Degree of Effort and Note Taking Taking - Essay Example

? Research Project: Degree of Effort and Taking Research Project: Students’ Degree of Effort and Note Taking Abstract The effectiveness of learning in the classroom is affected by different factors, including the student’s interest in class and their use of resources. In relation, this paper looked into the relationship of the note-taking styles of students and their interest as well as use of resources in class. More specifically, this paper attempted to analyze the effect of the students’ note-taking practices, as affected by the types of notes professors provided, on the following: a) effort of students, b) the lecture rating of the professor’s class, and c) the course grade earned by the students. 90 students voluntarily enrolled in PSYC 100 were recruited as participants of the study. Using a data gathering tool of a survey questionnaire, the study explored the students’ efforts, and the rating of the lectures. In addition, a quasi-experimental research design was utilized. Three sections were included, with each class representing a form of provision of notes or guides: no notes, partial notes, and full notes. Results revealed that the mean of the student responses for effort was highest in the group with no notes (µ = 12.20), but the students gave the highest rating for the lectures where the instructor provided full notes (µ = 12.0). Given these two responses, the students who achieved the highest final grade belonged to the students who attended the lectures of professors who provided partial notes. Research Project: Students’ Degree of Effort and Note Taking Introduction The effectiveness of learning in the classroom is affected by different factors. Two of the said factors are the student’s interest in class and their use of resources. Indeed, these two factors dictate how the student behaves and learns in the classroom: student interest predicts the degree by which the student will accept the information given (Bye, Pushkar, & Conway, 2007), while use of resources determines the extent by which the information taken will be retained. More specifically, the student’s interest can be reflected by his/her degree of effort in the classroom, while the student’s use of resources can be shown in the extent by which he/she takes notes and uses notes in the classroom. In relation, this paper then looked into the relationship of the note-taking styles of students and their interest as well as use of resources in class. More specifically, this paper attempted to analyze the effect of the students’ note-taking practices, as affected by the types of notes professors provided, on the following: a) effort of students, b) the lecture rating of the professor’s class, and c) the course grade earned by the students. These same relationships were explored by previous studies, some of which will be discussed below. Different factors affect the quality of the notes created by the students. Indeed, these factors involve aspects that involve both the student and the instructor. For the student, Peverly, Ramaswamy, Brown, Sumowski, Alidoost, and Garner (2007) found that the students’ transcription fluency served as the only determinant of the quality of notes created by the students. On the other hand, the teachers’ lecture practices also affected the quality of notes of students. These teacher practices involve the use of notes, such as in cases where the instructor does not give any notes (no notes), or the instructor uses guided notes (partial notes) and completed notes (full notes). The importance of using guided notes was highlighted by Austin, Lee, and Carr (2002), who found in their study that a marked improvement was observed among the quality of notes of the students when the instructor used guided notes. However, other sources also questioned the effectiveness of guided notes, especially when compared to other forms of notes. According to Neef, McCord, and Ferreri (2006), guided notes did not reveal significantly higher quiz scores among students, especially as compared to the effects of completed lecture notes. However, fewer errors were observed in more complex questions for the group assigned completed notes. In relation to all these, this paper then aimed to determine whether the types of notes provided by the instructor increase the students’ efforts to study, their rating of the instructor’s lecture, and the grade that they earned. More specifically, this paper aimed to prove the following hypotheses: 1. Full notes do not increase the efforts of students. 2. Full notes do not increase the lecture rating of the professor’s class. 3. Full notes do not increase the grade earned by the students. Method In order to prove the said hypotheses, a total of 90 students were recruited as participants of the study. Students who voluntarily enrolled in PSYC 100 were recruited as respondents for the study, representing a variety of majors. All of the participants were aged 18-25, and the majority of the sample group was in their freshman year (70%). The largest percentage of the respondents was Caucasian (58.3%), and the second largest percentage included Asian American students (21.2%). The study’s data gathering tool involves a survey questionnaire with six primary questions. Three of the said questions explored the students’ efforts, while the remaining three involved the rating of the lectures. The responses in the questionnaire were developed to include a Likert scale, which involves the use of a range of responses to assist the participant in conveying their degree of agreement or disagreement with a question or survey item. The appendix section of this paper presents the survey questionnaire used for this study. Moreover, lecture rating involves the organization, engagement, and explanation of the instructor, while effort involves the student’s attendance, times spent on exam preparation, and use of resources outside of lecture notes. In addition, a quasi-experimental research design was utilized for this study. The said design involves the creation of a control and experimental group; however, no randomization was employed due to reasons of necessity. Three classes of PSYC 100 were then recruited (30 students each), with each class handled by a female instructor who all taught the same course content. A constant variable among all classes included the students’ textbooks, assignments, and exams. The said three sections represented the different kinds of notes provided by the instructors. In the No notes group, no notes were displayed in the blackboard, while in the Partial Notes group, an