What strategies do you use for note-taking whilst reading?

Hello Hamilton:  This has been so wonderful!  Thanks for making my brain work so hard on a Monday morning.

I think maybe where you and are differing is I am not speaking specifically about how to learn/retain/memorize biblical doctrines or theology or world views.  I was speaking about how we learn GENERALLY whereas I think you are speaking specifically.  Mark's question was, I believe, geared to generally reading books in Logos, or Kindle, or print,  and specifically asked how to retain the information, so I was advising generally on ways we learn that help retain information.  These methods would apply to ALL areas of learning, whether English, History, Math, Science, or even gathering information for formulate an understanding of biblical doctrines and world views.

Know what I mean?  However, thanks for this information. It's fantastic!

Fair enough, but now you can see how with the submerge method, I am able to see relations between topics, and then go deep using sequential.

Blessings.

P.S. I have done similarly in other areas: governance, compliance, internal audit, resource management, risk and loss control, strategic planning, etc.

Mark Barnes said:

Cynthia in Florida said:

1)  First, I HIGHLY recommend reading the book How We Learn by Benedict Carey.  https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Learn-Surprising-Happens/dp/0812984293.It is an amazing resource and is geared specifically towards memory retention.

Thank you, Cynthia, for suggesting studying something on "how we learn". That's something I should have thought of myself.

I read through the Amazon preview of "How We Learn", and it certainly looked interesting. I may come back to it later. But I decided to purchase a similar book: Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, which looked even more helpful. The preface says, "This is a book about what people can do for themselves right now in order to learn better and remember longer." That's exactly what I want.

Mark:  That book looks fantastic.  Part of the review says,

"Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another."

This is exactly my philosophy/understanding/experience regarding learning.  The practices of underlining and highlighting really do not help much with retention.  "Self testing,"  which is what I do when I question the text and then search for answers, and then make an outline out of it, works very well for me.  "Waiting to study new material before a little forgetting has set in..." is spiral learning.  Some of the reviews stated that its a bit of re-packaging of some concrete ideas already out there in the education world.  I recognize some of it with just different names (such as self-testing and waiting to study new material...)

If you want an 8 page condensed version of the book, here's the PDF by the same authors. https://teachingacademy.wisc.edu/what-are-the-best-ways-to-study-read-this-review-from-scientific-american/

For the in depth ideology that's more technical, but also following the same principles and written by the same authors, see here.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/journals/pspi/learning-techniques.html

I hope to hear your follow up to this thread, and what you have discovered in your pursuit of "learning better and remembering longer."

Justin Gatlin said:

It is worth noting that VARK is considered almost as unscientific as the left brain/right brain paradigm. Everyone is a mixture of types, and those types change over time and even based on what is being studied. Threads like this are valuable references because we all need many tools to approach many problems.

I would respectfully disagree.  But, the purpose of this thread is not to debate.  I was simply offering my knowledge on how we learn.  I have repeatedly said that I am NOT saying it's the end all be all.  While I would agree that there are a mixture of types of learners (few people are truly uni-modal, and most are bi-modal), the learning usually comprises a mixture of the VARK methods, as well as those I mentioned in my original post.

"According to Othman and Amiruddin (2010), the effectiveness of VARK model has been seen in a number of studies conducted worldwide. For instance, Piping (2005) conducted a study and proved that VARK learning style not only enhances students’ understanding but also raises learning motivation and interest among them. Prithard in 2005 observed that good learning depends on students’ learning style, and teaching materials used. Hence, the production of teaching materials needs to be heavily based on students’ learning styles."

References:

[1] Fleming, N., and Bauma, D. (2006). Learning styles again: VARKing up the right tree. Educational developments SEDA 7 (4), pp 4-7. Website address: http://www.johnsilverio.com/EDUI6702/Fleming_VARK_learningstyles.pdf

[2] Israa, M.A., Majid, T.M., Charles, D., Safaa, A.,  Hamzeh, Y.Y. (2008). Problem-based learning (PBL): Assessing students’ learning preferences using VARK. Nurse Education Today 28, 572–579. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2007.09.012

[3] Hawk, T.F., and Shah, A.J. (2007). Using Learning Style Instruments to Enhance Student Learning. Wiley online library. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4609.2007.00125.x. website address: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4609.2007.00125.x/full

[4] Othman, N., and Amiruddin, M.H. (2010). Different Perspectives of Learning Styles from VARK Model. Procedia Socia and behavioral sciences, 7. Pp 652–660. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.10.088

[5] Steven K.K. Ng, Charles K.M. Chow, and David W.K. Chu. (2011). The Enhancement of Students’ Interests and Efficiency in Elementary Japanese Learning as a Second Language through Online Games with Special Reference to Their Learning Styles. Website address: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-642-22383-9_25.pdf

Both what I read here and common sense, it is clear that there can be different goals in reading particular books. It would make sense that the kind of notes one takes be adapted to these goals. If you read to be transformed in some way or other, it will be important to take away key points and jot down responses. Other books may be read not for their own sake (for instance, reading some apocryphal resources, not to reflect on their message, but as insight into NT backgrounds), there I would tend to write chapter summaries and then observations on how the material relates to biblical texts. 

What I have often done and regretted doing is just jotting down random thoughts as they occurred in response to specific points and leaving it at that. Indeed, I found later that I could not remember the overall outlook of the book from this kind of notes alone. The extra step that is needed is review at the end of a chapter or book. One needs to make the conscious choice to write down something that is well-rounded (but does not need to be long or belaboured). This, BTW, is true too of books we read for transformation (not just information): taking even a short time to synthesise one's thoughts and evaluate at the end of chapters (or the book if it is quite short) is worthwhile as opposed to only taking notes along the way.  

in practical terms, spatial relations have been related to right hemisphere activity. Supposedly combat pilots have shown high use of right side of the brain, that allows them to do complicated maneuvers correctly in space and time. 

Same with artistic, creative, and synthetizing activities. Even boxers like Mayweather use right brain abilities in his profession.

scientific or not, there seems to be a relation to certain activities and particular sided of the brain.

it also happens that persons engaged in particular professions develop that side of the brain most used.

ideally one should develop as many areas as possible, and that is why hobbies that engage the side of the brain mot used at work is encouraged.

 

Wonderful!  I'm tickled that you found something that's working for you!

On the side, and I've wanted to say this five times now...I love the word WHILST!  I wish we Americans used it! [:D]

Mark, could you clarify for me the difference between the top and bottom panes on the left side of the screenshot? Are those two differing note files?

One can also click the panel of any book and check "show locator bar"." Once the locator bar shows up on your book, you will find information about your location in the book you are reading. The far right box is usually labeled "article" by default. It is a search engine for that book. If you click it you can change what you are searching. Your choices are by article, by page or by annotation. When annotation is selected, it will search any highlighting you have entered in that book. The bad part is you can only choose the nearest location above or below your reading page, but if you wnat to do a quick review, it is helpful