FOCUSED NOTE TAKING

5 STEPS:

Taking Notes

Processing Notes

Connecting Thinking

Summarizing and Reflecting on Learning

Applying Learning

Annotation 2020-08-03 125434.png

Annotation 2020-08-03 125434-1.png

Annotation 2020-08-03 125434-2.png

Phase 3, Connecting Thinking, asks learners to use inquiry to think beyond the notes. Rather than adding lower-level recall questions and instructor-provided examples, curious learners can deepen their understanding by asking “wonderment” questions:

Scardamalia and Bereiter (as cited in Chin, 2001) developed five categories of wonderment questions:

Comprehension questions seeking an explanation of something not yet understood
Prediction questions (“What would happen if…”)
Anomaly detection questions, where students try to resolve some cognitive conflict caused by the information or to address an identified discrepancy or anomaly in their notes
Application questions, where students ponder the usefulness of the information
Planning or strategy questions, in which students contemplate what to do or where to go next

Levels 2 and 3 of Costas’s Levels of Thinking can also produce effective questions and connections.

Annotation 2020-08-03 125434-3.png

Annotation 2020-08-03 125434-4.png