Lack of Note-Taking Habits and Its

Repercussions to Grade 12 Students of Jose Rizal

Institute

By:

Rodrigo, Arvey James P.

12 – STEM A

The problem is about the repercussions and consequences of the lack of note-taking habits to
Grade 12 students of Jose Rizal Institute, Orion. Note taking is an essential skill to have in studying, yet
only few students consider this thing. This incorporates the inadequacy of students to take notes and
lectures inside and outside the school grounds. In this age, note-taking can be classified into many ways,
according to Blair (2004), a researcher at the University of Chicago, notes can be taken in oral, written, or
electronic ways. Mueller et al., (2018) said that people who write notes on hand can better refrain their
notes than those who do it digitally on laptops and iPad. A few of the underlying causes of this study is
comprise of physical health conditions, lack of school materials, inability to write while listening to the
lecturer, having different learning methods, and more.

Moreover, some of its effects includes disadvantages of recalling lessons, inaccessibility to

reviewer materials, pressure for incoming exams and stress affecting personal lives. However, although it
is an issue that needs solutions, there are still advantages to it. Some of it includes having more free time,
understanding better what the lecturer is teaching, and indulging thy self at the exact moment of lecture
time to be focused. Jansen et al., (2017) called the beneficial effect of notetaking as the encoding effect
where it’s two classification provides a better apprehension of the study. First, the students have the
liberty to manipulate the content of the material being noted, and second is that the learners can change
their method to take down notes.

As a researcher, I can affirm that this study will be finished in the expected time of submission.
Having the accessibility to my respondents, I can bring this study to its completion. Given the resources at
hand, I can conduct a series of interviews and surveys to my target participants to further understand,
comprehend, justify, and give a rational result and reasoning to the problem, I, as a researcher is
conducting.

Most of the time, students would flock outside their classrooms desperately looking for possible
reviewers within their peers at other sections during and when quizzes or unit tests are about to come.
Voices of different students would fill the hallway of the 3 rd Floor Senior High School Building of Jose
Rizal Institute reciting various unknown concepts, words and statements which are relevant to the subject
they are preparing for. In some cases, students have the tendency to borrow from their classmates having
them bother their peers. Without their own notes, they become a debt to other people. Opdenakker (2006)
indicates that even if students take notes electronically, it still weakens their cognitive ability to better
understand their lessons. Without written or on hand notes, the mind could not process concepts easily. It
is alarming to the society because future learners could get this habit of not taking notes during classes
and could lead them to pressure, stress or worst, failure.

The research gaps that prompt me, as a researcher, to conduct this study includes the lists of
negative fallbacks on academic performance of Grade 12 Senior High School Students of Jose Rizal
Institute, Orion with the lack of habit of taking down handwritten or digital notes in classes or at home,
the impact of note-taking habit as a strategy of JRI’s students to acquire academic achievement, and the
effects of note-taking habit in improving the penmanship of JRI’s students when doing handwritten notes.
 On the process, various research questions will be asked to accommodate the study’s
undertakings and proceedings. These questions are vital to clearly address the issue that will be answered
on the process of analyzation and interpretation of data. What call forth the students to consider not taking
down written or digital notes? How does their academic performance deviate when they took down
written notes? What format or type is best in taking down notes? Do their learning capabilities increase
when they did and did not took down written or digital notes? Where does their mind lie during the time
of discussions? Is student note-taking relevant in classes today? What kind of learning strategies do they
do instead of not taking down notes? What is the percentage of students that do not take down
handwritten notes? And those who do digital notes? Who excels better at class, those with handwritten
notes or digital notes? Does taking down notes gives them a better mental, emotion and physical
condition? Which section has the greatest number of students that take down notes? Is it better to copy the
teacher’s notes or just create your own? These questions are some of the guides that needs to be answered
further on the paper.

The aspects of memorization, organization, critical cognitive skill, and comprehension are some
of the factors of note-taking habit that has been answered by past researchers. Note-taking habits are
found to be effective in terms of cognitive thinking because it is similar to making plans and developing
solutions like in chess game. (Piolat et al., 2005). The cognitive ability of notetaking is dependent on the
working memory. It is used for comprehension of data and information (Baddeley, 2005). Having and
relying on already-conducted studies at hand could enhance and give this study a better credibility. It
would bring its required integrity and reliability to this study. Furthermore, an overview of the topic will
be well-conceptualized in using the past studies of previous researchers in one’s research study.

It is found that students who take notes digitally or on laptops perform worse than those who do
written notes. Note takers who use laptops have the tendency to note lecture on its specific words and
disregard the use of critical thinking. (Mueller et al., 2014). Moreover, past researchers have recognized
the rise of technology. This has led them to derive a better understanding why most students lack the habit
of taking down written notes. The availability of digital resources has made written notes very redundant,
making various learners overlook the importance of retaining words written by their own hands.
(Friedman, 2014). The technological advances of this era have made a big impact in terms of school
related things. Exams, quizzes, and activities have been made easier to create and present by different
instructors to their students. Likewise, hand-written notes are slowly being disregarded in many
institutions and high schools since an electronic way of doing it has been introduced to people.

Some of the proposed solutions of past researchers in relation to solving the issue of the lack of
habit of taking down notes at home and at school are disconnecting from the internet when using digital
devices to avoid distractions since it is found that 40% of students use unrelated applications to their
respective work (Mueller, 2014), Considering carefully the kind of note a student will do whether it be
handwritten or digitally, and having the teachers encourage every students to write their own notes in
their own word choices. (Friedman, 2014). As a researcher, I also plan to use these methods and modify it
a little. Making the teachers give merit to those students who come into classes with full notes using their
own understanding of the respective topic upon their domain or subject on their papers, notebooks, or
even laptops.

This issue is solvable. As a researcher, I would go up to the extent of providing a theoretical

solution. I would ask different teachers and ask for their opinions about implementing and making it a
requirement for students to take down handwritten notes during lectures and give them merit when they
do digital or handwritten notes at home. Although there is an uncertainty in making this happen, it could
be the best theoretical solution at time to accomplish the needed solution for this issue.

The data to be gathered would not be a hindrance to the process of creating the study because it is
accessible, not time-consuming, and easy to attain the respondents since students at Jose Rizal Institute,
Orion would be the expected participants of this study. However, there is still a need for a complete data
to understand better and further the discussion and interpretation about this issue in the future.

References:

Baddeley, A. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 4, 417–423.

Blair, A. (2004). Note Taking as an Art of Transmission. Critical Inquiry. 31. 10.1086/427303.

Friedman, M. C. (2014). Notes on note-taking: Review of research and insights for students and
instructors. Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, 1-34. Retrieved From: https://cpb-us-
w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/c/15148/files/2017/03/Notes-on-Note-Taking-qrs2kq.pdf

Renée S. Jansen, Daniel Lakens, Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn. (2017). An integrative review of the cognitive
costs and benefits of note-taking. Educational Research Review. Volume 22. Pages 223-233. ISSN
1747-938X. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2017.10.001.

Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of
Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. ARTICLE DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581
Opdenakker, R. (2006). Advantages and Disadvantages of Four Interview Techniques in Qualitative
Research. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(4). DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-7.4.175

Piolat, A., Boch, & Françoise (2005). Note Taking and Learning: A Summary of Research. The WAC
Journal. 16. 101-113. 10.37514/WAC-J.2005.16.1.08.