About taking notes in class!

[Khan]

Why should we take notes during lecture in class?

[insane_alien]

to revise? a lot of lecturers do not hand out notes and not everything they tell you is in the notes if they do hand notes out.

[ecoli]

I find it helps me remember things better if I write them down.

[Klaynos]

I agree with both the above posters, to revies and to help recall... it also helps you stay awake after a late night...

[Ophiolite]

There is doubtless a raft of research work that demomstrates very clearly that taking notes achieves at least three things:

a) it focuses our attention on what is being said

b) it enhances recall of the facts

c) it improves understanding

 

It can also provide, in the case of a good teacher, an excellent framework of headings upon which a more extensive structure can be created.

 

I routinely see individuals who do take notes demonstrating a superior grasp of facts and understanding of principles than those who do not. I am so convinced of this benefit that I view the failure to takes notes as being little short of insane.

[the tree]

It also allows you to make sure you understand something, if you can explain it back to a sheet of paper.

[Genecks]

Taking notes is crap. I've never found it useful. I would often spend more time writing than listening to the lecture. I got sick of that process really quick, so I used a voice recorder. I think you can learn something faster and comprehend it faster if reading it than if you were to listen to it. Of course, this depends on dyadic conversation. If what you're reading is pure, straight, orderly information out of an academic text, it cuts the crap unlike teachers and professors who use tangets, red herrings, and other fallacies combined with improper spelling and grammar, despite their years of academic experience. Sorry, but I've seen it over and over. Few are the professors who are serious and elite. With that being said, lectures are worthless these days. Asking questions and looking for answers to unknown things is not so worthless. Sadly, people still make you attend class. I assume in the near future (maybe 30 years) all of this will start to change. People are looking for a setting where you can read and learn, walk in to take an exam, and earn a grade.

 

These days, I record the lecture. I think about my other classes, while I unconsciously set my eyes to track the professor as if I'm staying on task. Sometimes I would do flourishes magic tricks with my hands. Afterwards, I replay the lecture on my computer twice as fast. In my opinion, lectures are often a waste of time. They are very archaic. I only listen to professors who have something NEW to say. Otherwise, if they can put something old in a new way, I listen to them to hone my skills of communication.

 

I only take notes if something wasn't in the book, is more visual than audio (thus can't be voice recorded so well), and is more important than some of the other things said.

 

Now, writing down things to review is not so bad. It works on muscle memory and a lot of neurological processes.

 

Other than that, I typically skipped my classes if I was not graded on attendance and everything came from the book. Afterwards, I would come to class maybe a week later and ace the test. It's sad, but for some odd reason, teachers get this pragmatic sensation by torturing students to sit in a lecture and learn stuff slower than they could elsewhere. It's amazing how intelligent people like to waste another person's time. In reality, both people are wasting their time.

 

I view the failure to takes notes as being little short of insane.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

[Sepiraph]

At the very least it allows you to practice to be ambidextrous in writing (although nowaday I think people can either just type or use their cellphone for voice/video capture).

 

Although frankly I think reading textbooks and notes on my own has been far more useful than attending classes.

[Rasori]

Since the topic is simply "About taking notes in class," I've got a question. Is there any research suggesting a difference between handwriting and typing notes? I don't much like taking notes, and I would expect that, if it's at all allowed for me to, I will take notes on my notebook (computer) rather than handwriting them since I type faster than I write anyway--is there anything suggesting that this doesn't equate to handwriting notes?

[w=f[z]]

I think (good) note taking is sort of an art. Some students try to write everything verbatim. That is a sure sign of a lack of understanding - like Genecks said, you spend more time writing than listening and learning. The best approach for me was to only write down the key concepts, or a key term to remind me to study that particular topic in greater detail outside of class.

 

It is an art to be able to write down the important stuff and not waste time with the rest. Outside of class is another story... but while in class, it would seem that the focus should be to learn from the professor - hard to do if you don't give yourself time to think about what's being said.

 

Cheers

[swansont]

Few are the professors who are serious and elite.

 

Was that a discovery or the revelation that it's a tautology?

