Re: [Phys-l] note-taking etc. (was: laptops ...)

[Ludwik Kowalski <kowalskil@mail.montclair.edu>]

On Mar 30, 2006, at 11:38 AM, John Denker wrote:

> Spagna Jr., George wrote:
> > Somewhere in this conversation we might want to address the need to
> > teach and reinforce what it means to "take good notes."
>
> An exxxxcellent point.
>
> Let me add that the answer varies from student to student:
>   a) Some students do better taking no notes at all, so they can
>    fully pay attention in class.  This is especially true if
>    the lectures closely follow the text.
>   b) Some students find that the process of writing notes is
>    a vital part of their learning process (whether or not they
>    ever look at the notes again).
>   c) Some students can take 'em or leave 'em.
>   d) Some students start with the "official" handouts write
>    tons of stuff in the margins.
>
> Personally I have never understood method (b), but I am not
> so arrogant as to think that just because I don't understand
> it, it doesn't exist.

When I was an undergraduate student (Poland, early 1950s), we had no 
textbooks. Taking notes was an absolute necessity. This experience 
allows me to see merit in the method b. Taking notes is much more than 
mechanical recording. For me it was (and always is) part of the 
thinking process. I had to listen and decide what is the most 
important; there were no time to write down everything. And that is 
what I always emphasized when I became a teacher. At one time I asked 
students to write "diaries of learning,"  and submit them to me for 
extra credit. Dedicated spiral notebooks had to be neatly written at 
home and entry had to be dated. Entries had to be based on lectures and 
on the textbook. It was a lot of work for me but I noticed that many of 
those who had good diaries also performed well on quizzes and tests.

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.