Highlighting is a prevalent study technique among students, with many believing that marking text will help them remember the selected information better or make later study sessions more effective. Although the interactive nature of deciding what to highlight can sometimes boost learning, highlighting is a generally ineffective study strategy. In this video, Dr. Katherine Rawson (Kent State University) explains why.

 
Here are a few videos that we think will be useful guides on how to take notes.
 
Another useful video on how to take great notes.

 

About the Author

Katherine Rawson (Ph.D., University of Colorado) is a Professor of Psychology at Kent State University. Her research program consists of two interrelated areas of research: One area explores how to optimize learning in educationally-relevant domains, with an emphasis on strategies that promote the durability and efficiency of student learning, and the self-regulatory processes that support such learning. The other area explores the cognitive processes involved in skill acquisition, with a particular interest in mechanisms underlying the automatization of reading processes.

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In 2015, Cameron Broumand, an entrepreneur and father of three living in Los Angeles, stumbled upon a media article on the science of learning. After reading the piece, he realized that the valuable research findings in cognitive psychology and the learning sciences were almost entirely unknown to the public and, more surprisingly, to teachers. How could this be?! Broumand decided to find out, so he called Dr. Robert Bjork, a distinguished research professor at UCLA and one of the world’s leading experts in human learning and memory. After an insightful conversation with Dr. Bjork about the disconnect between research and practice, Broumand recognized an opportunity to improve our educational system. Shortly thereafter, he—along with Clement Mok, an award-winning designer and digital pioneer—founded the company, Lasting Learning. The goal of the company? To provide information to the public about how the science of learning can help transform and improve the way people teach and learn. Broumand asked learning scientists, Dr. Nick Soderstrom and Saskia Giebl, M.Sc. (both of whom were in Bjork’s lab at the time), to join the team. They happily agreed and, with the help of Carri O’Neill, have been giving talks, workshops, and webinars around the country ever since. The UCLA-Lasting Learning team has had the privilege to talk with thousands of teachers, coaches, parents, students, and athletes about how they can leverage the science of learning to enhance their educational practices. We look forward to talking with many more!