ABSTRACT
Field note-taking skills are fundamental in the geosciences but are rarely explicitly taught. In a mixed-method study of an introductory geothermal field lesson, we characterize the content and perceptions of students' note-taking skills to derive the strategies that students use in the field. We collected several data sets: observations of the field lesson, hard-copy notebooks (n = 42), and interview data (n = 16). Our analysis of the notebooks revealed note-taking strategies on two dimensions, consistent with earlier findings in the literature: students' ability to write in their own words (uniqueness; U), and the amount of necessary information recorded (completeness; C). We propose several factors that influenced the students' notes: lecturer differences, previous field experience, and gender. Two different lecturers (1 and 2) taught the lesson on two different days. The note-taking task covered similar content but was not scripted, resulting in lecturer differences. Lecturer 1 included rich peripheral information, and the other reiterated the need “to think for yourself” and “focus on observations” (resulting in higher U scores for lecturer 2's students). We also found that students with “high” previous field experience had higher U scores. Interview data corroborated this finding, indicating that field experience helped students to “know what to look for.” Lastly, female students generally achieved higher C scores than male students. Females used more words (verbosity), and this likely led to higher values achieved. To improve note-taking skills, we suggest breaking down complex field lessons into simple, manageable parts to manage students' cognitive load.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees and editors for the in-depth and constructive criticism provided during the revision process. Several lines of inquiry and alternative explanations of the data were introduced during this process. It has allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of the strategies and factors that impact student note-taking and resulted in a more concise and comprehensive manuscript.