Note-taking during lectures is usually a 2-step process: record your notes and then review them before the next test. But in 2016, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln proposed an important—often missing—third step: revision.

When students actively revised their notes with a partner during a pause in instruction, rather than alone after class, they recorded more notes and scored marginally higher when tested, the researchers concluded.

We already knew that long stretches of direct instruction tax cognitive limits, requiring students to process information-rich materials too quickly. The study gives teachers another simple tool to slow lectures down and commit a few minutes to a version of “turn and talk.” This quick “pause and partner” strategy allows students to reorganize complex thinking and make connections between ideas in real time—the kind of little adjustments that can lead to significant long-term gains.