Dear Dr. Write,
I am a teacher, and I don’t understand why most students don’t take notes during class. When I was a student, we always took notes. Now, I hardly ever see students taking notes in class. I happen to think taking notes helped me make better grades when I was a student. Do you know if that could be true?
Thanks for your help,
Frustrated Teacher
Dear Teacher,
You are right! Taking notes is an excellent way to help people understand information better as well as remember it longer. For example, if we listen to a speaker, three days later we will remember about 10 percent of what s/he said. However, if we listen AND take notes, three days later we will remember about 65 percent of what s/he said. (We learn this in our CM130 class at EC.)
With taking notes, we are able to process information in three ways: listening, seeing, and doing. First, we are listening to the speaker. Second, we have to process that information in an additional way as we write it. Thirdly, we see what is written. Even when we do not go back to reread our notes, we will remember more of what we listened to that day if we take notes.
Sometimes I take notes even if I know I won’t go back and reread them. If I were a student, I think it would be worth a try. I would not have anything to lose and would have a better chance of learning more and making better grades.
Thanks for your letter!
Dr. Penny Write
If you would like to ask Dr. Write for advice about writing, just e-mail cc@ec.edu.