outline of the lectures during class was displayed in the blackboard and for the Full Notes group, a complete set of the discussion was made available in the blackboard. After the students’ consent were taken, they were then administered the questionnaires. Their consent was also taken to allow the researchers to get their final grades from the University registrar. Finally, blackboard announcements were sent after finals to explain that the researchers were looking at differences in types of notes the professor provided, as part of their debriefing. Results After the participants answered the questionnaires, their responses were tallied and collated. The responses for the student’s rating on effort were summed together, and then subjected to statistical analysis, specifically One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The same was also done for the students’ rating of the instructor’s lecture as well as the course grades that they have earned. Table 1 presents a summary of the sum of the data findings, as well as the mean and standard deviation for the said findings. Table 1. Summary of Responses N Mean Std. Deviation sum of three effort ratings no notes 30 12.2000 1.97222 partial notes 30 11.1333 1.30604 full notes 30 8.7000 1.11880 Total 90 10.6778 2.09777 sum of three lecture ratings no notes 30 9.6333 2.09241 partial notes 30 11.7333 1.31131 full notes 30 12.0000 .98261 Total 90 11.1222 1.85320 Course grade earned no notes 30 2.9000 .66176 partial notes 30 3.4000 .56324 full notes 30 3.0000 .87099 Total 90 3.1000 .73515 As can be seen from the table, the mean of the student responses for effort was highest in the group with no notes (µ = 12.20), but the students gave the highest rating for the lectures where the instructor provided full notes (µ = 12.0). Given these two responses, the students who achieved the highest final grade belonged to the students who attended the lectures of professors who provided partial notes. As stated earlier, these findings were subjected to One Way ANOVA. From the said statistical test, it was found that a significant relationship was found only for the course grade responses of the students. Thus, the last hypothesis is accepted. Furthermore, since no significant difference was found for the effort ratings (F = 42.3), and the lecture ratings (F = 21.411), the first and second hypotheses of the study are rejected. The results of the ANOVA testing were presented in Table 2. Table 2. One Way ANOVA ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. sum of three effort ratings Between Groups 193.089 2 96.544 42.300 .000 Within Groups 198.567 87 2.282 Total 391.656 89 sum of three lecture ratings Between Groups 100.822 2 50.411 21.411 .000 Within Groups 204.833 87 2.354 Total 305.656 89 Course grade earned Between Groups 4.200 2 2.100 4.162 .019 Within Groups 43.900 87 .505 Total 48.100 89 Discussion From the results and the analysis students exerted the most effort when the instructor did not provide any notes during the discussion, and only a pure lecture was given. This means that when no lecture notes were given, students were less likely to miss their class and they were more likely to prepare for a class activity, or they were more likely to spend more time preparing for a unit exam. Moreover, since the students revealed a higher degree of effort when no notes were provided, then they were more likely to review their notes on a weekly basis when the teacher does not provide any notes or guide notes. However, the students’ responses revealed that students prefer it when instructors give out notes during their lectures. Indeed, the largest percentage of respondents gave a higher rating to a class when the instructor provided full notes. Moreover, the lectures were more likely to be viewed by the student as comprehensive and sufficiently covering the material when they are given full notes. Similarly, they are more likely to rate the teacher as involving a ‘positive teaching style’ and easier to understand than other instructors. However, these two findings did not reveal any statistical significance. On the other hand, statistical significance was observed in the findings for the students’ course grades, implying that the use of partial notes can help increase the overall achievement of students in terms of scores. These findings then mean that although students prefer it when full notes are given, they exert more effort when the instructor does not give out notes, but partial notes may help produce better results in their scores. However, this study is limited in the parameters that it used and may benefit from more work that confirms the relationships found here, or that explores why the first two sets of findings were not found to be really significant. References Austin, J. L., Lee, M., & Carr, J. P. (2002). The Effects of Guided Notes on Undergraduate Students' Recording of Lecture Content. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31(4), 314-320. Bye, D., Pushkar, D., & Conway, M. (2007). Motivation, Interest, and Positive Affect in Traditional and Nontraditional Undergraduate Students. Adult Education Quarterly, 57, 141 - 158. Neef, N. A., McCord, B. E., & Ferreri, S. J. (2006). Effects of Guided Notes versus Conpleted Notes During Lectures on Colege Students' Quiz Performance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39(1), 123-130. Peverly, S. T., Ramaswamy, V., Brown, C., Sumowski, J., Alidoost, M., & Garner, J. (2007). What Predicts Skill in Lecture Note Taking? Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 167–180 Appendix Questionnaire 1 Please estimate how many days you missed class this semester. 0-1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8 or more 2 On average, how many hours did you spend preparing for unit exams? 0-2 3-5 6-8 9-11 12 or more 3 I reviewed my notes from lecture on a weekly basis. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree Nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 4 The professor’s lectures were comprehensive and sufficiently covered the course material. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree Nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 5 My professor’s teaching style positively affected my performance in the course. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree Nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 6 I could follow and understand this professor’s lectures better than my professors from other courses I took this semester. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree Nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Read More