Why and how to make notes for studying maths

Eddie Woo

13 Apr 201402:54

Summary

TLDRThe transcript emphasizes the importance of effective note-taking for enhancing memory, especially for students progressing to higher academic levels. It suggests that merely reading notes is insufficient; instead, students should actively engage by writing their own notes, which aids in better retention. The speaker advocates for creating personalized notes from various resources, highlighting the significance of understanding and memorizing formulas as 'shortcuts' in mathematics. Additionally, the speaker recommends including key examples and solutions in notes, encouraging students to dissect and encode these examples to improve their understanding and memory.

Takeaways

🧠 Your memory is a hard worker and is important for managing multiple subjects.
📝 Making notes is the first step in helping your memory.
📚 Reading someone else's notes or textbook notes is better than nothing, but it's only a basic level of learning.
✍️ Copying notes by hand (not typing) is more effective than just reading because it engages active thinking.
🖋️ It's even better to create your own notes by gathering information from different sources like textbooks, worksheets, and friends.
🔢 For subjects like math, focusing on formulas (shortcuts) is important. They save time by providing quick solutions.
🔧 Formulas are essentially shortcuts that simplify complex calculations, making problem-solving faster.
📐 In math, learning how to use formulas, like the one for calculating a side in a triangle, can make problem-solving more efficient.
🎯 Key examples and tough questions should be included in your notes to help you practice and highlight important steps in solutions.
🎨 Use highlighting, colors, and other visual aids to emphasize important steps in your notes and make them easier to remember.

Q & A

What is the primary advice given for improving memory when studying?
-The primary advice is to make notes, as it helps in retaining information better than just reading notes or textbooks.
Why is it beneficial to take your own notes instead of reading someone else's?
-Taking your own notes is beneficial because it involves active engagement with the material, which helps in better understanding and remembering the content.
What is the significance of copying notes by hand rather than typing them?
-Copying notes by hand is suggested to be more effective because it engages the brain differently and can aid in memory retention.
How does creating your own notes from various resources enhance learning?
-Creating your own notes from different resources like textbooks, worksheets, and friends' notes allows for a more comprehensive understanding and personalized learning experience.
What role do formulas play in studying mathematics according to the script?
-Formulas are considered as shortcuts that simplify complex calculations and should be included in notes for quick reference and better understanding.
Why is it recommended to think of formulas as shortcuts rather than something to memorize?
-Thinking of formulas as shortcuts helps in understanding their utility and makes them easier to remember, as opposed to viewing them as tedious memorization tasks.
What is the importance of including key examples in your notes?
-Including key examples in your notes helps in understanding how to apply concepts and formulas to solve problems, making the learning process more practical and effective.
How can highlighting and underlining be useful when studying from your notes?
-Highlighting and underlining help in identifying and remembering important steps and concepts within solutions, making it easier to recall and apply them later.
What does the speaker suggest as a method to better understand and remember complex problems?
-The speaker suggests dissecting tough problems into steps, understanding the logic behind each step, and then encoding or marking these steps in your notes for better retention.
Why is it important to use different colors and markings when creating notes?
-Using different colors and markings can help in visually distinguishing between various types of information, such as steps in a solution or different concepts, thereby enhancing memory and comprehension.
What is the overall strategy for effective note-taking as described in the script?
-The overall strategy for effective note-taking involves actively engaging with the material by creating personalized notes, using them to understand and remember key concepts and formulas, and employing visual aids to enhance learning and recall.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 How Memory Works and the Importance of Note-taking

This section explains that memory is a 'hard worker' and highlights how students are required to remember various subjects and information. As students progress, the workload increases. To support memory, the speaker advises making notes as the first step to improving retention. Simply reading notes is a basic level of engagement, and a more effective method is actively copying and creating personalized notes using various resources.

✍️ Effective Note Creation

Here, the speaker elaborates on different approaches to note-taking. Reading others’ notes or textbooks is useful but not optimal. Copying notes by hand, rather than typing, engages the brain more effectively. The best method is to create your own notes by using multiple sources like textbooks, worksheets, and discussions with friends, allowing for a deeper understanding of the material.

📏 Understanding Formulas: They’re Just Shortcuts!

In this part, the speaker addresses the common struggle students face when memorizing formulas, particularly in subjects like math. Instead of viewing formulas as burdensome, students are encouraged to see them as shortcuts to solving complex problems more efficiently. For instance, working out a triangle’s side length can be a time-consuming task, but using the right formula simplifies the process significantly.

