Whole brain super learning ability

Chapter 22 The Charm of Note-taking (1)
It is better to read it once than to listen to it ten times, and it is better to do it once by yourself than to read it ten times.Notes help us firmly remember the things we can't remember the most, but things that shouldn't be forgotten.

The Magic of Notes

Zhu Xi, a Neo Confucianist and educator in the Southern Song Dynasty of my country, once proposed that reading should be done in three ways: from the heart, from the eyes, and from the hands.Among them, "hands-on" refers to taking notes.The great British philosopher Bacon once said: "Reading enriches people's minds, discussing makes people distinguish right from wrong, and taking notes makes knowledge accurate." Therefore, learning is inseparable from writing.

When you read a certain place in a book, sometimes you will suddenly have a feeling, and this feeling is sometimes instantaneous, it is a thought that suddenly flashes in your mind.Or feel as if you have read similar sentences in a book before, or have encountered similar things in real life.These "thoughts" are often very meaningful, but if you don't record them in time, they will slip away quietly, and you may never encounter them again.

Taking notes in the learning process is mainly in the form of a "handwriting" activity.This activity is closely related to that of other "learning organs" and cannot be separated.Many people, especially teenagers, have different views on the important role of note-taking in learning because of immature learning experience and learning methods are still in the stage of exploration, and this view often changes during different learning periods .

Some people think that it is necessary to take notes, which is convenient for reviewing and finding the key points of knowledge; Summarize and summarize before taking notes.Of course, there are also many people who are at a loss and take notes for the sake of taking notes in their studies.On the contrary, those who despise and are not used to taking reading notes think that taking notes is a waste of time. If you have the time to take notes, you can read more books. What's more, most of the contents of the notes are in the books, so there is no need to do more.Because of this, in the process of reading and studying, some people don’t memorize at all, some only memorize the outline, some memorize the details;There are loose-leaf papers, white paper books, and refined plastic leather books, etc.

In the process of your study, because everyone has their own point of view on notes, they form learning habits that vary from person to person, such as whether to memorize or not to memorize, to memorize more than to memorize, and what to memorize.Some of them are scientific, some are not scientific; some understandings are correct, but not profound, and further understanding of the principles of notes is needed.Let's talk about the role and position of note-taking in learning.Including two aspects:

1. The role of notes in the single and specific reading process;

2. The role and position it plays in the whole or even lifelong learning path.

Taking notes can make us concentrate. This is the first important function of taking notes. Now it is listed separately to show its importance.Attention is a term in psychology. It is the concentrated direction of people's spirit and thoughts on a certain thing, and it is a characteristic of psychological activities.When you are in a complicated environment, when your thoughts are chaotic and disordered, your brain is buzzing, and your mood is in a state of restlessness, can you calm down and read effectively?No, absolutely not, because our attention is not focused, or we cannot concentrate.At this time, what if we take notes while reading?This is more effective than simply reading books to solve similar problems.Why?Because taking notes is a means of arousing attention and focusing attention.

The brain in the learning process is the information processing center, and the notebook (where you can write) is equivalent to the information storage center.Only when "handwriting" is taking notes, the brain communicates with the notebook through "writing", that is, the processing center and storage center are connected under the condition of "writing" as the medium, so that our attention can be concentrated , our thinking becomes more active.Conversely, if the brain is not focused, "write, what should be written", "remember, what should be remembered" cannot be completed or realized, and the processing center and storage center cannot be connected.This is the scientific reason why taking reading notes can concentrate attention, and it is also the first important role of taking reading notes in the process of pure reading.

At the same time, taking notes can induce thinking, which is a means of in-depth, detailed and further thinking.This is the second important role played by taking notes on reading.Many people often have this experience in the process of taking notes: the originally vague thoughts in their minds become clear and organized, and even creative sparks of thought appear.why?As mentioned earlier, because "writing" realizes the communication between the information processing center of the brain and the information storage center of the notebook, the attention is concentrated (otherwise this communication cannot be realized).The concentration of attention and the "tangible" accumulation of written things as symbols constantly activate our thoughts and induce our thinking.This is the simple reason why note-taking becomes a means of thinking.

In daily reading and study, just reading without writing for a long time will make people tired and tired, but once you add "writing", your thoughts and spirit will become excited and active again.Before writing an article, the thoughts often appear general and vague. Sometimes the big ideas and outline are clear, but the specific content is not known what to write.Once the pen is put on the paper, the originally vague thoughts suddenly become clear, the specific words and sentences come to the bottom of the pen, and the clear and detailed thoughts are also produced step by step.

Therefore, in the process of in-depth learning, a good thought, a meticulous point of view, and an original insight are often produced through the activity of "handwriting".This is the case when writing articles, and it is also the same when reading the secretary's notes. Many people believe in their own truth, no matter what stage of study they are in, what learning purpose and requirements they have, they will never take notes. Sometimes this is a pity .Reading the secretary's notes, even simple ones, can promote thinking and deeply enlighten thoughts, which cannot be achieved only by reading without writing.This scientific truth with practical significance is determined by the inherent regularity that people always think about problems in the process of taking notes.If you think of summarizing your feelings when you read the secretary's notes, you will definitely come to such conclusions and experiences.

