In Japan, dental education primarily relies on lecture-based teaching using PowerPoint, with minimal active learning. This approach has limitations because students often remain passive recipients of information, highlighting the need for strategies that reinforce content retention. One widely recommended method is summarizing lecture material through note-taking. However, it is unclear whether taking notes directly contributes to better test performance. The current study aimed to assess the lecture notes produced by students, explore the relationships between note evaluation scores and academic performance, and provide insights into the practical utility of lecture notes in learning. Students newly enrolled in dental pharmacology were instructed to compile notes summarizing both lecture and practical session content. Upon completion of all sessions, students undertook multiple-choice objective tests and essay tests twice each as measures of learning outcomes. Lecture notes were permitted during the first essay test but prohibited in the second. The quality of lecture notes was assessed, and regression and correlation analyses were conducted to explore associations between note evaluation scores and test results.
Analysis of the multiple-choice tests revealed significant positive correlations between note evaluation scores and test performance for both the initial and subsequent tests. In contrast, essay test performance correlated positively with note quality only during the first test when notes were allowed. These results suggest that lecture notes are particularly effective during the initial “encoding” phase of memory formation, acting as an external repository for information and facilitating later recall. Utilizing lecture notes actively is beneficial for performance in multiple-choice assessments, such as those used in the Japanese national dental licensing examination. Additionally, incorporating notes in essay tests supports evaluation of students’ capacity to construct coherent responses while recalling and applying learned content.
