Jump to content

Menu

Secondary mathematics and note taking


Recommended Posts

For those of you teaching Algebra 1 and higher, do you have your students take notes after they have read the lesson in the text, or have watched a video lesson, or have heard you lecture? I have my oldest take notes and my middle refuses to. I would like to have Swimmer Dude make note of definitions or more difficult concepts or if he learned a trick in dealing with numbers. Is this necessary? As some of you know, Dude and I have frequent conversations about what is relevant and what is not.:tongue_smilie:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No. I think it depends on the child and how he or she learns best. Dd is primarily an auditory learner but she also learns very efficiently by reading; the single subject she has so far found in which note-taking has been at all useful for her is physics.

 

I tend not to lecture, but we've attended a number of outside lectures where she has not taken notes but has remembered much of the content because her auditory memory is so good. As her physics notes were quite fine, I haven't felt it necessary to have her practice more note-taking. What we talk about almost constantly is trying out different techniques in different subject areas to find what works best for her personally. My suspicion is that when she attends formal lectures in college she will take notes automatically, even when professors post or otherwise make their own notes available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No. I think it depends on the child and how he or she learns best. Dd is primarily an auditory learner but she also learns very efficiently by reading; the single subject she has so far found in which note-taking has been at all useful for her is physics.

 

I tend not to lecture, but we've attended a number of outside lectures where she has not taken notes but has remembered much of the content because her auditory memory is so good. As her physics notes were quite fine, I haven't felt it necessary to have her practice more note-taking. What we talk about almost constantly is trying out different techniques in different subject areas to find what works best for her personally. My suspicion is that when she attends formal lectures in college she will take notes automatically, even when professors post or otherwise make their own notes available.

 

Thanks, KarenAnne. Swimmer Dude is efficient at absorbing his math lessons. My dh also pointed out that unlike "real" school, our kids do the lessons as required, then do the test the next day when scheduled because I expect them to be ready. I had never even considered the fact that I do not allow anyone to study for tests which would be one of the main reasons for taking notes in math. That must be a function of having done Saxon all these years. We will see what happens with Foerster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lisa, we don't do "notes" but we do put formulae that need to be memorized and tricky words and rules on 3x5 notecards. That way if we return to a concept that has not been continually reviewed (like with Saxon), we can jog our memory with the notecard. Your little man may not need that, but we've found it helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lisa, we don't do "notes" but we do put formulae that need to be memorized and tricky words and rules on 3x5 notecards. That way if we return to a concept that has not been continually reviewed (like with Saxon), we can jog our memory with the notecard. Your little man may not need that, but we've found it helpful.

 

Great idea! I just started doing this with a few things that The Imp gets confused on like subject and object pronouns. The cards are something all of us can use...Mom included, who is nearly dizzy with covering 3 levels of math at one time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my son take notes for algebra after he'd watched a lesson. He used his notes to review for quizzes and exams and also to add explanations for difficult concepts. He grumbled about my insisting that he start every day's session with making notes about the previous day's lesson. By waiting until the next day, he was able to incorporate reminders of the things which had tripped him up on the previous day's work. He was glad to have those notes later on when he did math review for the SAT/ACT, but I don't necessarily think it's something that all students need to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our text (AoPS) does not have "lessons". It has problems which need to be solved - so naturally the kids do that on paper. Then they read through the explanation and work the subsequent problems.

I can not imagine doing algebra problems without writing them down.

I do not see anything else, however, that they should have to write - aside from the occasional important formula which they derive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For what it is worth...

 

I usually "lectured" my son on the lesson at the dining room table, pointing to things in the text or writing examples and doing derivations or proofs on a piece of paper between us. Sometimes my son would read the book on his own.

 

As we were wrapping up our homeschool years last May/June (after his AP Calc exam), I asked him what he thought we should have done differently. One thing that he mentioned was he thought we should have installed a white board in the dining room and I should have provided traditional lectures in math from which he would have taken notes! I suggested this at one point (math being one of those points of tension in our lives) but he always pooh-poohed the idea. Perhaps after a year of chemistry at the CC he saw a reason for taking notes?

 

If Swimmer Dude does not want to attempt daily notes, perhaps you could have him write up a review of definitions, theorems and principles from the material before a test.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No. My kids just worked problems. And we talked a lot about how the concepts fit into the problems they were doing.

 

However, if the video lectures you're doing are presenting problems, it might be worth copying down the steps, just because it makes the student pay a little more attention. The notes may or may not be worth going over later, though. It depends. If looking at this example later helps in doing the exercises, then sure. If not, then don't bother.

 

The big thing in math is whether one can do the problems, and understand them while doing them (ie -- not just doing them by rote). If your student is accomplishing that without taking notes, then don't worry about notes. And if notes aren't making that comprehension any better, again, don't worry about notes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With Saxon there's never been note taking or studying for tests. Geometry was a different story. :tongue_smilie: Dd wrote each theorem, postulate and definition on index cards and used them during the lessons. She wasn't allowed to use them for tests, so she had them memorized.

 

If math is learned by video only, no text, then I would think note taking would be important, but that would depend on the student. I think it's a good skill to learn whether it's for math or other subjects - we'll need to find a way to work on this too.

 

For Swimmer Dude, I would let him go note free for math if he's retaining it all well enough for the tests. Pick your battles kind of a thing iykwim. :tongue_smilie:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...