My Science Diary

My Science Diary turns your iPhone or iPad into a field notebook. It is the fill-in half of the printed book, built for a child who wants to record what they saw before they forget it. Two kinds of entry, both matching the paper forms exactly. An observation asks for the date, the time, the weather, where you were, and the phase of the moon. Then it asks the two questions that matter: what did you observe, and what do you want to find out next. An experiment asks for your purpose, your hypothesis, what you needed, what you did, what actually happened, and what you concluded from it. Nothing fills itself in. The child looks up the weather and works out the phase of the moon, because finding out is the lesson. WHAT GOES IN AN ENTRY Write as much as you like. Draw it. Add photographs. Record fifteen seconds of video of the thing moving, which is often the only way to catch it. The printed book gives five observation pages and two experiment worksheets, because paper costs money. This has no limit. A child who fills it for a year still has room. WHAT ELSE IS INSIDE The reading pages from the book, word for word: What Is Science, the Rules of Science Club, how to use the journal, using your senses, and the scientific method. A filled-in example page in a child's own handwriting. A companion video that plays inside the app, with no internet needed and nothing to wander off into. Every entry keeps one of the quotes from the printed book, and they come round in the order they appear in it. SAVE IT AND KEEP IT Any entry, or the whole diary, becomes a PDF with the drawings and photographs in place. Print it, email it, or keep it. There is a backup file for everything, because a device is not forever. PRIVACY The app asks a child for nothing. No account, no sign in, no email address, no location, and no advertising. Everything written, drawn, photographed and recorded stays on the device and is never sent anywhere. We cannot read it, because it never reaches us. FROM THE GATEWAY SCIENCE PROJECT My Science Diary is written by Antonio Gustin, The Bug Whisperer™, and published by The Gateway Science Project, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The printed book is available from major booksellers.