Getting Students “Partially” Involved in Note-Taking Using Graphic Organizers

TLDR

The study investigated the encoding benefits of graphic‑organizer and outline note‑taking with spaced study and review. Seventy‑seven? No, 117 undergraduates studied a chapter‑length text with complete, partial, or skeletal graphic organizers or outlines over two 40‑minute sessions separated by two days, then reviewed for 10 minutes and completed factual and application tests.

Abstract

Abstract Encoding benefits (DiVesta & Gray, 1972) of graphic-organizer and outline note-taking using spaced study and review (Robinson, Katayama, Dubois, & DeVaney, 1998) were investigated. In 2 40-min periods separated by 2 days, 117 undergraduates studied a chapter-length text along with a set of complete, partial, or skeletal graphic organizers or outlines. Two days later, the students reviewed their materials for 10 min and then completed factual and application tests. On the factual test, there was no effect for either study notes or amount of information. However, on the application test, graphic organizers were better than outlines and partial notes were better than complete notes. Having students take notes using partial graphic organizers may be preferable to giving them complete notes because of encoding benefits.