Sketchnoting pushes students to learn, retain information differently – particularly in STEM

AMES, Iowa – A different way of studying is spreading around Iowa State University.

Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, assistant professor of industrial design, is teaching students sketchnoting to research how this style of note-taking affects learning, particularly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines. Sketchnoting is an alternative to traditional note-taking, a process of adding visuals to notes in order to cement what students learned and push them to think about the material in a new way.