In India, Engineering Success

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200566.html ^

[Arjun]

In India, Engineering Success

By Sebastian Mallaby

Monday, January 2, 2006; Page A13

The classroom of the future will feature electronic white boards. The teachers of the future will write equations on these boards with electronic pens. And the students of the future won't have to choose between concentrating on the teacher and scribbling the equations into notebooks. They will devote all their energy to listening, then download the equations straight into the laptops they've plugged into their desks.

Okay, that isn't quite right. The classroom I'm describing is not some figment of the future. It's the reality I visited a month ago at the Vellore Institute of Technology.

[CarrotAndStick]

[Bellflower]

Isn't it possible that writing things down yourself helps your brain to obsorb it in a deeper way?

[Restorer]

Yeah, but not if you're concentrating on the mechanics of scribbling down nots rather than the concepts.

[GummyIII]

We have this technology in my school system (SW Virginia...). It's used for our engineering students (high school).

Having said that, the perks are great sometimes, but a lot of memory retention comes from writing while someone is speaking. Good teachers repeat the information. First, for the student to just hear, then again for them to hear and write. Then, practice, practice, practice (i.e. homework....a dirty word some places).

[Ninian Dryhope]

"Yeah, but not if you're concentrating on the mechanics of scribbling down notes rather than the concepts."

Yes, I agree. Let me pay attention to what the professor is saying and then go over the notes later to refresh my memory. I can always recopy the notes into my own handwriting and organized my own way later, in order to burn the information into my brain.

I have lousy handwriting when I have to write quickly. The girls always seem to be better note takers, so that may be part of why they get better grades.

[Restorer]

As you say, some people are just better at note-taking than others are. Some of my students get so focused on writing the notes that they don't have a clue what they mean when they go to review them.

[Chickensoup]

bump