Taking notes in class is an essential part of learning. The traditional method for note-taking —
listening to what the instructor says and then writing down what you think is important — is
not the best way. Instead, taking notes can be done most effectively if you follow the rules
enumerated below:
- Don’t take notes with your phone/laptop/tablet. TAKE NOTES WITH PEN AND PAPER. Cognitive scientists have concluded that merely transcribing lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning. The benefits of writing down notes with a pen/pencil have been documented by many educational psychologists, who have found that handwriting engages parts of the brain that typing neglects, especially areas associated with memory formation. For these reasons, students come up with more ideas when they are writing in cursive versus typing.
- During a lecture/class discussion, the following method – which separates “stimulus” (i.e., a question) from “response" (the answer) – has been shown to be among the most effective for retaining what you learn. Segment your note paper into a left-hand column that takes up approximately 25% of the width of the paper, leaving the remaining 75% as its own column. At the bottom of the page, create an additional section that comprises the width of the page and is about 20% (around 2 inches) of the page in height. Take notes on the large section on the right and write questions on the narrower left side that are answered by the notes on the right. Then, when it comes time to study, you can just cover the right side with a sheet of paper, leaving a bunch of questions on the left, thus creating a quiz. Into the bottom section write a summary of the entire page of questions/notes.
- According to psychologists, quizzing yourself is one of the best tools for training your memory. Research shows that the brain remembers information only if you demonstrate that the information is important. So by giving yourself the opportunity to quiz yourself regularly, you can load that information into your memory for whenever it might need to be recalled. When quizzing yourself, consider Why is this particular information important? and How does it fit into what I already know? Then spend at least 10 minutes every week reviewing your notes.
Questions about this post: Email robert@designsonlearning.com