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

[Dave Morgan <dmorgan@gmail.com>]

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

>  b) Some students find that the process of writing notes is
>
>
> 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.  Actually it seems to be the most-common
> case, if only by a modest margin.

I was going to jump in earlier, but now is the perfect time. I was  
always one of these method (b) students. For me, the ACT of writing  
something down is an essential part of committing the idea to memory.  
More than that, I think the mental act of boiling down an idea to  
something that can be written down in "note" form is an essential  
part (for me and students like me) of the process of "understanding"  
an idea. So handout lecture notes for me would be very ineffective.

So this just goes to stress that there is no right answer for every  
student, and that part of teaching students is teaching them to  
recognize their own learning style and how to make the most of it.

DM

--------------------------------
David L. Morgan
Professor of Physics
Eugene Lang College
The New School