed that even though it was miserable outside, the snowy weather could give the class the opportunity to observe something new. Students were almost always positive when talking about the experience, many relating how they would continue the process. Some even told me they had bought notebooks to keep journaling in their spare time. Organization and student behaviors. My goal for the class was to stay organized so I kept notes on organization. Some of the pages of student journals were missing or damaged when I started cataloguing them. I was upset by this at the time, because I wanted the students to be organized with how the journals were being handled and treated. I took this as an opportunity to consider how I could help them stay more organized in the future. However, most students kept their journals well-organized and neat. I had been particularly frustrated with a group of boys during the course of the project while out in the field and tried not to interfere with what they were doing. They seemed be off task often, not using their journals how I thought they should. The inner dialogue I had with myself about how to address this problem was evident in many of my entries. However, I 56 discovered that the group who I thought were distracted actually succeeded in accomplishing many of the independent elements expected during journal time. Over the course of the journaling activities I reflected that doing journals with students may not be a feasible everyday activity. I observed that students were sometimes more motivated to journal after having a break from it. We originally had a few nature journaling sessions earlier in the year, and I found students would often request we do it again after taking a break for several days. They were also eager to get back outside and nature journal at the end of the year, after I had concluded my study. The benefit of this strategy is known as interleaving, and is well documented by Lemov (2015). Unintended Benefits Students talked to me during the study and afterwards to report that they were keeping a nature journal at home. Five students reported either that they planned to keep a nature journal or were already doing so independently without any prompting from me. I found this interesting because two of the students who reported they were doing this did not seem particularly interested in keeping their nature journal at school. I also had one academically “low performing” student report that they were keeping a nature journal at home and while the observations they made did not always make it into their journal, they often told me about what they saw at home and how it compared to what they were observing at school (lichen on the rocks near their well, catkins growing on their willow trees in the early spring) with beautiful phrases such as, “Mr. Loyd, I have always wondered what these furry things that grow on my trees are.” And “I think the Lichen grow near where it is wet because they grow by my well and where the sprinklers might be hitting these trees.” 57 I also reflected on the level of engagement with the journaling activities class-wide. I would count how many students seemed “on task” (i.e. occasionally looking at something and then drawing), however some students would wander around often and not sit down to start journaling until much later during our block of time. I do not know if you can classify this as being “off task” because the task itself was essentially to observe. Making the success criteria more obvious for students would be easier to do if it looked the same for each student. However, praising individual triumph seemed to be a more effective way of showing students how to be successful in their efforts. Authentic Journaling and Three Dimensional Learning Schlechty (2011) asserts there are different levels of student engagement in tasks and learning activities. These range from the most engaged behavior, authentic engagement, to ritual engagement, to passive compliance, to retreatism and rebellion where there is no engagement or learning happening. I have reflected on this: where does nature journaling come in this continuum, and how can it be moved from a lower level of engagement to a high level where students actually care about the observations they make? One of the most frustrating parts about starting journals is actually getting students to ask authentic questions and make authentic observations. At the lower grade levels, students do not immediately start making insightful observations. After seeing good examples of great observations students begin to realize that writing, “I see the rock is brown,” or “I wonder why the bird builds a nest,” are not very good observations. These observations and questions don’t really lead to scientific knowledge. They are a form of passive compliance and really only show the student is doing what they were told to do by the teacher. Instead, I observed some instances where students were asking questions or making observations related to something they had 58 witnessed beyond the classroom and their time in the park. This was when I realized that there was at least some authentic engagement in this project. Knowing your students and what they are capable of makes a difference in interpreting the level of their engagement as a teacher. What part of journaling leads to actual insight or discovery? Why should students even be “discovering?” It stands to reason that most of what a student might “discover for themselves” has already been discovered. They could just read about it in a book and learn it. The problem with this line of thought is that if all students ever do is learn facts, they may not learn to look beyond the facts? Factual knowledge is important, of course. Recording this knowledge is the basis for continuing to make scientific advancements. If we did not, each generation would have to rediscover everything the previous generation had learned. However, if we don’t teach students how to do science, the rate of progress will be much slower. Nature journals are most beneficial when they consist of discovery supplemented by reading and researching facts (Fulton, 2017). In this way they become a tool for lifelong learners and thinkers, rather than mindless consumers of previously discovered knowledge. This is where the connection between the NGSS and the three dimensionality of journaling became more evident. The three dimensions of the NGSS are Crosscutting Concepts, Science and Engineering practices, and Disciplinary Core Ideas. The way I have come to think about journaling is as a tool for connecting to some of the practices such as asking questions, arguing from evidence (that students collect), and evaluating information. These practices are useless unless there is content to drive them. This is where I see a need for a change in what I did with journals. I was completely focused on the practice and had not integrated any content into the project. Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) are the science concepts students must learn. A perfect opportunity for incorporating a DCI in third grade (especially when using a journal in the spring) 59 would have been looking at the life cycle of a flower (NGSS 3-LS1-1). As a part of this standard students are required to develop a model of birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Even though it would have been tough to accomplish in only a month, I can see how I could develop a truly authentic series of lessons coming from this single phenomenon, using the nature journal as a vehicle to drive the learning. Research Recommendations In the coming years, as more and more states adopt the NGSS, I expect to see more research about best practices for teaching these standards and skills. More teachers will be teaching programs that (hopefully) align to these standards and will be looking for ways to engage their students in deep scientific learning and practices. Master teachers and researchers in this group need to look for ways to engage their students in becoming proficient science observers. Any master teacher who digs into the standards will realize that these cannot be taught in isolation. They will need to weave a story between the standards to deepen knowledge. Since the sentiment of the standards seems to be driving students towards developing the skills and thought processes needed to think scientifically, teachers will need to use the tools of a scientist. One of these is the nature journal. Teachers and program development organizations need to carefully consider what tools are necessary to help students begin this process of critical scientific thinking. A variety of such tools are needed for teachers in order to consider how they are presenting material, as well as for students so they have the opportunity to learn using a variety of learning strategies rather than only using a few that quickly become repetitive and monotonous. There needs to be more research into developing programs useful to teachers where nature journaling is seen as a tool rather than just a “thing” students should be doing. Developing 60 Leslie and Roth’s (2003) and Laws’s (2012) ideas about simply going out and nature journaling could be a good place to begin. Nature journaling without a specific purpose is fine, but it is not the full realization of how nature journaling could be used as a tool for teaching something much larger. It is also important to point out Leslie and Laws are not classroom teachers focused on a specific grade level. They may be a little idealistic about what they would expect out of students on a daily basis. In my search of the literature, I have not seen much about developing a storyline in nature journaling to teach a specific concept. A large percentage of what I read was simply stories of classes going into a nature area and making observations. While this can lead to interesting topics of discussion, there needs to be a defined direction for learning, something I have not yet seen. Hattie (2008) points out that teaching is more effective if teachers have a target for their instruction and students have a target for their learning. A compromise between the hyper- focused targets in Hattie’s research and the open ended prompt series Leslie suggests would be good to establish. This may help produce a program or strategy that uses nature journals as a tool for exploring a Disciplinary Core Idea. Conclusion The time between a child entering school and the “period of oppression” is an essential time for children to develop their drawing abilities and as Davis (1997) would argue, their observation abilities as well. The period of oppression is a time between puberty and adulthood when students do not improve as drawers without instruction and practice. Even though the NGSS is a rigorous and needed set of standards, there is an unstated need for students to be excellent observers to engage in the challenging work they take on as apart of meeting those standards. 61 It is essential for students to have specific ideas about what to pay attention to if they are going to journal successfully. Journaling just for the sake of journaling may have emotional benefits, but my findings don’t support that it makes students better observers or learners of science unless there is indeed a connection between classroom learning and their journaling topic. I have found in my personal life, both during and after this process, that I have been more attentive to the landscape that I drive by and walk through on a daily basis. I’ve become more aware of changes around my house, school, and community as a result. Spring was the perfect time to start this activity with students. Although I haven’t cared much for this season in the past, I’ve found it has quickly become my favorite season because of the constant change and growth that is so easy to notice, even if I don’t keep a nature journal on a regular basis. In my classroom, I now have many more conversations with students about the benefits of being observant. I’ve found that students regularly talk to me about what they are noticing and observing at their homes and at the school. Just last week my students were talking to me about the amount of trash on our playground and how much it bothered them, so we took out a trash bag to recess one day and picked up the litter. It is a fine part of life to feel more aware of what is happening all around you in nature. In many cases awareness can lead to action. It is my hope that if nothing else this project has helped my students understand this and become better observers. In this way, I hope they will learn to care for their homes, communities, and natural spaces. 