On the agenda for September's EconEdChat were 3 questions:
1) How can we develop notetaking skills in students?
2) How can we introduce Macroeconomics?
3) How do we make the best use of homework?
This post focusses on the first question.
(Psst - I've switched from full write-ups to just posting the video and references, because I was getting too behind....)
References and Resources
We talk a bit about the Cornell method of Notetaking. This is a well documented form of note taking, where the page is split into 3 sections:
-Notes
-Cues
-Summary
The Felician University Libraries have a decent explainer, and handy example:
Andrew referenced this interesting blog post from Gethyn Jones about how he uses the Cornell Method as a structure for regular review in Physics lessons, filling the notes and summary at intervals after the initial lesson as active recall - definitely worth a read! I realise I came across as very anti-Cornell in the video, whereas I think 'sceptical' might be more accurate. However, this blog post has made me warm to the idea a little more.
I mentioned using a visualiser, which I've written a bit about my experiences using one here.
Manisha mentioned taking out the important bits of an article before giving it to students- Curious Economist might be a good solution if you don't have time to do this yourself as he summarises Economics-related news articles. She also mentioned the Magenta principles, which I think is an idea from Mike Hughes.
I explained that I'm usually very clear about what I want them to write notes on. I give students these lists and make it clear that by the end of the lesson/sub-topic/unit their notes must contain the answers to those questions.
We talked about common reference sources: EconPlusDal videos, Marginal Revolutions videos, Physics and Maths Tutor and Core-Econ. Manisha also makes her own videos which you can watch here.
In the written chat that was going on alongside the discussion, Adam asked for an example of how we use arrows in notetaking, and Georgia gave this example:
Oil prices rise --> costs increase for producers -->AS shifts
I think that's everything we referenced, but if we talk about something in the video and it's not clear, let me know and I'll add extra references!
Econ Ed Chat takes place the first Wednesday of the month at 6pm BST. All welcome.