An Experimental Study On The Effectiveness Of Junior Middle School Students' Mathematical Notes

The first year of junior high plays an elementary role through students’ secondary school life. The freshmen who have just finished their primary school and enter into junior high have a rather inadequate understanding of learning skills, learning habits and learning strategies. However, the first year of junior high can be a prime time for students to develop a good learning habit.Note-taking is a rather common learning strategy and has always been well-accepted by both teachers and students. A good note-taking skill and making it a math-learning habit can help improve students’ math learning, and it can also help the students form a life-long learning habit. However, as has been discovered by the author in his teaching practice, the effectiveness of note-taking is being questioned with the popularity of Guiding case teachingIn view of all the above mentioned, the author decides to carry out an empirical study concerning the effectiveness of junior high students’ note-taking of math. It is hoped that the results of this thesis can confirm the effectiveness of using math note-taking. The methods applied in this thesis are literature analysis, experimental investigation, textual analysis and individual interview. The procedures are as follows: (1) to know the status quo of the research done on the strategy of note-taking, its process and results; (2) to explore the theory behind note-taking and to design a note-taking pattern that fits junior high students; (3) to do a T-test of the scores between the controlled class and the experimental class using SPSS in order to verify the effectiveness of note-taking; (4) to find the possible reasons for the effectiveness of note-taking through textual analysis and individual interview and to modify notes directed at students at various level; (5) to arrive at some conclusions based on the analysis of experiment data and interview results.The findings are as follows:(1) junior high students’ notes prove to be prominently effective among all the students; (2) the effectiveness of note-taking lies in that note-taking can help improve students’ confidence, refine their learning strategies and enhance their self-discipline; (4) there are differences in note pattern among underachievers, average students and high-achievers, and modifications need to be made according to the students’ individual characteristics.