Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart, pioneers in cognitive neuroscience research, noted three levels of information processing: their theory lays bare the neuroscience behind da Vinci’s insights centuries ago. The artist’s notebooks reveal a creative, inquiring, inventive mind and man of science and art unparalleled, centuries ahead of his time. Therefore it is necessary to make a drawing … as well as to describe …” Leonardo da Vinci wrote: “…the more minutely you describe, the more you will confuse the mind of the reader and the more you will remove him from knowledge of the thing described.
Content curriculum in science, social studies, English language arts and mathematics makes accelerated demands on children to shift into academic modes of literacy.Įach year of educational advancement makes increasing demands in reading and writing, understanding and making sense of vast amounts of information in multi-modal formats.ĭrawing by Leonardo da Vinci: Head of the Virgin (1510-13). The move from grades 3 to 4 is a big leap for young learners. This is best achieved with a clean, uncluttered and connected script, meaning cursive writing, that young learners can begin to learn in Grade 2.įluency of hand comes from instruction and practice in the early years of school, and sustained opportunities for authentic, purposeful literacy engagements in turn allocating working memory space to the cognitive demands of note-taking. Taking good notes depends on fluency of hand, which means legibility and speed combined.
#MEMORY NOTE TAKING HOW TO#
How to take notes using the Cornell system. You can also explore other ways that can be adapted for different study needs, such as compare/contrast charts or webs. A popular one is the Cornell style developed by education professor Walter Pauk. There are templates and formats that teach more effective ways of taking hand-written notes. This becomes a potent study strategy, as one’s own processing can be further consolidated through talk. Note-taking becomes note-making: an active involvement in making sense and meaning for later reflection, study or sharing of notes to compare understanding with lab partners or classmates. Researchers have found that note-taking associated with keyboarding involves taking notes verbatim in a way that does not involve processing information, and so have called this “non-generative” note-taking.īy contrast, taking notes by hand involves cognitive engagement in summarising, paraphrasing, organising, concept and vocabulary mapping - in short, manipulating and transforming information that leads to deeper understanding.
While your laptop might seem faster and more efficient, there are good reasons for having a paper-bound notebook and pen - any kind you prefer - at the ready. The processing advantage Note-taking is not only about recording, but processing information. Automaticity in keyboarding is an important skill too, and the tools and applications for digital communication will continue to evolve and have their place.īut keyboarding does not provide the tactile feedback to the brain that contact between pencil or pen and paper does - the key to creating the neurocircuitry in the hand-brain complex. We live in a digital age where daily functioning involves digital communication.
Learning how to take notes by hand effectively, and how to ingrain note-taking as a key learning and study tool, can begin as early as grades three or four, but it’s never too late to begin. Taking notes by hand is a win-win, and belongs in every student’s cognitive tool kit. And secondly, when you take notes by hand, your hands create a robust external memory storage: Your notebook. Handwritten notes are a powerful tool for encrypting embodied cognition and in turn supporting the brain’s capacity for retrieval of information.
Whether or not you’re picky, know that tools for the hands are tools for the brain. Do you pick up any old notebook and pen when you need them, or do you have a thing for Moleskines or Montblancs?
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