The Cornell method
CUE NOTES
Notes This is the section where you should take your notes during the course of the class. Use bullets, sentences, shorthand etc.
Cue Questions, main points, visual clues and other clues that jog your memory go here. Fill this section in after the class.
SUMMARY
Summary The most important points and main ideas go here. Fill in this section after the class when you are in the reviewing process.
So, how can we encourage good practice in our own classrooms?
1. We should still insist on some tasks being completed by hand on paper. This provides students with the opportunity to practise writing fluently and legibly in preparation for public examinations.
2. We should teach students how to take notes, in whichever format they prefer, reminding them that their notes should always be a summary of the key content, written in their own words. The process of intentional note-taking should involve engaging with the information presented and they should be encouraged to avoid tools that write notes for them.
Students could be introduced to the Cornell note-taking method which encourages students to divide their notes into three sections Cue, Notes and Summary( Pauk et al, 2010). In the Notes section, students note down the gist of what is being said and the important details. Symbols and diagrams can be included here. The Cue section can be used to record questions and comments that will help students to remember or organise the material. It can be filled in during or after the lesson and helps students to identify what still needs to be studied. If students are asking themselves questions during the lesson they have the opportunity to keep the brain active and to apply, analyse and evaluate what they are learning. The Summary should be just a few sentences that records what the student learnt in the lesson. The ability to go back and forth from the details to the big picture is a powerful learning tool, With the Summary the student is forced to distil what was said in the lesson and put it into their own words. The Summary should be completed as soon as possible after the lesson and can be reviewed just before the next.
3. Encourage students who want to use digital devices to hand write with a stylus. Research suggests that it is almost as effective for memory and comprehension as handwriting notes and combines the best of both worlds( Payne et al, 2016). Students would still be required to summarise material in their own words but produce digital files which can easily be edited.
To conclude, teachers should continue to make evidence-informed decisions when it comes to teaching and learning. They should be using technology to engage students and to train them in skills they will need after they leave school. However, devices should not be seen as a cure all for the more challenging aspects of teaching. Access to devices should not dictate how teachers teach. Expert teachers understand how to use the wide-ranging tools they are given and how to combine them to provide the greatest impact on their students.
19