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From a recent issue of Wired:
Study after study shows we remember things better when we write them—our brain stores the letter-writing motion, which is much more memorable than just the mashing of a key that feels like every other key. We think in fragments, too, in shapes and colors and ideas that just don't come through on a keyboard. "Think about how many things that are built start as a drawing," Bathiche says. "Most things, right? Everything you're wearing probably started as a drawing."
You can't type out the folds of a dress, or the gentle curves of a skyscraper. Drawing with your stubby finger on a touchscreen isn't much better. Humans are tool-based creatures: Our fingers can do amazingly intricate things with a pen, a brush, or a scalpel, that we can't replicate with a mouse or the pads of our fingers. Our computers are giving back that kind of detailed control. In turn, the pen is opening up new ways of digital expression, new tools for communication, new ways to interact with our tech.
My wife's cousin's husband is a cartoonist for the New Yorker. He uses a high-end Wacom digitizer. Hasn't the problem of the high tech pen been solved?
Original Submission
(Score: 1) by termigator on Thursday July 09 2015, @11:42PM
The study focuses on laptops vs paper, but the real difference is the type of notes taken, which the article does touch upon.
I think the key thing is what to note. I think many do verbatim style note taking, which the use of laptops emphasizing this method. When doing hand written notes, most cannot keep up with the instructor, so the mind must engage in attempting to denote key items, but I think this is still a mental struggle in keeping up with the instructor and writing down notes.
If I know the text book or course material contains all the basic facts, I do not take notes. At most, may jot down key concepts that may not be covered in preexisting written material, but this is rare. I think courses that require heavy note taking because there is no preexisting written material (text books, course materials, instructor notes, etc) will result in students struggling more on the concepts being taught.
I am still not convinced that the act of writing itself improves learning, or better stated, the act of writing better imprints information into the brain to facilitate improved recall.
The following article indicates writing does matter:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/writing-and-remembering-why-we-remember-what-we-write.html [lifehack.org]
but it does not provide links to the studies themselves so one can determine the methods of the study. For example, in the study citing 40% recall of note takers an non-note takers, it does not mention if the note takers were allowed to view their notes before testing (a reading function). Or, while taking notes, a method was employed that after a note is taken, it disappears, preventing indirect followup reading, so one can get a better indication if the act of writing itself improves learning and recall. Note, the disappearing behavior could be a distraction that can affect results, so a method would need to be devised that allowed the act of writing, limit the effect of rereading by the note taker, and did not create a distraction.
You can also have a group where the instructor notes are handed out beforehand, which highlights the key concepts and facts that is to be discussed. I hypothesize it is the act of reading that helps in recall and not the act of writing.