The Dying Art of Note Taking. Tips I wish I had known before and not after graduating!

We live in the time of powerpoints and photocopiers. Internet allows us to upload, download. It is archaic to take notes! Or is it?
Ebbinghaus in 1885, proposed the exponential nature of the forgetting curve. What does this mean for us? This tells us that within a week, most students probably only recall 10-20% of what they learnt! Hence the need for review, recall and techinques for remembering things.  For PSLE Science, you will find you will need to take notes when attending classes and when reading your textbooks, guidebooks etc.
You may ask yourself, if its all in the guidebook, why take notes?
It is a means to help you to understand, recall and organise your thoughts. It helps write information into your long term memory. For more information on memory and learning, you can refer to the blog entry on just that.
Here’s a sample of page one of notes about the topic of Light.  When children are forced to take notes, this is the quality of work they often come up with.

Notes were full of text. Much unnecessary information. Hard to see what’s important.
After some tips,
 
An improvement.  What’s the difference?
Mainpoints were clearer. More images for easier recall. Colours used (sorry, scanned in black and white so you can’t see).
So what were the tips?
Basics of Note Taking when Reading a Guide Book / Textbook.

1. Use a ring file or Thick notebook. What you use depends on how “good” you are at loosing pages and filing. Create an index on the first page.  Have 26 sections in the notebook or file. Flag pages to divide sections.  One section for each topic. Plus a few sections at the end for important points that apply to several topics, e.g. experiments, graph plottinge etc.
2. The first (and maybe second) page of each section is dedicated to keywords, key phrases and key concepts. Things to note. Things you often forget or are unclear of. Reminders etc. You may not use it, but leave the space incase you do.
3. Draw a big margin on the left of each page. This is for you to record all keywords and main points.
4. The remaining space is for taking notes! Never copy chunks of the paragraph and entire sentences.
5. As far as possible, record your ideas in the form of tables, charts, annotated diagrams, graphs. A picture speaks a thousand words. It helps you recall more easily.
6. Some like concept maps, others prefer flow charts. Other just prefer writing in point form.
7. It is not necessary to use full sentences. Main points and keywords are important. Record main points in big bright writing or highlight or underline them. Copy them to the margin.
8. Use colours to group ideas, make important points stand out etc.  The better you are able to classify and organise the information in your head (and on paper) the easier you will remember it.
9. Expand main points into subpoints. The subpoints should have hard to recall definitions and explanations.
10. Give page numbers to each page.

Note taking for Lectures and Classes
The key to effective learning is to have read about the topic before you attend the class.  All too often, students read the texts only after attending the class.  Quite on the contrary, effective use of time is reading the text before attending the class.  Once at least vaguely familiar with the topic,  you can make better sense of what is taught in class.

What’s even more important is that instead of trying to process all the new information at once, you can listen out for what the teacher highlights as the main points or what are important concepts to understand and learn.  Often the teacher will say things like, “and this is important” or “remember” these are your cue words which meant “take note!”

Furthermore, you can optimise precious contact time with the teacher (which is usually minimal) to ask questions and clarify things you do not understand.

Step 1: Read the textbook or guidebook before class

Step 2: Go to class with a positive attitude. The sooner you figure that you are going to have to take the exam to pass the subject and get to secondary school, the better it is for you! Over come your criticisms, fears, prejudgement.  Walk in and tell yourself you have to pay attention and get the best out of all this. Stop thinking about how ugly the teacher’s dress is or how wet you will be from sitting in the front row or how irritating your neighbour is or how much you like or dislike your teacher. STOP! FOCUS! It will save you precious time later which you could use for your favourite TV show or hobby. Make a concious decision to BE Interested.

Step 3: Write on a new page each time you attend a new class. Date and number each page so that you can refer and cross reference in future.

Step 4: Leave lots spaces.
The first and most important space is a nice broad ruled margine.  (handwidth). The margine is used to write one word cues, keywords and phrases, main points.
The second space is space between each topic or subtopic. Students are often stingy with space. Lots of space between each topic or subtopic is for a student to fill out and expand later.
What’s the space for? To fill out definitions of words you don’t understand, expand on difficult to understand concepts and write out explanations later when you get home. Note what you don’t understand etc…

Step 5: Note what the lecturer / teacher finds important. Make sure you write it down big somewhere.

Step 6 : Use short form for words or symbols where possible. (e.g. use three dots for therefore, ? for why or needs further explanation… draw a triangle instead of writing the word change. Use the symbol = instead of the word equals.

Step 7: If you have the time, rewrite your notes so that you can organise the thoughts and link ideas better. If you are hard pressed for time, you will still have to review and edit your notes when you get home. WHEN YOU GET HOME TODAY or within 24 hours. (Remembering that in 3-6 days you will probably forget 90% of what was told.) When reviewing make sure you have noted  the keywords in the margin. Check definitions and what you need further clarification on. Fill in the details in the spaces of your notes.