Handwriting or keyboard .. which one enhances your child's memory?

A study concluded that handwriting improves learning and enhances memory.

This study is not the first to highlight the benefits of handwriting, but it is the first to arrive at these conclusions after looking at the performance of children's brains.

In an era when screens invaded the classroom and teaching is digitized, at least in part, the Spanish newspaper ABC said in a report that some people are recovering old ways for children.

In this context, a group of Norwegian researchers released a new study that shows that handwriting, compared to a keyboard, improves the level of learning and memory.

The newspaper reported that Audrey van der Meer and her colleagues at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology were already interested in this issue in 2017. The team examined the brain activity of 20 students.

New experiences

Currently, they did the same with 12 young people and 12 children.

In both experiments, they used what is called an EEG to track and record the activity of brain waves, and the participants wore a blanket with more than 250 electrodes.

The brain produces electrical impulses when it is in an active state.

The electrode sensors are usually very sensitive and capture electrical activity occurring in the brain.

Each test lasted 45 minutes and the researchers obtained 500 data points per second.

The results showed that the brains of young people and children were more active when writing by hand than when writing on a keyboard.

Using pen and paper and writing by hand creates massive activity in the sensory parts of the brain (pixabay)

Handwriting improves memory

"The use of pen and paper effectively contributes to enhancing human memory. In fact, writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensory parts of the brain," said researcher Audrey van der Meer.

This is explained by the fact that handwriting activates many senses by pressing the pencil on the paper and watching the letters you write and listening to the voice you make while writing.

"These sensory experiences create connections between different parts of the brain and enhance the brain's ability to learn," Mir added.

The researcher believes that her own and other studies emphasize the importance of children challenging themselves through activities such as drawing and writing at an early age, especially in school.

However, Mir recognizes that the current digital reality of writing, touching and scrolling in front of a screen is an important part of the daily life of minors.

Due to the development that has occurred in recent years, we risk losing one or more generations the ability to write by hand (social media)

Lost generations

The Norwegian researcher emphasized that "due to the development that has occurred in recent years, we risk losing a generation or more of the ability to write by hand. Most research has also concluded that this will be a very unfortunate result of increased digital activity."

Meanwhile, Norwegian education officials are advising to ensure that children have one or more training in handwriting.

And the researcher warned of what is currently happening in the digitization of schools in northern Europe, saying that "some schools in Norway have become completely digital and have skipped handwriting training completely. Perhaps Finnish schools are even more digital than Norway. Only a few schools offer some training in writing." Handmade. "

Regarding the controversy surrounding handwriting or using the keyboard in school, some teachers believe that keyboards cause less frustration for children, as they indicated that children can write longer texts with great enthusiasm for writing because they have greater mastery when using the keyboard.

Learning to write by hand is a little slower compared to others, but it is important for children to go through this stage (communication sites).

Other benefits of handwriting

Researcher Audrey van der Meer pointed out that, "Learning to write by hand is a little slower compared to others, but it is important for children to go through this stressful stage. Complex hand movements and letterform are useful in many ways. If you use a keyboard, you use movement." Same for every letter, while handwriting requires control of your fine motor skills and senses. "

"It is important to place the brain in a learning state as much as possible. For example, I use a keyboard to write an essay, but I take notes manually during one of the lectures," Mir added.

Moreover, the Norwegian researcher emphasized that "the brain has evolved over thousands of years in order to be able to act and guide us through the appropriate behavior. For the brain to develop in the best possible way, we need to use it in the way that makes it better."

The researcher concluded that "we need to use all our senses, stay outdoors, experience all kinds of weather, and meet other people. If our brain is not challenged, it will not be able to reach its full potential. This could affect performance in school."