The impact of notebooking on teacher candidates’ construction of knowledge

Teacher education preparation programs must adapt to changing science education reform movements that identify notebooking as an effective means to increase children’s’ science process skills and content knowledge. This study addresses the question, “What are the structures and thinking processes that teacher candidates utilize when writing in notebooks?” Specifically, how do they express their thoughts during an observational-based prompt writing experience in an undergraduate, integrated science and mathematics methods course? Sixteen teacher candidates at a Midwestern university in the United States completed an eight-week assignment during the spring 2012 semester using notebooks. Results indicate the participants could be placed into three distinct categories of processing and formatting the notebooks which are described in detail with supporting examples.