{"id":3750,"date":"2019-08-30T22:51:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T22:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doingwhatmatters.com\/?p=3750"},"modified":"2023-02-06T17:53:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T22:53:31","slug":"study-notes-learning-journals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/study-notes-learning-journals\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn Like Leonardo da Vinci with Study Notes and Learning Journals"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you learn? If you wanted to learn about architecture, invention, drawing, painting, sculpture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, paleontology, or cartography, how would you begin? Long before textbooks and workbooks were invented, people of all ages were keeping notebooks to help them remember important things. Students didn’t fill out workbooks and take tests. Instead, they’d ask and answer questions, write down ideas, observations, quotes, and make diagrams, graphs, charts, and illustrations.<\/p>\n

You can learn in this way, too! An easy way to start is to keep a notebook or sketchbook filled with study notes and questions you’re wondering about. I call this a “learning journal” and it is a place where you can ask all the questions you want, and answer them, too! Whenever you want to learn something new, write it down and start gathering information. As you write and draw, you’ll begin to understand and remember.<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the very best examples of learning through writing and drawing is Leonardo daVinci (1452\u20131519) who recorded his questions, answers, and discoveries in notebooks. Over a period of about 30 years, he kept learning journals in which he wrote about and drew over 5000 pages of study notes in all of the subjects that interested him. This learning process helped him record information he read and research he did, and it gave him a place to work through ideas until he deeply understood them.<\/p>\n

\"Leonardo's<\/a>

Leonardo’s study of the arm.<\/p><\/div>\n

Leonardo was a genius, but he used notebooks because they helped him think, understand, and remember<\/strong>. Countless other people in pre-screen days kept notebooks too \u2014 diaries, journals, logs, commonplace books, nature notebooks, and sketchbooks, many of which have been handed down for generations or entrusted to museums and libraries. Modern students in the UK do something similar with learning logs and Charlotte Mason<\/a> homeschoolers use notebooking for learning journals, commonplace books, written narrations, and other types of notebooks.These learning journals can become like personal encyclopedias with notes on all the things the creator is discovering.<\/p>\n

Simple study notes make learning stick<\/h1>\n

It takes focused thought to summarize a body of knowledge in your own words and images. As William Zinsser notes in Writing to Learn<\/em><\/a>, “Writing is a . . . physical activity . . . for getting our thoughts on paper. It compels us . . . to go after those thoughts and to organize them and present them clearly” (49). Despite the modern addiction to technology, studies<\/a> continue to show that a deeper form of learning occurs when students take notes by hand.<\/p>\n

When I was in high school, I kept a little 3×5 notebook with me all time and used it as a learning journal. It contained new concepts in math, including step-by-step processes I had to look up frequently and formulas I needed to remember. It also held a list of Spanish vocabulary, notes on conjugations and verb tenses, interesting quotes from books I was reading, and more. By writing down the things I needed to remember, I created my own reference guide, and because I’d selected, organized, and summarized the information myself, I found that when I was taking a test I could often remember an answer by visualizing the way I’d written it on the page.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Storyboard” for Book 4 of The Faerie Queene.<\/p><\/div>\n

In college I still kept a small notebook, but now it began to sport Latin vocabulary, a growing timeline of events from the Revolutionary War period of history, and vocabulary from various science classes. I added a big 18 x 24″ art pad for mind-mapping research papers, reviewing for exams, storyboarding intricate literature such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales<\/em><\/a> or Spenser’s Faerie Queene<\/a><\/em>, and sketching maps, diagrams, and charts. My drawings were sketchy at best \u2014 people were mostly stick figures and diagrams were often lopsided with too much text squished into too little space. But just as they had in high school, study notes helped me remember important things.<\/p>\n

One of the best things about using notebooks for learning is that it’s easy to see progress and remember what has been studied each year. The best learning journals I’ve seen have recorded studies on every subject except math \u2014 all in the same book. Science experiments, maps, commonplace quotes, and historic events are recorded as they are studied. Charlotte Mason wrote about commonplace books that “Such a diary, carefully kept through life, should be exceedingly interesting as containing the intellectual history of the writer” (volume 5, p. 260<\/a>), and the same is true of larger learning journals that encompass many subjects. Just imagine graduating from from school with an entire shelf of books that document what you have learned in all the subjects!<\/p>\n

Note-taking tips for learning journals<\/h2>\n
\"Study<\/a>

Study notes on Egypt, with thanks to Ruth Lawton, 7th grade.<\/p><\/div>\n

Let your student decide what to record and how to record it. Since they will be spending a lot of time with their notebooks over the course of a school year, make sure they have something sturdy such a hardbound blank sketchbook. They will use it for both writing and drawing, so blank pages tend to work best.<\/p>\n

To create a page, the student would begin by reading (a living books<\/a>\u00a0curriculum such as AmblesideOnline.org is a great place to start) or listening to or watching a presentation. Write the subject title on the page in an appropriate style, and then begin adding information using short bullet points, diagrams, summary sentences, illustrations, questions, and whatever else helps to make the subject clear and interesting.<\/p>\n

Some pages will have more text; others will be mostly images or diagrams \u2014 both styles are fine. Students will gradually develop a style of their own as long as they have the freedom to try things and remember that they can just cross out and move on if something doesn’t go as planned. Remember that notebooks are used instead of workbooks, so time is provided during school to work on them, but they are not “corrected.”<\/p>\n

Here are a few questions to help students decide what to record.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What are the most important ideas?<\/li>\n
  2. What patterns or connections do I see?<\/li>\n
  3. What elements should be emphasized by changing size, color, weight, or style of lettering?<\/li>\n
  4. How can this historic event, science experiment, or literary journey be recorded and illustrated in a way that is understandable and memorable?<\/li>\n
  5. What questions still need to be answered?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It helps to look at models when you start to keep a learning journal. Pinterest<\/a> has many examples of sketchnotes, commonplace books, graphic organizers, and different types of study notes. These can provide inspiration for how to fit a lot of information on a page in a clear and compelling way. Students may enjoy seeing models made by other students, and you can find a few at RemarkableLearningLogs<\/a>. If a student is intimidated by models, just have them begin keeping notes in whatever way they are comfortable.<\/p>\n

    General guidelines on notetaking for lectures or books<\/h3>\n

    In a live class, lecture, or workshop, students will need to take notes on the spot. Notes taken quickly may not be as carefully done as notes taken at leisure, but that doesn’t mean they have to be sloppy or boring. They can include simple diagrams, quick sketches, banners, arrows, multiple columns, information emphasized by size or lettering styles, and much more. The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking<\/em><\/a> by Mike Rohde offers tips for how to listen when you need to take good notes:<\/p>\n