The Pros and Cons of Guided Notes

What are guided notes? Guided notes are structured notes which are partially completed that students must fill in during a lecture or independent reading. Guided notes usage in the classroom has been around for decades and have gone back and forth on the pendulum of effectiveness. Researchers have been looking into the impact on learning from guided notes just as long as they have been around.

In my own classroom, I use guided notes frequently. One of the biggest reasons I started to use guided notes was to save time. I noticed my students were very slow note takers and guided notes helped to speed up the note taking process. In physics, in particular, this saved time allowed me to complete more hands-on activities and lab experiments. It also ensured that all of my students had the same notes and had a complete picture of the key information of whichever topic we were on.

However, I do teach 12th graders, and I understand the importance of having note taking skills headed into college. So as the year goes on, my guided notes become less guided and more of an outline. I found that by the end of the school year, with my last unit, when the notes are the least guided, test scores are typically lower than at the start of the year when notes are the most guided. Many other factors could contribute to test score declines, especially in 12th graders, but there is also some research that backs up my findings indicated in the Pros list below.

Below are pros and cons of using guided notes with citations found at the end of this post.

Pros:

1. Increased focus

   1. A study focused on undergraduate students found that guided notes enhanced student attention and engagement (citation 3).

   2. Another study which reviewed other research studies done on guided notes found a common theme that the use of this note taking strategy lead to increased student engagement, active participation, and focus on the content (citation 5).

2. Improved organization

   1. One study compared the performance of graduate students who received guided notes with those that did not and the students who received guided notes consistently scored higher on quizzes and assessments. The study highlighted that the guided notes helped students to organize and prioritize facts which improved retention and recollection of facts (citation 2).

   2. The study done by Biggers found that guided notes lead to improved retention by assisting students in knowing what to prioritize (citation 5).

3. Intervention Strategy for struggling students

   1. The structured nature of guided notes moves students through the learning process by highlighting main ideas and concepts which help students to stay focused, engaged, and increase knowledge retention (citation 1).

4. Valuable study resource

   1. Completed guided notes act as a study guide because the key information is already highlighted.

5. Accommodation for special needs students

   1. Several studies have researched the impact of guided notes on academic achievement for special education students. In a 2012 study by Lawrin they found that special needs students who used guided notes had better outcomes than those who did not because of the clear framework which allowed students to better interact with the material (citation 4).

Cons:

I could not find any scholarly research on the downsides of guided notes but there were several web pages and articles on .com sites which indicated the following:

1. Restrictive in nature

   1. Students will only write what they need to write

2. Potential for passive learning

3. Time consuming prep for teacher

4. Limit development of note taking skills

Aside from the reasons above, effectiveness of guided notes will also vary with subject matter, age of students, student prior knowledge on the subject, and student learning styles. So even within the same course, guided notes may be more effective in one unit than another and may even be more effective in one class period over another. Many articles also noted that clarity of guided notes, teacher modeling of effective note taking, and continued teacher support during note taking were also important factors in order for guided notes to be effective in knowledge retention.

Interested in seeing what my actual guided notes look like? In my TPT Shop, I have guided notes for a handful of my units in physics which follow the Savvas Experience Physics Textbook. I have continually updated my guided notes over the years and just recently aligned them to the Savvas curriculum.

Citations

1: Todd Haydon, G. Richmond Mancil, Stephen D. Kroeger, James McLeskey & Wan-Yu Jenny Lin (2011) A Review of the Effectiveness of Guided Notes for Students who Struggle Learning Academic Content, Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 55:4, 226-231, DOI: 10.1080/1045988X.2010.548415

2: Salvador Ruiz, Anna Myers, Stephanie Morano & Leasha M. Barry (2021) Impact of Guided Notes on Graduate Student Retention of Facts, College Teaching, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2021.2021845

3: Austin, Jennifer L.; Lee, Melissa; Carr, Jeffrey P. (2004) The Effects of Guided Notes on Undergraduate Students' Recording of Lecture Content. Journal of Instructional Psychology. Dec 2004, Vol. 31 Issue 4, p314-320.

4: Lawrin, Karen, et al. “Impact of Guided Notes on Achievement in K-12 and Special Education Students.” International Journal of Special Education, vol. 27, no. 3, 2012, pp. 108–119.

5: Biggers, B., & Luo, T. (2020). Guiding students to success: A systematic review of research on guided notes as an instructional strategy from 2009-2019. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 17(3). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.17.3.12