Taking Notes from Texts and Lectures

with Richard Spacek

A.Lectures and NotesB.General PrinciplesC. Working with Printed NotesD. Note-Taking SystemsE. New Technology

A.Lectures and NotesB.General PrinciplesC. Working with Printed NotesD. Note-Taking SystemsE. New Technology

A. Lectures and Notes

• Immediate event: lectures progress in real time and demand mental and physical participation.

• Stimulate FOCUS• Note-taking builds on this

Goals of Note-Taking

• capture the essence of your lecture while you simultaneously listen, study, or observe

• note taking serves two functions: encoding and external storage (DiVesta & Gray, 1972)

• ENCODING is most important . . .

Encoding

• “Conversion of perceived elements of the environment to mental constructs that can be stored in memory”

. . . In short, note-taking is a way of LEARNING

Functions of Notes

• Forces you to use abbreviations, short-cuts, paraphrases, physical re-formatting

• CREATIVE acts• part of active learning

Note Taking & Speed

• effort = memorability• effort created by difference

between speech and writing• Writing speed: 0.2 to 0.3 WPS • Speaking speed: 2 to 3 WPS

Lecturing

Writing

Lectures

3 words per second

0.3 words per second

Unequal speeds create challenge

Note Taking Effort

• effort of note taking GREATER than that of reading, studying

• Greater even than CHESS!

Distraction Effect (ms)

BUT—Bad Notes Are Bad

• Many students are poor note takers

• Typically record less than half of the key* ideas presented—

• (*the ones the instructors valued most highly)

• Improve by adopting suitable principles. . . .

B. General Principles

1. Get used to incompleteness

• Do NOT copy every word: as completeness RISES, comprehension FALLS

• Even worse with a keyboard!

General Principles

2. Classify the information.• Listen for “metamessages” as well

as content• “Metamessages” indicate how

important the content is• Listen to examples; record key

concepts

General Principles

3. Organize the information.• Consider adopting a consistent,

formal note-taking plan (we’ll discuss some)

• Improves clarity• Setting up pages for note-taking

triggers attention, prepares you to focus

C. Working with Printed Notes

• Printed slideshows/course note packs ensure accuracy and completeness

• allow the student to concentrate on the lecture (reducing multi-tasking) BUT

• reduce the student's role in note production—Problem?

• ideally, work with prepared course

note packages

• annotate, highlight, and mark

them vigorously

Good point!

C. Working with Printed Notes

• Print your notes in “notes pages” format• Provides space to add your own notes• Remember: The purpose of note-taking

is LEARNING

• Note contrasts: distinction between carrier proteins and channel proteins

• “no energy input” “works along concentration gradient”

• What’s important -> TEST

Focus on Metamessages

• Crucial hints, e.g., “the details of this process are not important at this point”

Focus on Metamessages

• Crucial hint: “I don’t expect you to memorize them all”BUT

• “you should recognize some properties of major groups”

Build Tests

• Tests: most efficient learning technique• Use notes to test yourself

• Keep the headings• Collect key points from other slides• Using headings as prompts, self-test

• Watch for “summary slides”• Identify key topics• Use as direct tests

Summary• Review readings & slides before

lecture• Print slides and leave space to

annotate them• Focus on metamessages• Use slides/notes as tests and

test yourself

If It All Looks Familiar . . .

• Remember: in REVIEW, everything looks familiar—use testing

• Tests provide retrieval practice & knowledge of performance

• You will not only have to know the material but retrieve it quickly and accurately

No Printouts?

• Printouts are not always available• Printing requires time & money• What is the best way to take

notes if printouts are not an option?

• 3 Formats

D. Note-Taking Systems

1. Outline system2. Graphic approaches3. Cornell system

1. Outline System

1. Illustrates relative value of major points/supporting ideas

a) highly structuredb) effort of forming a coherent outline

makes the material memorable2. Organization increases clarity

a) you will understand them laterb) classmates may understand them

3. Drawbacks of outline format:a) too slow for many situationsb) only useful for lectures with clear

structure/few digressions

2. Graphic Approaches:

• informal, strongly visual ways of expressing relationships between ideas

• Branching: start in the middle of the page with a key idea; draw a radiating line for each subtopic

• indicate connections between ideas with branching lines

What is a Mindmap?