The third important function of taking reading notes is to deepen understanding and consolidate memory.Why can taking reading notes deepen understanding and consolidate memory?We have come to the conclusion earlier that taking reading notes can help concentrate attention and induce thinking.When the attention is concentrated and the thinking is active, can it not deepen the understanding of knowledge, which is conducive to the memory of knowledge?Here, let us further reveal the scientific truth contained in it.

For example, simply listening to the teacher's lectures and reading books is equivalent to inputting information into the brain and possessing knowledge; after inputting information, thinking, digesting and memorizing the knowledge is equivalent to encoding and storing the knowledge in the brain; practicing and applying knowledge in learning and practice, Equivalent to brain output information.The process of encoding and storing is the process of understanding and remembering. In this process, taking reading notes is an excellent form and means to help encoding and storing.Taking notes is to use words, words, and symbols to carry out tangible "encoding storage" of the content learned. In this tangible "encoding storage" process, it is always accompanied by the brain's thinking, memory, connection, and network connection of knowledge. The grasp and understanding of knowledge will naturally deepen.

Because the memory consolidation of knowledge is usually based on understanding, since taking reading notes is a means to help deepen understanding.At the same time, it also plays a role in memory consolidation of knowledge.In the process of memorizing reading notes, the "recording" of knowledge content is not only a kind of tangible "image" input, but also a kind of thinking about the interconnection of knowledge through "coding", which is exactly what is needed for effective, long-lasting and fast memory two basic premises.

The most important function of taking notes is to accumulate knowledge. This issue and the issues to be discussed later are not just the function of taking notes during the process.It has been extended to the entire and even life-long learning process.People read a book, learn a new knowledge, and the process of mastering knowledge is always unbalanced.From the shallower to the deeper, what to learn first and what to learn later must be carried out in a certain order.In the process, by taking notes we jot down key points of knowledge.Key points, difficult points, and various experiences and feelings in learning.It is also in the process of taking notes that we gain a deep understanding of these knowledge points, key points, and difficult points, and leave and deepen their impressions in our minds through the "stimulation of note-taking".

It is precisely the understanding, mastery, and further thinking of these knowledge from less to more, that we string and weave the knowledge we have learned into a network, and "hang" or "cover" in our own brains.These relevant knowledge points, in the learning process, on the whole, play a role in point-to-surface.You can recall that when we were learning our mother tongue, the words, phrases, sentences, and excerpts we once memorized will last for a long time. floating in front of my eyes.If in the process of reading, we make comments on the books we read, even if it is just a simple sentence or a few words, and one day in the future, we occasionally see it again while reading, this simple comment will definitely arouse our understanding of many contents and memories.No matter from which point of view, in the repeated long-term learning process, note-taking is always an effective and reliable method and means to continuously enrich and expand knowledge.

Accumulating knowledge and storing data is the premise and means for in-depth study and research.Writing, scientific research, etc. all need to possess a large amount of relevant information, backed by a certain amount of knowledge.Without materials, whether it is creation or invention research, it will all be empty talk.How to accumulate and store data?The most common way is to take notes.Taking notes can accumulate and store data, and capture creative sparks of thought in the process of taking notes, so it becomes a basic skill and skill for learning.

In the notes, we can learn the problems encountered at each level according to the specific learning purpose, and carry out different forms of record processing; we can continuously accumulate original ideas and insights in the reading notes, and leave traces of our own thinking ;According to the required knowledge structure, to gather bit by bit, very small but useful knowledge.We can also outline and make details according to the purpose of creation, research purpose, study topics, etc., and accordingly extract relevant materials purposefully and selectively.

Only on the basis of inheritance and accumulation can we continue to create in learning. This means one meaning; Write down the creative sparks of thought, wait until a certain time, and then analyze, compare, and sublimate these "experiences", and continue to create through repeated research on these experiences.

During your learning process, taking notes can concentrate your attention, concentrate your thoughts, and rejuvenate your spirit; it can induce your thinking and carry out inventions and creations in learning; it can deepen your "reading impression" and integrate knowledge into the Internet , to further consolidate and memorize knowledge; these are the three most basic functions that can be played by writing at any time when simply reading.The latter two functions are not only reflected in the simple reading process, but also the two major benefits of taking reading notes on the entire learning path.This is when taking notes to learn and master any kind of knowledge, and to carry out the next step of work and study, firstly, it can play a role in building the foundation of learning from point to area, accumulating knowledge; secondly, it can be used on the road of invention, research and climbing the peak of learning It plays the role of storing data and moving towards creation.In short, taking reading notes not only has the above important functions, but also can improve readers' ability to synthesize, analyze, judge, and think about problems.

(End of this chapter)