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Version 1.2 – Updated June 2023

Note-taking

Overview

  • Influence: Note-taking
  • Domain: Student Learning Strategies
  • Sub-Domain: Learning strategies
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: This involves students making notes in a systematic manner. This is not providing students with notes or sharing them, but the student actually learning the skills of note-taking and what to include of their own ideas, questions, as well as what to understand from the text.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 7
  • Number of studies: 191
  • Number of students: 6,476
  • Number of effects: 343
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.33
  • Robustness index: 3

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author First Author's Country Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Australian Journal of Education Purdie & Hattie Australia The Relationship between Study Skills and Learning Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis 1999 Note taking 40 0 40 0.44
Contemporary Educational Psychology Voyer, Ronis, & Byers USA The effect of notetaking method on academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis.  2022 Note taking 36 0 77 -0.01
Conference paper Henk & Stahl USA A meta-analysis of the effect of notetaking on learning from lecture 1985 Note taking 21 0 25 0.34
Contemporary Educational Psychology Kobayashi Japan What limits the encoding effect of note-taking?: a meta-analytic examination 2005 Effects of note taking 57 0 131 0.22
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness Reed, Rimel, & Hallet USA Note-taking interventions for college students: A synthesis and meta-analysis of the literature 2016 Note taking 10 1,801 28 0.54
International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Larwin & Larwin USA The impact of guided notes on post-secondary student achievement: A meta-analysis.  2013 Guided notes 12 1,529 27 0.55
Educational Psychology Review Larwin, Gorman & Larwin USA Assessing the Impact of Testing Aids on Post-Secondary Student Performance: A Meta-Analytic Investigation. 2013 Testing aids (notes, crib sheets, text books) 15 3,146 15 0.99
TOTAL/AVERAGE 191 6,476 343 0.44
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