62 References Ambrose, S. E. (1996). Undaunted courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster. Bricker, P. (2007, November). Reinvigorating science journals: Nature books sharpen children's scientific observation skills and put the spark back into science journaling. Science and Children, 4(3), 24. Buskist, W., & Groccia, J. E. (2018). The Future of Student Engagement. New Directions for Teaching & Learning, 2018(154), 109–111. https://doi- org.libproxy.uwyo.edu/10.1002/tl.20296 Carson, R., Darling, L., & Darling, L. (1962). Silent spring. Boston : Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. Cohn, N. (2012). Explaining 'I can't draw': Parallels between the structure and development of language and drawing. Human Development, 55(4), 167-192. Colson, M., & Colson, R. (2016). Planning NGSS-based instruction where do you start? 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Great Barrington, MA: Orion Society. 67 Appendix A IRB Approval Letter Vice President for Research & Economic Development 1000 E. University Avenue, Department 3355 • Room 305/308, Old Main • Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-5353 • (307) 766-5320 • fax (307) 766-2608 • www.uwyo.edu/research January 31, 2018 Tyler Loyd Brian Barber Graduate Student Head of Educational Programs Science and Math Teaching Center Biodiversity Institute University of Wyoming University of Wyoming Protocol #20180131TL01839 Re: IRB Proposal “Nature Journals: Do they improve student’s understanding of a place?” Dear Tyler and Brian: The proposal referenced above qualifies for expedited review and is approved as one that would not involve more than minimal risk to participants. Our expedited review and approval will be reported to the IRB at their next convened meeting February 15, 2018. IRB approval for the project/research is for a one-year period. If this research project extends beyond January 30, 2019, a request to extend the approval accompanied by a report on the status of the project (Annual Review Form) must be submitted to the IRB at least one month prior to the expiration date. Any significant change(s) in the research/project protocol(s) from what was approved should be submitted to the IRB (Protocol Update Form) for review and approval prior to initiating any change. Per recent policy and compliance requirements, any investigator with an active research protocol may be contacted by the recently convened Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for periodic review. The DSMB’s charge (sections 7.3 and 7.4 of the IRB Policy and Procedures Manual) is to review active human subject(s) projects to assure that the procedures, data management, and protection of human participants follow approved protocols. Further information and the forms referenced above may be accessed at the “Human Subjects” link on the Office of Research and Economic Development website: http://www.uwyo.edu/research/human-subjects/index.html. You may proceed with the project/research and we wish you luck in the endeavor. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions. Sincerely, Nichole Person Nichole Person Staff Assistant, Research Office On behalf of the Chairman, Institutional Review Board 68 Appendix B CNPS Rubric Introduction You can also ask the group “How many people would like A teacher can qualitatively assess work in field journals. If more than two minutes to finish?” This lets them know time students are given clear expectations for a journaling project, is almost up and gives them room to finish their work. you can make an assessment rubric to tally the number of required elements that students include in their work. Use a rubric (below) as a starting point and adapt it to your needs. A good way to be clear on your expectations is to pass out It is easy to get pulled into evaluating journals on the basis of a grading rubric before doing a project. Have your students the quality of the artwork in them. However, we have clearly circle all the points that should be included. Once the project told our students that it is not about art, rather observation. is complete, have a partner check off all the elements that In grading we must be consistent. Ignore the pretty picture their partner included and total these up. and focus on the content. Are you seeing evidence of real life observations that are documented on the paper? Even if the Some of the most exciting elements of journaling can only be student has a well drafted generic bird (as one might see in evaluated qualitatively. Looking at student journals can give countless how to draw books), we are less impressed with that you deep insight into what your students are experiencing than a less well drawn bird that shows features observed in and feeling. When reviewing your students’ journals, find a the field. quiet and peaceful place and take your time. A journal is a window into the mind of the child. Name: Date: Circle the required items for this journaling project. Add up the total points possible and put this number at the bottom of the page. Then have a classmate score your sketch and you score their sketch. Check off the required point or points your classmate included. Add up the total points received and put the number on the line at the bottom. Baseline Data ____Identify object sketched (1 point) ____Date (1 point) ____Habitat sketch (1 point) ____Place (1 point) ____Weather/temperature (1 point) Measurements ____Time (1 point) ____Indicate size of object sketched (1 point) ____Indicate parts that are life-sized (1 point) Sketch and Description ____If magnified, indicate magnification (1 point) ____Drawing or diagram (1 point) ____Notes and descriptions (1 point) Other Things to Include ____Detail of interesting part (1 point) ____Connections (1 point) Total points received: ____Label parts (1 point or more ____) ____Questions (1 point) Total points possible: ____Color or notes about color (1 point) ____Other-specify (1 point or more ____) 12 69