CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale of the study

Ever since, forgetting the important things and keywords that has a big part on the

lessons and exams is one of the problem that students have been encountering.

Reviewing class notes has a big impact to the students’ academic performance

(www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_05.htm). Relearning immediately the

lessons can help the students recall all immediately what students have learned.

The student’s ability to recall all the lessons without reviewing notes is not

impossible, but students would remember only few of the information. To

remember what the students have learned over the long-term students should

move information from short-term memory into long-term memory. To make this

happen, students should review what they have learned. It takes time to commit

information to long-term memory, bad reviewing class notes help students to do

this. There are some students that time and place really matters when reviewing

notes. Every students has its own way and perspective when it comes to self-

educating. Thus, students prefer some styles when reviewing information such

listening music, the time and place where to review.

Despite popular opinion, note-taking has not disappeared. For some, note taking

is an outdated concept, but its significance in learning is relentless. “Researchers

found that if important information was contained in notes, it had a 34 percent

chance of being remembered. Information not found in notes had only 5 percent

chance of being remembered” (Howe, 1970, in Longman and Atkinson, 1999).

Studies have found note taking is most effective when notes are organized and

transformed in some way or when a teacher gives example of good notes. An

effective note-taking strategy requires effort. Half of the battle with students is

helping them understand the reasons for needing to take and interact regularly

with their notes. Students often tell teachers they have excellent memorization skill

and they don’t need to take notes because they can easily recall information. The

forgetting curve theory states “Information can be lost quickly over time if there is

no strategy or effort to retain it”. (Ebbinghaus, 1895).

The purpose of this study is to determine the positive and advantages of taking

down notes and to enhance the ability of the students to retrieve information they

have learned in a long-term memory. This study also give some strategies to the

students on how to take down notes effectively. This study also helps the students

to relearn the information they have gathered and recall immediately the important

terms or information. Thus, we conducted this study to improve the learning skills

of the students and enhance their strategy/skills to recall important notes they have

gathered. Organizing and rewriting your notes is another great way to review

information. This might seem a waste of time but it could be effective method for

reinforcing what you have learned. The act of rewriting and organizing notes helps

the students to clarify their understanding.

 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Learning Styles Theory

According to James and Blank (as cited in Cooper, S. S., 2001) identify the

differences between personality trait and learning style as two separate

dimensions of style. Style is often defined in education as describing individual

differences in the context of learning (Cooper, L.W.2001). According to James and

Blank, learning style is considered to be cognitive in nature and concerns itself with

perceiving, thinking, problem solving, and memory specific to learning situations.

In contrast, personality trait is affective in nature and concerns itself with attention,

emotion, and valuing. Unlike learning style, personality trait is consistent

throughout environments and applies to all areas of one’s' life, not just learning.

Kolbs Theory

According to Kolb's (1981b, 1984) theory examined specific features of Piaget's

theories of development, based on the philosophy that learning encompasses two

dimensions: (a) processing active versus reflective and (b) perception of

information during the experience abstract versus concrete. He created a learning

style instrument that has become widely accepted and is used mainly with adult

populations, specifically in higher education (Mainemelis, Boyatzis, & Kolb, 2002;

Truluck & Courtenay, 1999).

Lengnick Hall and Sanders Theory

According to Lengnick-Hall and Sanders (1997) believe that by matching individual

differences and learning preferences to learning environments, practitioners create

more favorable outcomes. Subsequently, their research has identified

relationships between learning environments and student outcomes in the

classroom. On the other hand, findings provided by Baguio (2000) and Patterson

(n.d.) question the validity of learning style research as it applies to performance

criteria. Their research indicates no significant difference in achievement as it

relates to specific instructional environments.

In summary, Learning Style Theory

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aims to know the relationship of reviewing class-notes and test scores

of the students and their preferred styles in Asian Learning School for the school

year 2019-2020. It sought to answer specific questions:

What are the styles that the respondents prefer