Andrea Alexman EDSC 310 Spring CHAPTER 7- INCREASING LEARNING BY USING NOTE TAKING STRATEGIES

 Note taking invokes the encoding of information, and is a storage tool for later review and study.  The main purpose of teaching effective note taking strategies to all students, and particularly to ELN students, is to ensure that notes are organized and can be used for later review, have useful and important information (through summarization), and can be completed.  This chapter expands upon 8 different techniques though there are many more ranging from general note taking strategies to specific note taking strategies depending on the topic or content.  Students of course must be taught these strategies thoroughly so that they can use them effectively. AN OVERVIEW

 This technique is centered around the idea of making note taking a faster process. Instead of writing out entire words they can be shortened. 1. ABBREVIATIONS  An important part of this technique is to have a key somewhere on the paper so that the letters IR, for example, will not confuse the student 3 pages into their history notes. KEY Industrial RevolutionIR withoutw/o exampleEx/e.g. informationinfo decreases Why is it helpful? Quicker note-taking frustration Better Notes= better study tool

 The purpose of this technique is a large portion of what note taking is all about: Reading information or listening to a lecture, internalizing what is written or said, and taking only the most important bits to put into one’s notes.  A problem arises though when students are left not knowing what exactly is important and what is just filler information.  A way to help this is for teachers to ask questions that the students can then answer. Why is it helpful?  Better understanding of what is important  Memory is engaged  Frustration decreased  Feeling of being able to complete notes 2. SUMMARIZING

ClassificationTemperatureComplimentAnalogousSymbolize RedGreen OrangeSecondary YellowOrange-Green Green Cool envy, jealousy  This technique builds upon the idea of scaffolding: by having the organizer only half full students can see what information is important and so have a foundation to build upon when they fill in the rest.  Having an already completed graphic organizer ELN students would miss out on internalizing (encoding) the information. By having one completely empty runs the risk of students putting in useless info. 3. PARTIAL GRAPHIC ORGANIZER Why is it helpful? Can visually see relationships and connections Structure is very organized Feeling of being able to complete notes A complete GO helps when it is time to study

1.Perspective A. Linear Perspective B. Atmospheric Perspective  Students are given by the teacher notes that look similar to the example provided to the left. It consists of a main topic, a subtopic and empty spaces to fill in information, or sub- subtopics. The information is provided through the teacher’s notes (fully filled out version) as well as from a lecture. 4. GUIDED NOTES  3 elements to be beneficial: Explicit information (no fluffy or useless information) Structured for optimum organization Repetition through review Why is it helpful? Attention and engagement increase Perception increased Better understanding of what is important

 This format encourages students to learn to organize their notes in a meaningful and understandable way by choosing 3-7 main concepts with details under them.  Although very similar to Guided Notes these notes contain two more additions.  At the top there is a section for students to write about their prior knowledge (metacognition).  Accessing prior knowledge is important for setting up a foundation for the information they are about to learn.  At the end students are to summarize the notes they have taken.  As with many other strategies a key component is to review notes at the end to enhance understanding. 5.STRATEGIC NOTES Why is it helpful? Directly engaged Metacognitive techniques of accessing prior knowledge and organization Confusion decreased Organization increased Topic: Prior Knowledge: 1. A. B. C. Summary:

Topic Question Answer Question Answer Question 6. BRICK AND MORTAR Why is it helpful? Actively engaged Comprehension increased by making questions from notes (repetition) Memory engaged Review Process The most effective way to study these notes is to place a piece of paper over the answer and try to answer the question, facilitating engagement and deeper understanding.  These notes are best for when a teacher lecture consists of many questions and answers.  Students create a paper that has a space for a question (brick) and a larger space for the answer (mortar). It is recommended that students write the answer in red.  The questions can be taken from the teacher lecture or created later after the notes are finished (latter highly recommended for gaining deeper understanding of information).

 The main purpose of these notes, other than to create an organized layout, is to have the students connect more personally to the information.  Additional personal connection is achieved through the possibility of sharing column 3 with a small group or to the class.  Below the columns is an area for a summary COLUMN PERSONALIZED NOTES Why is it helpful? Academic information relates directly to student personally Confusion decreased when abstract concepts explained through student experiences Memory enhanced Column 1  This column consists of the main topic (or could be a sub- heading or a sub sub-heading). Column 2  This column consists of the details for the concept in the first column. Column 3  This column consist of students connecting the concepts from the first two columns to their experiences, or a place to voice their thoughts. A connection of new information and existing knowledge (schema).

 The main purpose of these notes is to practice and excel at summarization- the finding of main concepts (the ‘essence’) to achieve and help with comprehension.  Students go about this by finding the Who-What-Where-When-Why-How…as well as the To Whom and Effect.  This strategy is particularly useful for topics in history, literature, and when talking about current events. 8- NEWSPAPER NOTES Why is it helpful? Note taking simplified (not stressful) Better understanding of what is important Organization increased There is no one way to create these type of notes: some do a column method, other can do a GO like the one below.