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I would agree that in a university lecture, taking notes isn't the most constructive use of your time. > I think it's in your best interest to learn instead of

I would agree that in a university lecture, taking notes isn't the most constructive use of your time. > I think it's in your best interest to learn instead of memorize This doesn't necessarily make sense. Memorization is a first step to learning, nothing more. I don't believe you can learn the higher level concepts of any subject without memorizing the details of its primitives at some stage of your study. Also, I would add that in my experience note-taking is one of the worst possible ways to memorize anything. > My goal when learning is building my own, real mind maps. Every thing I ingest has to be processed, extended, applied, and connected to other things. You have to act, not just listen and listen more than notate. Agree 100%. I've found this to be true in pretty much anything I've applied myself to, specifically language study, martial arts and programming. I think note-taking still has its place. For me its ultimately production. When I need to get my thinking clear on a given subject or problem, I fire up a terminal, write down what I know, what the problem is, and what I need to know to solve it.

leif 16y ago
> This doesn't necessarily make sense. Memorization is a first step to learning, nothing more. I don't believe you can learn the higher level concepts of any subject without memorizing the details of its primitives at some stage of your study. I vehemently disagree, maybe because I understood the original statement differently. In classes, I've watched students diligently write down everything on the blackboard and yet find themselves incapable of answering the simplest question on something just explained (but not written down). They spend all of their mental capacity putting ideas down on paper in front of them, rather than putting those ideas in their brain and playing with them, as they should. They can regurgitate what was just said, sure, but give them new data and ask them to apply a concept just explained with different data, and they're lost. That's the difference between memorization and learning. Memorization is something you can do at home with a textbook. In fact, textbooks have already "memorized" facts for you, why are you doing it at all? When you come to class, you shouldn't be worried about that. Personally, I'd much rather be in a position to explain (for example) a formula I can't write down exactly, and say what it does and means, and why, than have a thousand formulas memorized which I don't understand. > I think note-taking still has its place. For me its ultimately production. When I need to get my thinking clear on a given subject or problem, I fire up a terminal, write down what I know, what the problem is, and what I need to know to solve it. Heh, I do the same thing. cat > /dev/null seems to be my brain's swap space.
- alinajaf 16y ago
  Yeah I would emphasize that memorization, to me at least, is just the beginning of learning. Experience, context, questioning assumptions, contrasting, analysis, evaluation and ultimately some action taken with that knowledge is what gets a new concept or subject permanent real estate in your headspace.

leif 16y ago

> This doesn't necessarily make sense. Memorization is a first step to learning, nothing more. I don't believe you can learn the higher level concepts of any subject without memorizing the details of its primitives at some stage of your study. I vehemently disagree, maybe because I understood the original statement differently. In classes, I've watched students diligently write down everything on the blackboard and yet find themselves incapable of answering the simplest question on something just explained (but not written down). They spend all of their mental capacity putting ideas down on paper in front of them, rather than putting those ideas in their brain and playing with them, as they should. They can regurgitate what was just said, sure, but give them new data and ask them to apply a concept just explained with different data, and they're lost. That's the difference between memorization and learning. Memorization is something you can do at home with a textbook. In fact, textbooks have already "memorized" facts for you, why are you doing it at all? When you come to class, you shouldn't be worried about that. Personally, I'd much rather be in a position to explain (for example) a formula I can't write down exactly, and say what it does and means, and why, than have a thousand formulas memorized which I don't understand. > I think note-taking still has its place. For me its ultimately production. When I need to get my thinking clear on a given subject or problem, I fire up a terminal, write down what I know, what the problem is, and what I need to know to solve it. Heh, I do the same thing. cat > /dev/null seems to be my brain's swap space.

alinajaf 16y ago
Yeah I would emphasize that memorization, to me at least, is just the beginning of learning. Experience, context, questioning assumptions, contrasting, analysis, evaluation and ultimately some action taken with that knowledge is what gets a new concept or subject permanent real estate in your headspace.