KEY POINTS
- Make lesson content more fun and memorable.
- Encourage collaboration.
- Spark innovation and creativity.
The process of note-taking is meant to help students absorb, retain, and review information presented to them in class. Sometimes the process of taking notes can turn into a chore for students, as they simply go through the motions without reaping its benefits. Using sketchnotes in your classroom is one way to avoid this. Sketchnoting is a method of note-taking that combines handwriting and drawing to make the process of taking notes more creative, engaging, and fun.
IMPROVED CONCEPT RETAINMENT
Sketchnoting is a great way to help students retain the information presented to them in class. Instead of passively taking notes the traditional way, the incorporation of drawing makes the process of note-taking more fun and active, and therefore more memorable. Additionally, as students compile and simplify the information presented to them, they learn to focus in on the most important information in a lesson. Whether students realize it or not, sketchnoting requires their brains to work harder and more efficiently as they listen to, process, and reinterpret information into the form of doodles.
INCREASED CLASSROOM COLLABORATION
Sketchnoting can be even more fun and engaging when practiced collaboratively. Consider splitting students into groups and having them collectively record their sketchnotes on a large piece of butcher paper, poster board, or whiteboard. This will be sure to unleash the creativity and teamwork skills of your students as they translate lesson material into text and drawings. With multiple minds working together, students will be more likely to discuss the concepts presented to them and will therefore be more likely to retain that information. Having each group present their sketchnotes to the class after a lesson can also be a valuable activity, as students get to review the lesson content as a class, catch pieces of information they might have missed, and experience different perspectives regarding how other students might have approached the challenge differently.
ADDED SKILLS TO NOTE-TAKING
Sketchnoting has the potential to instill many skills in students that go beyond standard classroom note-taking. As students translate lesson content into drawings, they develop their creativity and mental visualization skills, the very same skills necessary to develop prototypes in the context of a STEM project. Additionally, because sketchnoting places an emphasis on recording only the most important information in a lesson, it trains students to think quickly and efficiently about the information being presented to them, thus building their problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