[smarty_pants]

It helps I think but i learn much quicker by reading it from a textbook and usually get A+ for my tests

[John Cuthber]

Sepiraph, why do you say "At the very least it allows you to practice to be ambidextrous in writing"?

 

Anyway, I gave up taking notes when I was a student. I realised that I was better off listening to the lecture and trying to understand it.

In some cases the lecture was little more than the guy at the front writing out the textbook he had written, from memory, on the blackboard.

Well, by simply buying the book I could avoid 2 sets of transcription errors and (more importantly) I could stay in bed rather than going to the lecture.

[carol]

i used to have a roommate who buys 2 sets of notebooks. one set is used to take notes in class, the other is used to copy everything she wrote before exams. she told me that it helps her remember the lessons and that's her way of studying for the exams.

 

taking notes help me to remember the lessons. it also helps me to pay attention to the lecture.

[ajay]

4 refreshing.....

[Dc Nilbog]

I think; studying should be set priority on 3 things.

 

Reading>Writing>Taking notes

 

You cannot understand your own writing/copied from text unless you read and understand a concept.

 

You cannot understand the notes you record in classes/or know the relevant material to record unless you understood it earlier on.

 

The notes you take in the class will not make sense until you grasp the fundamentals of what you need to study. Notes that are put out in class for you to record are only a small percentage of the relevant material, plus a big percentage of the material which is irrrelevant and will worry you if you did not understood it.

 

 

Dc Nilbog

[Country Boy]

I have read that the following took place during WWII:

 

Classes were given on how to set up and use the new (and very secret) "Norden Bombsite". Because of the secrecy, people were not allowed to take any notes outside the classroom- but it was found that the people who took notes anyway and then turned them in at the end of the class did better than people who did not take notes.

 

If you are a good note-taker, taking notes CONCENTRATES your listening rather than interfering with it.

[Innit]

1. You remember what you've learned much better.

2. You can revise your notes - in your notes you would have probably taken down the key points, and can use that if you need to go through it quickly.

3. Sitting there and listening to a lecture without any notes is not going to help. It's like watching a TV episode, and trying to remember everything that happened 3 months later!

 

There are many more reasons, but those are the ones I can think of at the moment...

[Firescape]

There are some classes I have taken that I never took notes, but its always better to take notes, espceially if you are not very strong in the subject. Some classes like biology, which requires lengthy memorization, requires notes, while classes like maths or physics are alittle more straight forward.

[someguy]

I find it depends on the person and the class. personally i find it more useful in most cases to just make notes from a book and use those for study and use all your attention on listening. some people though find it easier to keep their attention if they are focused on taking notes. some people not because their notes may end up incomplete anyways, or in taking notes they may miss an important piece of information. for some classes the prof may say things they expect you to know for the exam which you cannot find in the textbooks the class uses, so you need to take notes for those, but for math and other classes it's all in the book and so really you don't even need to go to class at all. it all depends on you, what works best for you.

[DrDNA]

...because you don't want to be filpping burgers at Mikey D's the rest of your life...??

[fattyjwoods]

well i sometimes take notes, not often unless it was interesting. We sometimes have very boring teachers – or lecturers and they could drone on for hours and people would sit there daydreaming

[annjay]

you could alwayz just record it down and re-listen to it and take down notes. taking down notes doesn't hurt, it doesn't matter how much or how little you write. Every one has their own style of taking notes, as long as you understand and that your writing is readable (so the nxt time you read it, you actualli know what you have written) , do it whaeva way suits you the best !!

[Wookiee]

do it whaeva way suits you the best !!

 

I totally agree with annjay here. I hardly ever take notes in class... However

I pay attention and if its getting confusing then I may take notes. For me it seems that paying attention is worth more than scrablming to take notes. I feel as though there is a trade off. You can take notes and not pay as much attention but have everything on paper or you could pay complete attention and take no notes but risk forgeting.

 

My views anyhow...

-Randy

[smarty_pants]

I take them just incase i forget and if it something you cannot get it out of a book.It is pretty handy to have notes when you are revising for a teset