In June, the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition published a study co-authored by Wash. U. psychology professor Mark McDaniel. It suggested that before educators even begin lecturing, they should hand out supporting materials to show relationships among key concepts. “The particular organizational aid may well depend on what the material and content affords,” McDaniel says.
In the study, nearly 150 college students listened to explanations of how a car’s braking system works. One group took notes on blank sheets of paper, one received outlines of key concepts, and one received detailed diagrams of the braking system. The students then completed an assessment to rate their ability to build coherent mental representations of complex concepts—a cognitive skill known as “structure building.”
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Perhaps not surprisingly, the students with diagrams scored the highest on recall and problem-solving tests. And although those students took fewer notes, the notes they did take were of better quality, focusing more on connecting ideas than on verbatim transcription.
For his own classes, McDaniel often previews the issues that he’ll be covering at the beginning of class and tries to connect them to overarching themes. He’ll then close the session with a short-answer quiz
