The cognitive utility of handwriting has been demonstrated by scientists

Handwriting is making a comeback in some American schools with the active support of parents who are concerned about the low achievement of students. The state of Louisiana passed a law requiring students ages 8 to 18 to take calligraphy classes again. In total, fourteen American states have integrated cursive writing into school curricula, after a decade of fluctuation linked to technological advances. Researchers realized that the effectiveness of learning with computers had been vastly overestimated and is increasingly showing its limits.

"In the age of computers, the myth that we don't need handwriting remains. This is not what our research shows. We found that students through sixth grade wrote faster, with more words, and expressed more ideas when they wrote by hand and not with a keyboard," said Virginia Berninger, a professor at the University of Washington whose research focuses on handwriting learning in public schools. She says handwriting improves students' cognitive performance and facilitates their learning.

Greater capacity for synthesis and assimilation

Scientific studies also show that children and adults who take notes using a pen have better assimilation and synthesis abilities than those who take notes using a computer. While forming each letter requires different movements with the stylus, you tend to repeat them when using a keyboard. In fact, the pen forces the brain to work harder.

"We found that students who take notes on laptops are the ones who do the worst on conceptual questions... Those who take notes with a computer tend to transcribe what they understand more literally than to retrieve information on their own. is detrimental to learning,” noted Princeton University researchers in a 2014 study on the subject.

According to them, manual note-taking requires choices, because you cannot keep up with the rhythm of dictation. So we have to focus. Which is not the case when you have a computer with, in addition, the possibility of, at the same time, surfing the internet, chatting with friends or reading posts on Facebook.

Source: slate.fr