A publication of the Technology and Media Division of the Council for Exceptional Children
JSET Articles Index
Volume 24 Number 3
Exploring the Effects of Digital Note Taking on Student Comprehension of Science Texts
Mark A. Horney, Lynne Anderson-Inman, Fatima Terrazas-Arellanes
University of Oregon
William Schulte, Jon Mundorf, Sheri Wiseman
Collier County Schools, Collier County, Florida
Keith Smolkowski
Oregon Research Institute
Jen Katz-Buonincontro, Mindy L. Frisbee
University of Oregon
This study investigated the effects of text notes and voice notes on the comprehension of science texts by fifth grade students. The study was conducted to determine whether digital note taking was an effective reading strategy, and whether one form of digital note taking was more effective than the other. Results revealed that general education students made statistically significant gains for both science texts: Cells, and Heredity. For Cells, the voice notes group outperformed their text note peers at a level that was statistically significant. Special education students also made greater test gains using voice notes rather than text notes, and this difference was statistically significant for short-answer tests on Heredity. Additional analyses revealed diverse note taking strategies, which appeared consistent across media.
