One Way To Encourage Note Taking Via Assessment.

 

In math, we are always trying to encourage students to take notes and them use them.  Many teachers even have students copy down notes so they have them but then need a way to have them look at the notes later.  One teacher found a way to do this. Although she teaches government classes, the technique works as well in Math.

The way this works is that students take the test twice.  First they take the test without using their notes and then they take the test a second time with access to their notes.  The two scores are averaged to provide their final score.

When notes are taken by hand, it improves retention of material and improves understanding. I realize students can have a difficult time staying organized if they take notes on sheets of paper, I usually have students take notes in either a composition or spiral bound notebook.  They write in the notebooks and their notes are there.  The other advantage to this is it allows the instructor to spend time teaching students how to take notes since few learn how to do it.  It is an important skill for college or training.

If you use a system like Schoology or Power School, you can modify it so it allows students the chance to take the test twice and average the scores. When they take the test first without using the notes, they must rely on what they have learned through classwork, notes, and studying.  In order to get a higher grade, they need to do well on the first test due to averaging the test scores. When they retake the test, they retake the exact same test using their notes.  

One thing to remember is that students need to be taught how to take notes.  We need to show them a method to use so they have a way of organizing their thoughts.  I've use Cornel notes in the past because it allows for additional comments and learning. One way to teach students note taking is to give a lecture with examples of good note taking technique. Take time to grade student notes while providing feedback on their notes.  In addition, give open note quizzes so students get practice looking at and using their notes.

As the teacher, you decide when and how often to do this type of assessment.  This could be used on the major tests rather than every assignment, quiz, or assessment.  It is acceptable to tell students they will be able to use notes on tests but not on which tests.  You would never use the double testing method for any pretests.  It works best on material that is much more complex such as algebraic fractions.

You can include short answer questions which ask what the next step is, or why would you do this at this point, or something similar. If students answer these correctly on the first test, let them skip them on the retest because they know them but they do need to retake any calculations problems. No matter what type of questions you use, you need to look at the length of time you have in class.  When you have them take the test twice in a row, that takes time so you may end up with two days being taken up.  In addition, the length of the test needs to be set so students have time to really work the problems.  I had a professor in college who felt that if he could do it in 10 minutes, we could do it in the regular class period.

You need to always grade both tests because some assessment software does not always read the way the answer is inputed.  Once students have taken both tests and you've graded them, you can let them know what their final score is.  On Friday, I'll explore the question of how to get your students more independent so you are not doing all the thinking for them.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.