If there was one thing the pandemic brought to the fore, it’s the increased use of devices, especially for students.
While this is a good thing, its adverse effect is that students tend to spend a lot of time on their devices which pose a great threat to their attention and retention abilities in class.
For this reason, this article will be highlighting the importance of notebooks when it comes to students taking notes in class as opposed to taking notes on their devices.
Notebooks inspire creativity
Notebooks help students think creatively. In fact, they have proven to develop their retention capacity and memory.
You could ask students to take a few minutes to make a sketch to important points or turn their notebooks into interactive books by using images to improve their brain’s retention capacity.
Having your students do this adds a tactile dimension to note-taking.
Help students become more organized
When students use notebooks, they become intentional about how they present and organize their notes.
Notebooks also place more responsibility on students to find, adapt, and stick to a note-taking system that works best for them.
The note-taking system does not only keep them organized, it also helps them build a lifelong skill which can enable them efficiently process and transcribe data and facts in any profession they find themselves in the future.
To help them improve on their note-taking skills, you can teach them how handwriting, legibility, and aesthetics are very crucial when writing in a notebook.
You can also encourage them to develop shorthand techniques or symbols to enable them quickly capture information in cases where teachers are too fast when dictating.
Limit distractions
Unlike devices which are constantly filled with messages, notifications and updates – which are constant distractions and might hinder the brain’s ability to retain information – notebooks allow for authentic learning which requires students to concentrate and be deeply immersed in a topic.
Encouraging students to use notebooks reduces the distractions they would ordinarily face when using devices.
Help teachers monitor students’ progress and grade them easily
Notebooks help teachers better monitor their students’ activities when it comes to following instructions.
Teachers can quickly see if students are following directions and satisfactorily keeping up with the material they have been given or if they are taking disorganized notes when reviewing their notes and grade them based on the outcome of the review.
This way, teachers limit the amount of grading they have to do as it becomes easier because they only have to grade notebooks various ways based on correct answers for questions, completion, organization, legibility, etc.
Bottom line
Notebooks aid learning and the retention of information and helps them prepare for instances when they won’t be allowed to use devices.
Therefore, teachers should encourage the culture of taking notes so as to better prepare students for the world beyond classrooms.
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