Two experiments were performed to examine the encoding function of note taking and processing differences between successful and less successful college students in lecture situations. Memory differences between these two student groups were interpreted as the result of factors occuring during note taking. Successful students engaged in greater…

Tests the hypothesis that second language (L2) students' approach to text reflects a top-down processing strategy in contrast to first language (L1) students' approach that is more text-driven. Results confirmed L2 subjects studied the texts less efficiently than L1 subjects. (HOD)

Examines the effects of providing subjects with prior information about the organization of expository passages. Concludes that a structural organizer with outline grid and that notetaking alone both reliably and markedly facilitated comprehension and recall, and that a structural organizer without outline grid reliably facilitated comprehension…

Discouraged and dissatisfied with their students' responses to a compilation of Arthurian legends, two ninth-grade teachers developed an approach to teaching the legends that exposes students to numerous versions (including those written and illustrated for children) of the legends and allows them to pick their own Arthurian legend for reading and…

Reports findings from an exploratory study investigating working notes created during encoding and external storage (EES) processes by human search intermediaries (librarians at the University of North Texas) using a Boolean information retrieval (IR) system. Implications for the design of IR interfaces and further research is discussed.…

Discussion of using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to read electronic text focuses on a study that evaluated the use of PDAs for reading course materials in an Open University (United Kingdom) master's course. Considers activity theory and how the PDA changed reading, including portability, screen display, navigation difficulties, and…

Describes how low-level, at-risk urban middle school students became proficient with notetaking, main idea, and summarization skills using a 12-minute daily newscast, which eventually engaged them in current events, news analysis, and analysis of commercials. (SR)

Whether the noting of ideas in a text (by underlining, highlighting, or taking notes) is a mediating variable between importance and the learning of those ideas was assessed, using 160 college students. Ability, prereading of main idea questions, and retrospective probe questions were also assessed as variables. (TJH)

A survey of 31 college students with learning disabilities found few used comprehensive and effective notetaking techniques, with only a small number requesting notetaking accommodations. Major difficulties included speed of writing, paying attention, making sense of notes afterward, and deciding what information to record. Programing and research…

A study of 100 college teachers investigated rationale and techniques for lecturing. Results suggest that, although the objectives of the lecture method are laudable, most would be achieved better by methods requiring more active student involvement. Most respondents wanted students to take notes for further study or to help establish structure…

Describes a study conducted to assess the effects of teaching a structured notetaking procedure to Calculus I students. Reports higher success rates among students who learned the technique than students taking the course the previous term, and increasingly positive attitudes toward the procedure over the course of the term. (DMM)

Effects of cooperative and individual review of lecture material on subsequent free recall performance were studied with 109 undergraduate students in 4 experimental conditions. Although the cooperative review group did not significantly outperform the individual review group, the direction of mean score differences suggests that cooperative…

Investigated how francophone nurses, newly hired in an English-speaking hospital in Quebec, Canada, developed skill in writing nursing notes in English. Data from interviews and observations indicated that social context and mediation were an important part of nurses' ability to appropriate competence in a subgenre of nursing notes in English. (SM)

A computer-assisted notetaking (CAN) system to help hearing-impaired students in mainstreamed classes use a Macintosh laptop computer on which the notetaker types notes connected to a television monitor easily viewed by students. Evaluation results in two mainstream high school social studies classes reported that teachers, notetakers, hearing-…

Notetaking and note reviewing appear to increase learning from conventional instruction. An experiment on notetaking with interactive videodisk (IVD) did not mirror these findings. With the IVD lesson, no statistically significant effects were associated with notetaking or reviewing, either conventional or matrix notes. (AEF)