Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion To Remember a Lecture Better, Take Notes by Hand

Taking notes by hand from a lecture seems low-tech. Why doesn't the teacher just post her lecture notes? But according this article, note-taking forces people to think about the material, helping them to remember more.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...ecture-better-take-notes-by-hand/361478/
To Remember a Lecture Better, Take Notes by Hand
Students do worse on quizzes when they use keyboards in class.
ROBINSON MEYER
The Atlantic
MAY 1 2014, 1:35 PM ET


Here is the paper being discussed:

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0956797614524581.abstract
The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard
Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking
Pam A. Mueller
Daniel M. Oppenheimer
Psychological Science
April 23, 2014

Abstract
Taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand is increasingly common. Many researchers have suggested that laptop note taking is less effective than longhand note taking for learning. Prior studies have primarily focused on students’ capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. The present research suggests that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. In three studies, we found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. We show that whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning.

Yup.

I've been saying this for years-- anyone who CAN take notes by hand probably should be doing so-- even if they type them later.


(Obviously, for laptop keyboarding is preferable for anyone with a disability that interferes with note-taking, but otherwise, it's pretty important.)

Also highlights for me the assertion (by me and also backed by some research that apparently is quite unpopular since nobody WANTS to think about this one)-- computer screens are not the equal of pencil-and-paper when it comes to learning and assessment, either.

Abstracts really should include research design. I'd need to know if groups were randomly assigned to long hand vs. laptop before the research is even worth considering. And I'd like to know if a "no notes" group was part of the study.

Even though I personlly agree with one concept in the abstract: if I am typing then I am doing ear to finger transcription. Long hand for me means doodling and never again looking at the notes. But I figure I occupy the noise in most studies.

My handwritten notes looks terrible and I almost never used them. But I am sure the act of taking them did help me study. My problem with my DS is he doesn't see why he should have to take notes at ALL. The material is in the book, and he believes he remembers it all after one sitting. But in looking though one of his notebooks yesterday to look for a writing sample, I did notice that he does take notes he just doesn't think he should HAVE to.

Another question about the study. Many college professors now provide their "notes" online making taking notes at ALL unnecessary. And I have heard of teachers/professors who would prefer that students put down all pencils, electronics and just pay attention in class. Did this study address this issue?

Something similar, yesterday I was linked to this about the benefits of doodling.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2014/04/the_case_for_drawing_doodling_in_class.html

But what about the issue that many kids who are "taking notes on their computer" are actually chatting with friends, looking over tumblr/facebook. Or just web browsing.

Hand writing lecture notes always helped me because if something didn't just automatically come to me during a test I could always visualize the page of notes and where on that page that information was - viola it would come to me!
I also did my fair share of doodling on my notes, which actually helped too. If a certain doodle was on the page with the answer that was helpful to recall the information.
I always thought I was a more concrete, hands-on learner, but maybe I'm more visual (huh!?! - things that make you go hmmmm!)

My best performance was in classes where lecture notes were handed out in advance, and I knit during the lecture, occasionally pausing to write something on the handouts.

I've done my own experimentation on college students:

Publish slides without any words, telling them to fill in the words from what I show and say
Publish slides with words and additional annotations in the "notes" field.

For low level classes that require little more than regurgitate and fill in the bubble, grades are higher in the second set. For higher level classes that require synthesis and inference, grades are higher in the first set.

It's not a formal study by any means (nor approved by IRB), but I did it for myself to figure out how to best teach for myself and my classes.

There are fMRI studies that show that writing by hand engages more of the brain than typing, which can explain at least some of the effect.

Yes -- DS11 had an assignment yesterday to write the quadratic formula ten times and then memorize it to a song. (Oddly, because the class has not been silly up to this point, but I think they're marking time since next week is the end of classes.)

He wanted to copy/paste it, and I had to fight him to get him to write it down -- we settled on five times and a copy/paste of that, because he knows it in his sleep already, but then he spent ten minutes making a text animation of it in AfterEffects.

I had a government teacher who punished tardies and absences by making the student write the chapter (it could be typed). After the only time I ever *had* to do that, I did it for every chapter on my own because it was the best studying there was! Once I wrote it down, even typing it, it was in my brain.

Not true for me. I can either write or think, not both.

I was the same way when I was younger.

Thanks to technology I can spend quality time listening AND jot down salient points knowing that I can circle back and use the intranet/Internet/follow up calls and conversations to fill in gaps.

Back in the day, I could only follow the arguments being made XOR take coherent notes.