Creator: National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Institute | visit site
Grade Range: 6 - 11
This article announces and explains a one stop archive of field research journals and other documents. Click the text link "View all Field Book Project records on Collection Search Center" to search from a wide variety of examples of scientific fieldbooks. Use the search functions to find specific journals related to many fields in Biology and Geology. Click to view each electronic resource in a pop up window.
In the Classroom
Share this site as you teach about scientific method or simply about what scientists do. Display sample journals on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have student partners explore to find a journal they find intriguing and bring it back to describe to the class. Be sure to discuss the value of using journaling in the sciences. View a journal to identify what information is included in actual scientist’s journals. How is the information recorded then valuable to what we know today? How are field journals different from the type of work that students do? Challenge your students to keep their own field journals. Have students use Ourboox, <a href="/single.cfm?id=16998">reviewed here</a>. Ourboox creates beautiful page-flipping digital books in minutes, and you can embed video, music, animation, games, maps and more.
At Home
Share this with your student who enjoys the sciences. Challenge him or her to create their own research journal. Share Page Flip-Flap (<a href="/single.cfm?id=13887">reviewed here</a>) with your son or daughter. This site will turn their journals (Word documents, PDFs, and images) into an online book. There is even a page-turning effect!
Tags
geology, field trips, scientific method, journals,