Note-taking

The effect of note taking training on the comprehension of ninth grade students was explored. A sample of 115 suburban Philadelphia public school students participated in an extreme groups design that selected subjects with an Educational Records Bureau (ERB) aptitude score of greater than the 80th percentile and lower than the 35th percentile. Students were randomly assigned to two world cultures teachers. One teacher instructed his classes in the note taking technique used in this study, while the other did not. All students took two tests, one expository and one high interest, at the end of a nine week practice period. Analysis of the results using MANOVA indicated that the note taking training significantly affected, at the.05 level of significance, the students' comprehension regardless of ability level. This was mainly attributable to the expository passage. However, not all students applied the technique as instructed, and there was no carryover of the use of the technique to the high interest passage; thus, the group trained in note taking did not score significantly higher on the high interest test. An interaction was found between the treatment group and the passage type, indicating that note taking was more effective when the material was expository. Note taking training had a significant effect on subjects' comprehension; however, if transfer is desired and if the process is to be internalized, the practice period should probably be longer than nine weeks.

High school biology classes traditionally follow a lecture format to disseminate content and new terminology. With the inclusive practices of No Child Left Behind, the Common Core State Standards, and end-of-course exam requirement for high school diplomas, classes include a large range of achievement levels and abilities. Teachers assume, often incorrectly, that students come to class prepared to listen and take notes. In a standard diploma, high school biology class in a separate school for students with emotional and behavioral disorders, five students participated in a single-subject, alternating treatment design study that compared the use of regular pens and digital pens to take notes during 21 lecture sessions. Behavior measures were threefold between the two interventions: (a) quantity of notes taken per minute during lectures, (b) quantity of notes or notations taken during review pauses, and (c) percent of correct responses on the daily comprehension quizzes. ... However, the differences were minor, and recommendations are made for specific training in note-taking, the pause strategy, and digital pen fluency which may produce different results for both note-taking and quiz scores.