4 ms·

Note taking by hand implies making your hand draw the right shapes in the right sequence (& "verifying" them by reading) so in effect more of your brain in invo

by bakul 6y ago

Note taking by hand implies making your hand draw the right shapes in the right sequence (& "verifying" them by reading) so in effect more of your brain in involved in actual processing. This may have a larger effect than reframing in your own words? [Speculation as I rarely took notes. Even the process of note taking distracted me!]

jjoonathan 6y ago
There's a "Price is Right" effect too: more processing = more engagement with the material = better, right up until you can't keep up with the lecture and then it falls apart. It's not just a function of the average conceptual speed of the lecture, either, it's also a function of how bursty it is, and both are relative to what you already know and modulated by the quality of the presentation. Taped lectures are a game changer because you can 2x over the slow parts and dwell on the bursts.
- chongli 6y ago
  right up until you can't keep up with the lecture and then it falls apart And that's been my experience as a math student. Professors of advanced math courses tend to write very quickly for brief bursts and then pause to explain what's going on. The definition or proof they describe can often be subtle enough that you don't have much of a chance to understand it unless you've had the opportunity to preview the lecture notes before class. Tragically, not every professor provides lecture notes in advance, and some don't provide lecture notes at all. Then if you're taking notes by hand you're taking a big risk that you might pause to reflect and miss noting a crucial step in the proof, leaving yourself baffled by what you wrote later on.
astrobe_ 6y ago
Actually, the same short-term memory and muscle memory that allow you to have an "output buffer" when typing works with hand writing. You can finish writing a word, maybe even a sentence, while thinking about something else. If you look at the paper sheet, it is because you have to check you are still on the guideline. However I believe that at uni, I would write a whole line without looking if I needed to (that's after about a decade of fast hand writing almost 8 hours a day, 4-5 days a week, though). That those lines had a tendency to go up or down was not a problem, because making a clean copy of those notes was part of my learning strategy.

by bakul 6y ago

jjoonathan 6y ago

There's a "Price is Right" effect too: more processing = more engagement with the material = better, right up until you can't keep up with the lecture and then it falls apart. It's not just a function of the average conceptual speed of the lecture, either, it's also a function of how bursty it is, and both are relative to what you already know and modulated by the quality of the presentation. Taped lectures are a game changer because you can 2x over the slow parts and dwell on the bursts.

chongli 6y ago
right up until you can't keep up with the lecture and then it falls apart And that's been my experience as a math student. Professors of advanced math courses tend to write very quickly for brief bursts and then pause to explain what's going on. The definition or proof they describe can often be subtle enough that you don't have much of a chance to understand it unless you've had the opportunity to preview the lecture notes before class. Tragically, not every professor provides lecture notes in advance, and some don't provide lecture notes at all. Then if you're taking notes by hand you're taking a big risk that you might pause to reflect and miss noting a crucial step in the proof, leaving yourself baffled by what you wrote later on.

astrobe_ 6y ago

Actually, the same short-term memory and muscle memory that allow you to have an "output buffer" when typing works with hand writing. You can finish writing a word, maybe even a sentence, while thinking about something else. If you look at the paper sheet, it is because you have to check you are still on the guideline. However I believe that at uni, I would write a whole line without looking if I needed to (that's after about a decade of fast hand writing almost 8 hours a day, 4-5 days a week, though). That those lines had a tendency to go up or down was not a problem, because making a clean copy of those notes was part of my learning strategy.