All students should learn how to use effective notetaking during classroom lessons. With good and accurate notes, they will remember the details from a lesson, review key points and learn how to organize information to remember the content (1). Furthermore, notetaking improves listening skills, promotes active learning and increases comprehension skills and creativity (2).

Dr. Warren described some useful notetaking strategies:

1. a) Cornell notes or Two column notes: Students should break up their paper with horizontal lines, then draw a blue vertical line on the left side of the paper to create two columns and a blue horizontal line at the bottom of the paper. On the left column – the recall area – students write the main idea of the lecture, keywords, names, dates, and questions they might want to ask. On the right column – the notetaking area – students write important facts and ideas with supporting details; they use their own words and abbreviations without concerning about spelling, fill any blanks, ask questions or complete the left column, if there is time. Finally, at the bottom of the page – the summary area – students summarize what this page of notes is about.
2. b) Bullet notes: It approves to be a very helpful strategy, where students can learn to organize all the information from the lecture and find ideas easily. Students use different bullet’s sides and colors to write main ideas, details and examples.
3. c) Color-coded notes: Students take notes by using different colors or highlighters, for example blue for vocabulary, green for main ideas and red for examples. This will help them to find easily the information they want to use. If students want to use a computer or tablet, it proves to be a quick way to take notes, because font color can be changed, or the text can be highlighted. d) Using webs: Students can web their ideas by hand: they write the main idea in the middle of the paper and all the important details around it. They can also use an app, such as inspiration, where they can easily switch from a web to an outline and vice versa.
4. e) Drawings or Doodles: Students, for example, want to learn about volcanos. They can draw a volcano or find a picture from the internet. Then, they write the main parts of the volcano to make it more amusing and memorable. At this point, students can combine information about volcanos by using Cornell notes, bullets and memory strategies.
5. f) Notetaking on a Computer: There are some benefits and problems in taking notes on a computer. The benefits are that students can take notes quickly, share notes with each other, organize and back up their files and import lecture slides. The problems are that sometimes they can lose focus or write down too much and always remember to keep the battery charged.
6. g) Notetaking on Tablets: There are, also, some benefits and problems in taking notes on a tablet. The benefits are that the tablet is easy to transport, share notes, write with colored pens, place photos anywhere on the notes, and import lecture slides, and a text can easily be made bigger or smaller. Moreover, some useful apps can be downloaded easily. The problems are that some students need to spend a considerable amount of time to learn how to use an app, technology is expensive, and they must remember to keep, again, the battery charged (2).
7. h) The Story Star: Students choose a story, such as a scaring night at home and should write it with a beginning, a middle and an ending part. First, they brainstorm their thoughts, which are not in order. They think what keywords they can use in the story; they create the Story Star as a map and write the words and thoughts in order. They can replace some words by doodles, use images and details and then write the story, (3). The Story Star enhances working memory.

Bibliography

1.Loveless, B. (2022). Improving Your Note Taking. Education Corner

2.Warren, E. (2022). Developing Executive Functions and Study Strategies: A Comprehensive Approach. Learning Specialist Courses. 3

3.Namdaran, D. (2022). Bullet Map Approaches: The Story Star. Bullet Map Academy

Ιωάννα Δημητριάδου

Ψυχολόγος-Ειδική Παιδαγωγός

Εξειδίκευση στη Δυσλεξία και στις Μαθησιακές Δυσκολίες, PgD

Συμβουλευτική Υποστήριξη Γονέων

Μέλος στο British Psychological Society, GMBPsS, GBC