Questions in Notes

Three Hundred Twenty Eighth Post: Questions in Notes

I have tried to install LaTeX on my computer. It is free, but is like installing a Linux program. I have to really read the book because I can’t get it installed. I first saw Latex used on www.scienceforums.net . There it is integrated into the message board. Latex is used to format math equations. You know, the ones you can’t type into the keyboard. The syntax or wording of the problems is straightforward as long as you have a good reference. I have to get this installed because it will make Constructor’s Corner look more professional. More importantly it will make the equations easier to read.

In school we take notes, but it isn’t until college that we are taught the proper way to create a notebook. In elementary and high school you just copy a long list of notes from the board. The format, neatness, and numbering are stressed. In college a notebook is different. It is a collection of all your work. It contains problems, notes, and recorded data. It is neat and organized, but it is more important to gather the correct and useful information. You can paste things too and draw in the notebook. Something that wouldn’t be tolerated in high school. But the one main difference is that facts put into the notebook can be wrong. That is something that is avoided before. But the point being that you can learn from your mistakes.

So why don’t we teach such techniques earlier? Well the college notebook is to promote thinking through and analyzing problems. The other notebook is more memory based learning. It is still important to learn some things this way, but there is one thing that should be stressed. And that is when the student records a note from a book they should think of how it relates to what they are learning. Simply put, they should write questions not just answers. The point is not to remember facts for a test. Instead it is to learn to comprehend what you read and form ideas and compare experiences. The student should be thinking through the information not memorizing it. But in the U.S. we don’t do this until higher levels of education.

I have a collection of questions that I have been keeping since I have been trying to learn about electricity. I hope to compile them and share them. These questions lead to more. It isn’t to you explore the question that you learn and are applying the knowledge you learned. Kids are always complaining, “When am I ever going to use that?” It the lesson was thought provoking they would never ask that question.

So until the proper way to keep a notebook is taught... May the Creative Force be with You