Copying notes from handouts

The teacher revealed that copying notes was a support, because there is a possibility that the students would read as they write. Some of the students also reported that the notes contain information necessary to help them pass the exam. Class notes were prepared in handouts by the teacher and were made available to the students at the beginning of the

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lesson, with some appearing to be used for more than one lesson. The handouts contained information from different textbooks pasted together and photocopied. Every student in the class was instructed to copy the notes from the handout into their notebooks. Note copying was the most common activity in CS1. Malaki shared in the interview that:

[I use] all sorts of textbooks that [I] can find that explain the chemistry concepts as clear as possible for the students. Some notes [I] get from the NZ Pathfinder Series Year 12 ... not all because there are things that are not to be covered in this level ... but in Year 13 ... and yes ... I feel it’s important if they copy these notes into their notebooks in case they lose a page because I get really upset if someone comes back and say I lost my handout ... (smile) ... so it’s safer to record everything in the notebook (Malaki-CS1TInt).

Another reason raised by Malaki which seemed to drive him to continue getting the students to copy the notes into their notebooks was that:

... as they write they remember the material, because I know for sure they don’t read as much ... they will read then copy, so copying the notes into their notebooks is a guarantee that they had read the material; they had gone through word by word, and this is what I want them to do, go through all the notes ... [if] they still do not understand, then I look at some other ways to help them understand (Malaki-CS1TInt).

The students, however, did not support Malaki’s idea that they read and understood when they were copying the notes. They perceived note copying from handouts into the note books in various ways. For instance, in the interviews Losi, Simeona, and Janine respectively described that:

Sometimes I ... look forward to copying notes because this is when I ... do something in class …copying notes is a guarantee that I have done something in class (Losi-CS1S1Int).

Spending my time in class to copy the notes does not help me learn chemistry, because I don’t think about the notes while copying ... I can do it at home (Simeona-CS1S2Int).

Copying notes without an understanding of it is very difficult ... I rather spend more time on trying to make sense of the chemistry ideas than on copying the notes (Janine-CS1S3Int).

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Sometimes during the classroom observations, Malaki explained the chemistry concepts and wrote extra notes or diagrams on the board. To the students, everything that the teacher says or writes on the board is seen as important, specifically for their preparations for the SSC examination at the end of the year. Understanding the chemistry ideas is another step which may come later, but at this stage the notes are at least recorded in their notebooks. When asked about the importance of having all the writings and sketches from the board, Losi and Ruth commented respectively:

It is important to have everything that the teacher is trying to explain, although I miss other things because my writing is slow. I believe that the teacher gives us the information that he [teacher] wants us to know for the exam (Losi-CS1S1Int).

Of course it is important to have all of them. The teacher told us that what we talk about in class and from our notes will be useful in the exam, so I have to pay attention to all of them, which is why I quickly copy them down in my small book when he [teacher] writes on the board (Ruth- CS1S5Int).

As the students shared their views about copying notes into their note books, they also talked about the format used in the presentation of the notes. It included the layout and length of the notes as well as the appearance of diagrams on the handouts. Here is what four student participants had to say when asked to comment about the chemistry notes:

I find it hard when we have the notes in paragraph. I don’t like reading ... paragraphs, too long ... can’t concentrate ... best to have them in points then I can easily understand it, some points I can memorise, like the one ‘Like dissolves the like’ (Losi-CS1S1Int).

hard to locate the examples because they were all distributed throughout the paragraphs, but if in points, would be a lot easier to identify and would definitely be easy to remember ... hard to remember or understand the whole passage (Simeona-CS1S2Int).

Just a few suggestions if possible, it will be nice if we could have coloured diagrams when showing some reactions, for example the notes say the indicator2

changes colour when added in an alkene

2 _{Qualitative test for unsaturation required in Year 12 is the use of red-brown bromine water: it decolourises}

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but NOT alkane, but the diagram is black and white. Having this match between the diagram and the text help me recall it, since we don’t do the experiment (Janine-CS1S3Int).

the teacher gives us handouts full of notes … I get tired easily when reading them … perhaps in bullet points (Ruth-CS1S5Int).

While the above students shared the difficulties they experienced while trying to read and make sense of the notes, Malaki was more concerned about his role as a teacher to present the subject content with explanations and making sure that the handouts were available prior to discussion. When asked whether he realised that students found the notes difficult Malaki stated:

I am not sure ... students need to talk to me about that ... my role ... is to prepare the notes ...the notes help them understand more about what we talk about in class, they have to read it ... I often give more information about a chemistry concept ... just some different views or descriptions ... at least they [students]are exposed to these views ... when I see some talking to another while they are supposed to listen or do the work I get frustrated, because this means they do not listen to the instruction ... I ask them if they have any question they say no, yet they turn to one another and talk ... this means they talk about other stuff ... not chemistry ... so I stop them from talking ... unless I know it is a good reason to talk to one another then I let them (Malaki-CS1TInt).

Although the teacher’s intention is to provide all the notes and information necessary for the exam for students to copy into their notebooks, the students indicated that they had difficulties in learning them. Palmer (2009) confirmed in his study that in science tasks there was “low interest in the copying of notes” and students may not be able to learn the material presented to them in this way (p. 159). DiCarlo (2009) described such methods of teaching as providing teacher-centered experiences rather than dynamic student-centered experiences that engage students in learning. In this setting, the teacher assumes the

responsibility for presenting a common body of knowledge to all students, and the students assume the responsibility of repeating it when answering questions in a task, or in the exam (St. George & Bourke, 2008). However, student responses suggest that often information is transferred from the teachers’ notes to students’ notebooks without going through the minds of the students themselves. The teacher perpetuates the process by attempting to transfer knowledge to students through lectures and note copying rather than through

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active involvement and personal investment in the process (G. Lee & Lee, 2007). The students in CS1, however, had no other choice but to complete copying the notes into their notebooks as Malaki kept reminding them in every class.