[Cornell system]

Cornell system

Introduction

Cornell notes have long been a source of help for students aspiring to be successful in assessments. The success however, is widely debated. This paper will serve to investigate how successful has the Cornell notes have been in helping students pass assessment test. The Cornell notes are used but high school students as well as those belonging to college and post graduate. These notes claim to help the students in their academic career along with inclining the students to retain this information in their long term memory and with great advantages during group discussions. The history of taking notes goes back to the 1920s according to Beecher (1988). He also concluded that taking notes was much better than not taking notes and that reviewing note positively impacted learning and contributed to positive results on assessment tests.

Statement of the problem

Research has indicated that it is imperative to acquire information related to the student's learning activities to come up with a successful strategy for studying (Slotte & Lonka, 2003). For students to succeed in assessment, they must develop effective study skills (Lonka & Ahola, 1995). Among the various recommended methods by experts, listening, notes taking and participation are the most cited recommendations. The Cornell note-taking system has been recommended by Jacobson (1989), Fountain (1992) and many others as being one of the most effective practices.

The problem of this study will try to assess how conducive are the Cornell notes in helping high school students pass assessment.

Purpose of the study

The purpose behind this research is to find out how successful are students in passing their assessment after using cornel notes.

Research questions

How useful are taking notes in helping the students recall information that will help them pass MCQ s in assessments

What are the most effective strategies in helping students improve their success in assessment

How important is the need of taking notes

Does taking notes help in recalling information

What are main benefits of taking notes

How is cognitive learning enhanced by taking notes

To what extent have the Cornell notes been recommended

How widely are the Cornell notes used

Review of literature

The underlying question is which strategies would help high school pass assessments. It has been explained by Pickering and Pollock (2001) in “Classroom instruction That Works” that among the various instructional strategies, one most effective strategy is to use the note-taking system. This research demonstrates that taking more and more notes is conducive to learning. However, considering the case against the cornel notes, we have Marzano (2001) who underlines that employing teacher prepared notes is more effective. Hartley and Davis (1978) terms taking notes as aid toi learning. Many studies such as Hartley and Davis (1978) and Fajardo (1996) have suggested that taking notes is an important external storage of information which can be later employed for review. Evidence was provided by Kiewra (1985) that noting down lectures helped higher achievement even if the notes were not reviewed later on. Fajardo (1996) further states that students should be aware of knowing how to take notes effectively ...