3 Ways to Make Learning Stick With Better Note-Taking
When students rely on verbatim notes and highlighting, they don’t actually retain information very well—but research points to several methods that work better.
November 16, 2022
Studies show that students who use visual note-taking tactics like sketch notes, concept maps, and graphic organizers process information more deeply, retain significantly more of what they’ve learned, and sharpen their higher-order thinking skills too. If you’d like to learn more about the research cited in the video, please see the links below:
- 2021 study on how drawing improves metacomprehension accuracy, by Keith W. Thiede, Katherine L. Wright, Sara Hagenah, Julianne Wenner, Jadelyn Abbott, and Angela Arechiga
- 2021 study on the benefits of interactive graphic organizers, by X. Wang, R.E. Mayer, P. Zhou, and L. Lin
- 2021 study on using laptops versus longhand note-taking, by Heather L. Urry, Chelsea S.Crittle, and Jonah E. Zarrow
- 2021 study on the benefits of writing an explanation in your own words to help retain information, by Alyssa P. Lawson and Richard E. Mayer
- 2018 study on how drawing improves memory, by Myra A. Fernandes, Jeffrey D. Wammes, and Melissa E. Meade
- 2018 research study on five popular study strategies and their pitfalls and optimal implementation, by Toshiya Miyatsu, Khuyen Nguyen, and Mark A. McDaniel
- 2014 study on how laptop note-taking is less effective than longhand note-taking for learning, by Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer