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A Learning Secret: Don't Take Notes with a Laptop (2014)

scientificamerican.com

241–243 of 243 posts

Re: A Learning Secret: Don't Take Notes with a Laptop (2014)

#241

I tended to be in the top of the classes I was in and as far as I've seen my method was somewhat different. I also only take notes on paper, but more importantly, I throw all my notes out as soon as I finish writing them. For me studying is the act of writing the notes. The purpose of notes was never to read them later. That's why writing on paper is important to me. It's not about the qualities and convenience of th…

> I throw all my notes out as soon as I finish writing them. I do the exact same thing, and haven't met anyone else that did it. I thought I was a weirdo all this time! My learning process is (as theorized by me): 1. Hear/see instructor say something 2. Mentally digest and understand it 3. Write down the product of understanding it I think #2 is the most important step, and the big purpose of step #3 is validating th…

You are surely not alone: there are dozens of us!

I've done the exact same thing for the last 25 years, it took me 10 years of frustration before I found out that I learn & memorize best while writing things down.

Somehow the slowness of writing works 10x better for memorizing then typing.

Re: A Learning Secret: Don't Take Notes with a Laptop (2014)

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would those factors be any different when taking notes on a laptop? It is still on the screen/document somewhere, and it still looks like something.

The problem is that word processors and word wrap make it too easy to move text, destroying the absolute and sometimes even relative position. Much of human memory evolved to remember locations, and almost all of the top memory competitors use locality association ("Memory Palace"/loci) as their primary method.

If that were true, then typing would be vastly superior to handwriting for everyone who simply chose not to copy-paste.

Re: A Learning Secret: Don't Take Notes with a Laptop (2014)

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was my study mode throughout HS & (somewhat) through college. It really does work, even though I had no idea why I started that way. And my final editions were just as indecipherable to the outside world.

I started when one of my teachers allowed us to take said A5 sheet of paper into my A-Level mock exams. All the class did well, as we had this lifeline. Next exam we were given the same instruction but this time, unbeknownst to us until we walked in, our paper was taken away from us at the door. We were absolutely furious; until the teacher later showed us that not only were our marks all but identical to that of the…

Devious and effective. I approve of this. :-)
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