The Interactive Science Notebook (ISN): For Students
You will also be spending a lot of time with something called ISN. In our AP Biology course, your keep an interactive science notebook (ISN), where you will document your learning and interact with course content.
On any given day, we could be doing one of the following things in our notebook:
The activities we will do in our ISN are meant to allow you to interact with the biology content of our class in various ways. The more ways you interact with biological concepts, the more likely you will be able to apply them to new situations, whether it is a test or a lab investigation.
To create your ISN, you will need a quad-ruled composition notebook, not a spiral-bound notebook. The composition notebooks appear to be more durable and less likely to have pages lost than the spiral-bound notebooks. This is important because by the end of the year, you will have a homemade study guide.
You will need to decorate the cover of your ISN with a collage of some sort that represents you. I recommend that you cover the front of your notebook with clear packing tape once you have completed the cover to add durability, but also to protect the collage you make.
Mr. Ahluwalia will provide you with the first notebook. We will go over how to set up the inside of the ISN in class on the second day of class so be sure you have a composition notebook with you in class so that you can get it set up. You may be able to purchase a composition notebook from Mr. Ahluwalia in class.
It is important that you keep up with your ISN on a daily basis, since this learning log is the physical representation of your processing of course concepts. We will use this notebook in class on a daily basis to catalog all the learning that you do both inside and outside the classroom, so it is important that you have it with them each day. Below is an example that illustrates a little bit about what an ISN is, and how it might appear.
On any given day, we could be doing one of the following things in our notebook:
- Solving practice problems
- Interpreting graphs or diagrams
- Creating graphic organizers or concept maps about biology content
- Writing practice free response questions
The activities we will do in our ISN are meant to allow you to interact with the biology content of our class in various ways. The more ways you interact with biological concepts, the more likely you will be able to apply them to new situations, whether it is a test or a lab investigation.
To create your ISN, you will need a quad-ruled composition notebook, not a spiral-bound notebook. The composition notebooks appear to be more durable and less likely to have pages lost than the spiral-bound notebooks. This is important because by the end of the year, you will have a homemade study guide.
You will need to decorate the cover of your ISN with a collage of some sort that represents you. I recommend that you cover the front of your notebook with clear packing tape once you have completed the cover to add durability, but also to protect the collage you make.
Mr. Ahluwalia will provide you with the first notebook. We will go over how to set up the inside of the ISN in class on the second day of class so be sure you have a composition notebook with you in class so that you can get it set up. You may be able to purchase a composition notebook from Mr. Ahluwalia in class.
It is important that you keep up with your ISN on a daily basis, since this learning log is the physical representation of your processing of course concepts. We will use this notebook in class on a daily basis to catalog all the learning that you do both inside and outside the classroom, so it is important that you have it with them each day. Below is an example that illustrates a little bit about what an ISN is, and how it might appear.
ISN Rubric
This is how your ISN will be graded before each unit test. Remember, ISN grades are an all-or-nothing 10-point bonus toward your unit exam grade. All work in the ISN should be of your own creation--no work should be copied from websites, or other students. Each ISN is unique and should reflect the information processing that you perform when learning course material. In order to earn the 10-point bonus on exam grades, your ISN must meet the requirements detailed below. No partial points will be given.