• A mindmap is a way of organizing ideas in a highly pictorial way

Why Mindmap?

• Highly memorable visual connections between ideas

• Fast, easy, & fun to createBUT!• Rarely used AFTER being created• Does not provide a convenient

test system by itself

3. Cornell System:

Simple system that 1. Leaves adequate room for later

re-organization2. Creates an automatic quiz

system

Cornell System

Developed--• When?• Where?• Why?

• By?

• Now Used?

1949Cornell UStudents requested test preparation formatWalter S. Pauk• Most major US law

schools

3-Part System

Phase 1: Before the Lecture• Review previous notes• Prepare paper for current notes

(date, course, name, page numbers)

3-Part System

Phase 2: During the Lecture• record notes on the right-hand side of

the page• capture main points writing quickly• you may NOT have time to re-write• only re-write notes if this is a crucial

study activity for you!• notes should convey the necessary

information the first time you write them.

3-Part System

Phase 3: After the Lecture• jot down key words and phrases

on the left side of the paper• helps organize material• TEST: cover the right side of the

notebook• use key words and phrases as test

questions

Hybrids

• Note that you can combine approaches—e.g., branching diagram plus Cornell

“seed tick”

-how ticks find cattle?

-responses: warm/cold?

-why does blood continue to flow in host?

-host questing risky—adaptations?

smell of butyric acid in mammalian sweat

One/several batches—1000s!

Releases apyrase (anti-coag.) & kininase (no itch)

Branching/Cornell Approach

Testing as Study

• Every diagram is the basis for a test (reproduce sketch diagrams to self-test)

• highest learning gains from testing; best form of study!

• Testing may actually replace notes—soon

Testing

• Tests enhance learning and improve long-term retention, a phenomenon known as the “testing effect” (Agarwal et al., 2007)

Textbooks

• Remember: highlighting is no substitute for study

• Notes are more memorable• Current texts have excellent

summaries and questions—use them!

Reading in Reverse

• Start with the questions—then look for the answers

• Use end of chapter summaries as “advance organizers”

• Take notes & test as well as read—passive review is a weak learning strategy

Last Word: New Technology

• Technology claims are usually overstated (e.g., TABLETS!)

• Some new devices look promising

Lectures & Laptops

• Two major types of studies:1. Surveys of student perceptions2. Assessments based on student

performance

The former show positive attitudes toward laptops . . . But . . .

Laptops & Learning?

“The level of laptop use was significantly and negatively related to student learning” “The more students used their laptops in class, the lower their class performance” (p. 910) • Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its

effects on student learning. Computers and Education, 50(3), 906-914.

Laptops for Honours?

• “Laptop computing did not statistically improve student achievement as measured by GPA. Honors students with laptops reported statistically significantly less satisfaction with their education compared to honors students with no laptops.”

(Wurst,Smarkola, & Gaffney, 2008)

BIOLOGY CLASS STUDY

“there was a correlation between exam performance and note taking preference: paper note takers scored significantly higher and laptop users scored significantly lower than predicted by pre-class academic indicators (p < 0.01, paired t-test)”

Aguilar-Roca, williams, & O'Dowd, 2012

York-McMaster Study

“multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users and fellow students and can be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content.” (2013)

Princeton/UCLA study

“The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking”• first study to show “detriments

due to differences in note-taking behavior” rather than effects of distraction

Pen vs. Laptop

“using both immediate and delayed testing . . . we found that participants using laptops were more inclined to take verbatim notes . . . thus hurting learning”“longhand note takers engage in more processing”

“Smart” Pens?

• Livescribe—not that I’m endorsing their product

• Traditional pen with digital enhancement

• Records audio, coordinates with digitized text

New Technology

• Systems are maturing—and some may really be better

• We are on the verge of HUGE changes

• Currently, most of the old principles will still apply!