In one study, students viewing a lesson once recorded about 38% of lesson details in notes. That’s because when students view a lesson multiple times, they record more complete notes and raise achievement. Students should take advantage of lessons posted online by viewing them more than once to maximize note taking. During revision, students should try to use existing notes to prompt the recall and addition of missing lesson ideas.Ī student in a psychology class might have noted that “short-term memory has a limited capacity.” During revision, that note might help the student recall this related detail: “short-term memory holds just seven items.” That additional lesson idea is then added to notes during revision. Revision should be done soon after a lecture or even during a lecture when the instructor pauses. Recent research has shown a third R-step: revision, which occurs between record and review. Note taking has long been considered a 2-R process: record and review.
Organizational cues involve statements that reveal the lesson’s organization, such as “Let’s next discuss the atom’s three parts” or “Let’s address two limitations of string theory.” Paying attention to organizational cues can addĤ5% more details to students’ notes. There are also nonverbal signals, such as pointing, clapping, or a piercing glance that cue students to important ideas. For instance, an instructor may say an important point louder or softer than less important points, repeat the point or pause afterward for effect. Importance cues can be verbal, such as when an instructor says, “Note this” or “This is really critical.” Sometimes, it is not what is said but how it is said. Look for cues from professors on when important points are being made. Students should be on the look out for lecture cues that signal idea importance or organization and enhance note taking.
One study showed that students recorded just 13% of lesson examples. Students especially omit examples from notes even though examples can be crucial to understanding lesson ideas. In one study that examined missing details, students noted about 80% of a lesson’s main ideas (level 1) but progressively fewer subordinate details: 60% of level 2 ideas, 35% of level 3 ideas, and just 11% of level 4 ideas. For example, a 10-digit phone number can be chunked into three smaller bits, 56, and easily held in short-term memory (level 4).” Capacity can be increased by chunking information into smaller bits (level 3). Its capacity is just seven items (level 2). “Short-term memory has a limited capacity (level 1). Suppose, for instance, an instructor says: They falter when noting a lesson’s vital details. Students are actually fairly successful noting a lesson’s main ideas. Lecture rates fall between 120 to 180 words per minute, but most people can only write or type a fraction of those words per minute. Incomplete note taking is perhaps due to human limitations. But many students are incomplete note takers, usually recording just one-third of important lesson ideas in notes. The more notes students record the higher their achievement. Students who record and then review notes almost always achieve more than students who record but do not review notes. The primary value of note taking, though, is more in the product than the process, more in the reviewing than the recording. This is because the act of note taking staves off boredom and focuses attention on lesson ideas more than listening without taking notes. Students who take notes during a lesson achieve more than those who listen to the lesson without note taking.
#RECORD LECTURES AND TAKE NOTES HOW TO#
My objective has been to determine the value of note taking and how to best take notes. This episode prompted me to study note taking – something I’ve done for the past four decades. So instead of obeying the professor’s note-taking ban, I sat in the back of the classroom and took notes secretly, scribbling feverishly on a small notepad whenever the professor looked away – until I was eventually caught pen-handed and had to fib about writing a letter to a friend back home. I was a copious note taker who believed in the value of recording one’s own notes. Most students appreciated this arrangement. So he provided students with complete notes following each lesson. Yet, the professor also thought students needed a good set of notes to review later for exams. He reasoned that taking notes prevented students from reflecting on the lesson. In a graduate-level educational psychology course at Florida State University, my professor didn’t allow students to take notes.
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