🔑 Key Examples and Problem-Solving Strategies

The final section stresses the importance of including key examples and challenging problems in notes. Students should analyze tough questions, break down solutions step by step, and highlight or color-code key steps. This active process of solving and understanding problems strengthens memory and comprehension, making it easier to recall during exams.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Memory

Memory, in the context of the video, refers to the cognitive faculty by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. It is crucial for students as they progress through their academic years, with the script emphasizing that the demands on memory increase as they advance to higher grades. The video suggests that to do memory a favor, students should engage in active note-taking, which aids in better retention and understanding of subjects.

💡Notes

Notes are an essential study tool discussed in the video, which are records of information taken during lectures or while studying. The script differentiates between reading someone else's notes or textbook notes versus creating one's own, with the latter being more beneficial. Active note-taking is portrayed as a method to engage with the material, identify important points, and personalize the learning process.

💡Subjects

Subjects refer to the different academic disciplines or courses that students study. The video mentions that the number of subjects a student has to manage increases as they move up in their academic journey, particularly becoming more challenging in senior years. This highlights the importance of effective memory and note-taking strategies to handle the growing academic load.

💡Formulas

Formulas are mathematical equations or relationships used to calculate specific values. In the video, formulas are initially presented as challenging to remember but are then reframed as 'shortcuts'. This perspective shifts the focus from memorization to understanding the utility of formulas as tools that simplify complex calculations, such as determining the length of a side in a triangle given other sides and an angle.

💡Key Examples

Key examples are specific instances or problems that are particularly illustrative of a concept or principle. The video encourages students to identify and work through tough questions, using them as key examples to understand how solutions are constructed. By analyzing and breaking down these examples, students can better grasp the underlying concepts and improve their problem-solving skills.

💡Encoding

Encoding in the video refers to the process of transforming information into a format that can be more easily remembered and recalled. This is mentioned in the context of taking notes, where students are advised to highlight, underline, or use colors to encode information. This active engagement with the material aids in better retention and understanding.

💡Shortcuts

Shortcuts, as mentioned in the video, are a rebranding of formulas to emphasize their utility in simplifying complex calculations. The script suggests that viewing formulas as shortcuts can make them more approachable and less daunting for students, thereby encouraging their use in problem-solving.

💡Active Learning

Active learning is a teaching and learning strategy that involves students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing. In the video, active learning is exemplified by the recommendation to create one's own notes, which involves engaging with the material, synthesizing information, and reflecting on what is important, rather than passively reading or copying notes.

💡Resources

Resources in the video refer to the various materials and tools that students can use to study and create their notes. These include textbooks, worksheets, and input from peers. The video encourages students to gather information from a variety of sources to create comprehensive and personalized study materials.

💡Highlighting

Highlighting is a technique used to visually emphasize important points or steps in notes or examples. The video suggests using highlighting as a method of encoding information, which helps in organizing notes and focusing attention on critical parts of the material, thereby aiding in memory retention.

Highlights

Your memory is a hard worker and will have to handle more as you advance to senior students.

Making notes is the first important step to help your memory.

Reading someone else's notes or textbook notes is better than not reading at all, but it offers only basic benefits.

Copying notes by hand is better than just reading because it involves active engagement with the material.

Writing your own notes from different resources (textbooks, worksheets, friends) is the most effective strategy for remembering material.

For subjects like math, focus on memorizing key formulas, which are actually shortcuts to solve problems faster.

Formulas are not a burden to memorize but rather shortcuts that simplify solving problems, especially in math.

The formula mentioned (c = a + b - 2ac) helps to find the length of a side in a triangle, given two sides and an angle.

Writing your own notes helps you filter out what is important and express the material in your own words.

Key examples, particularly tough problems, are crucial in your notes as they help you apply the concepts.

Analyzing tough questions and breaking down their solutions into clear steps will improve understanding.

Highlighting different steps and concepts in a solution with colors and underlines reinforces memory.

Using visual aids like colors, underlining, and highlighting enhances the retention of important steps in problem-solving.

Memory retention improves when you actively encode information, such as by creating your own notes and using visual aids.

The key to mastering subjects like math is combining formulas, personal notes, and worked-out examples for deeper understanding.