Why Take Notes?

With all the digital devices that allow you to record spoken notes or even video tape the lecture, one sometimes wonders if it is still necessary for students to take notes.

For math and most other subjects, the answer is a definite YES!  In general taking notes actually do quite a few things.

First, taking notes helps you stay more alert because your body is active as you take notes. 

Second, taking notes keeps your mind active as you figure out what should or should not be written down.   Third, it helps emphasize and organize the information as it is present.  Finally it provides only the important information to study instead of wading through the entire lecture.

Jennifer Gonzales over at Cult of Pedagogy  looked at as much research as she could find on note taking and summarized the best practices from 30 years of research into one document.  The term notes can mean taking notes in a regular lecture or off videos, or in a flipped or blended classroom situation.

She found the following:
1.  Note taking helps students learn the material better.  When they write down notes or diagrams, they are helping build new pathways in the brain so that the information can be placed in long term memory. In addition, once it is in long term memory, it can be accessed, thus reinforcing the learning.

2.  It is suggested students take more notes rather than less because the amount of information a student retains is related to the amount of notes they take.  The more notes taken, the more complete the information which results in better learning.

3. It is important to teach students how to take notes because most people have no idea how or what to  record.  I remember in college, working hard to write down every single thing the professor said in the hopes I'd get all the important points.  If students are taught note taking strategies it can improve the level of notes taken and increases the amount of information they remember later.

4. When drawings are added to the notes, it increases the amount of material they remember.  Drawings can really help with concepts, terms, and relationships within the material.  I know in math, a graph or picture often explains a concept better than words.

5. If people revise their notes, add to them or even rewrite them to clarify the material, they often retain more information. It has been found that revision works better if done during scheduled pauses in the lecture or other situation, they remember information better and their note taking improves than if they wait till the situation is completely over.  Another thing they've found is if someone works with another person during the rewriting process, they increase the number of notes and do better on upcoming tests.

6.  It is better to include some sort of scaffolding such as guided notes where the teacher has created an outline with places for students to write in key ideas.  Another idea is to provide the notes with missing pieces of information that need to be filled in by the student. 

7.  Research has shown that if teachers provide fully completed notes  to students after the students have taking notes, it increases the amount of material learned.

8. One last thing, although it has been shown that students learn more when they takes notes by hand, it is still possible to take good notes on a digital device.

At the beginning of the year, I pass out composition books for students to take notes in.  This year, I am focusing on Cornell notes in the hopes that students will learn more.  I know that I arrange activities where they have to check their notes in order to get answers, thus I have built in review time.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.

Longhand versus Digital Notes

I read the recent Learning Scientist blog on taking longhand notes versus doing slide annotations and wondered whether longhand or digital is better for notes in general.

I know from earlier reading that writing or learning to write is the kinesthetic piece of learning to read.  The muscle activity helps students learn the letters and how the letters are put together to create words. 

When young children learn to type, it uses the muscles in a different manner and they often find it more difficult to learn to read.  Typing does not provide the same kinesthetic element that longhand does. 

There is research that when a student takes notes using longhand rather than digitally, they tend to score higher on tests.  One big problem with taking digital notes is the easy access to the internet during class.  Most educational facilities offer internet to students as part of the educational experience.  Unfortunately, students often chat with friends, send emails, or surf the web while taking notes so their attention is not fully on the lecture.

One reason for using the internet is based on the fact that typing is often faster than writing notes out by longhand and digital note takers often have to wait for the others to finish writing.  Unfortunately this "multitasking" means students are not focused on the material fully. Consequently, it slows down their ability to comprehend or retain the information.

It has been found that digital note taking decreases retention and recall while shortening a person's attention span.  Remember, yesterday I said a neuroscientist indicated that most people are only focused on a talk or lecture for 50 percent of the time?  This is one reason for a decreased attention span.

On the other hand, writing out notes is slower but it gives the brain time to absorb and store the information while providing the opportunity for deeper engagement.   In addition, research indicates that writing notes by hand uses kinesthetic activity to help the brain encode the information when learning. 

The motor skills involved in handwriting require a person to be more actively involved in learning because of the brain connections which are not found during the passive activity of typing.  The brain is more involved in the physical process of writing.  It uses a more complex thought process because you have to paraphrase the material rather than typing it verbatim. 

Furthermore, it is much easier to write out mathematical equations by hand then try to do the same thing on a laptop.  There are apps out there which allow you to hand write your notes but the app changes your writing into printed form.  I do not know if those allow you to do mathematical expressions or equations.

So this is one good argument for staying old school on notes.  I'm in transit to Hawaii where I'm presenting at the Kamehameha Schools Educational Technology Conference.  I plan to continue publishing every day.  If I learn something cool, I will share it. 

I hope to try out a couple of those convert handwriting to type apps and report back on how they work for math.  This type of app might allow students to take handwritten notes but leave them in a readable form.  My notes resemble chicken scratch so I appreciate that type of app.

Have a good weekend.  Have fun.