MONTSERRAT CASTELLO ́ and CARLES MONEREO STUDENTS ’ NOTE-TAKING AS A KNOWLEDGE- CONSTRUCTION TOOL

ABSTRACT. Note-taking is the hegemonic study activity at university and, in many cases, the main ground for educational interaction between teacher and students. This observation has given rise to an increasing interest in studying students ’ note-taking and its impact on learning. In broad terms, three lines of research have been developed in the last 40 years: the effects of note-taking and note-rewriting on some cognitive variables (attention, memory, comprehension, and so on); the relationship between quality of notes and significance of learning; and the changes in the teaching methodology which may enhance note-taking. However, the consideration of notes as a symbolic mediator which in certain educational conditions may promote knowledge construction and transformation and, ultimately, cognitive change has received much less attention. In a preliminary study of descriptive nature we con-firmed that in the context of our universities note-taking basically performed a register and external memory function with respect to the contents which were to be assessed by the teacher. Only a reduced part of the studied sample attached notes an eminently epistemic function, turning classroom sessions into truly learning situa