Encoding and External-Storage Effects of Personal Lecture Notes, Skeletal Notes, and Detailed Notes for Field-Independent and Field-Dependent Learners

The factual and higher-order achievement of field-independent and field-dependent learners was tested after exposure to lecture material by an immediate test without review of notes or by a delayed test with a review of notes. During the lecture, students engaged in one of the following three learning techniques: personal notetaking, notetaking on a skeletal outline, or listening while examining detailed instructor’s notes. Results indicated that field-independent learners generally achieved higher scores on factual and higher-order tests than did field-dependent learners. Differences in factual performance were reduced from immediate to delayed testing, indicating that field-dependent learners benefit more from the storage function of notetaking than from the initial encoding function. The three learning techniques did not produce differential achievement on the immediate factual test. Reviewing the detailed notes led to higher achievement scores on the delayed factual examination. Results indicate that these techniques serve a similar encoding function and that reviewing detailed instructor’s notes serves a superior external-storage function.