6 ms·
One shouldn't take notes at all. Class is for understanding; material should be available in books. Notebooks are an escape if the class is boring/irrelevant.
by zupa-hu 12y ago
One shouldn't take notes at all. Class is for understanding; material should be available in books.
Notebooks are an escape if the class is boring/irrelevant. They should not be banned, so students can make at least something useful. I learned a lot about programming in high school from printed materials from under the desk in some classes which where not for me.
- dominotw 12y agoI usually jot down stuff like 'further reading' when a prof mentions 'look this by x'.
- irremediable 12y agoI'd hesitate to enforce one approach on everyone. I find that making notes helps me to understand. I'm an algebraic rather than an analytical thinker, and I like to scrawl out some thoughts and equations as I learn from the lecturer.
- sliverstorm 12y agoClass is for understanding; notes are for recording the class, so that the understanding can be revitalized at a later date. In other words, notes are your tool to have access to those critical moments of understanding again, later. I don't know about you, but even if I have a "eureka" moment, it may start to slip through my fingers and require refreshing once or twice.
- zupa-hu 12y agoI am not saying having a recording of the class is not important. It absolutely is. Just let me download it. I guess Khan Academy and it's breed could satisfy both camps.
- sliverstorm 12y agoI do love having recordings of a lecture, but that is a very recent development and not always offered. Up until somewhere in the 2008-2010 timeframe, recording/storing/serving decent video in a systematic, campus-wide fashion was a very daunting task. (Thankfully the hardware & storage has gotten much cheaper, and people's internet is faster)
- baddox 12y agoThat was my MO throughout high school and college. I watched countless students buried in a laptop or (paper) notebook furiously trying to keep up and undoubtedly not even processing phrases or sentences. Of the people I talked to, most were convinced that it's better than just listening, but I suspect they would find their memory is a lot better if they're actually comprehending strings of speech longer than two or three phonemes. The only exception for me were courses that were heavy in symbolic manipulation, like calculus, statistics, and relational algebra. For those, the concepts are still easily gleanable from the textbooks, but I found that it's very helpful to follow along with the teacher on paper to practice the physical manipulation of symbols.
- jpace121 12y agoI disagree. Writing down the important parts of a lecture can keep you focused on what's important. If your goal is to write down the important parts of a lecture, you're going to constantly be asking yourself what's important. Also, by writing something down, you're repeating the fact in your head a second time. Once when you hear it, the second when you rephrase and write. I find notes improve comprehension, because notes force this kind of comprehension.
- zupa-hu 12y agookay, I guess everyone learns differently. Then, you were lucky this time. I just hope all our kids will be able to choose their preferences when it's their turn.
- lotharbot 12y agonotes aren't necessarily about material. They can be about structure, or about your own mental process. Or they can simply be a way to transfer spoken material to a visual (written) format -- some people learn better with their eyes than their ears.