📝Taking non-verbatim notes improves conceptual understanding

Mueller & Oppenheimer₂₀₁₄ shows that students taking note by hand produce less verbatim notes (they used summary, paraphrasing, etc.), and that’s a possible explanation of why they perform better on conceptual tests.

In the longer run (1 week) when allowed to review notes, longhand note-takers performed much better in both conceptual understanding and factual recall.

The factual recall is not explained by verbatim/non-verbatim model, but I suspect that it’s likely because longhand note-takers developed a better conceptual model that allowed them to remember facts better (Mental models make things easier to remember).

Backlinks

🖋 How I note
📝 Take non-verbatim notes
📝 Can tablets help with note taking?
📝 § Mental models
📝 § Zettelkasten
📝 Mental models make things easier to remember