Handwriting helps children learn better than typing

Is handwriting really important? Currently, in many education institutions around the world, children are taught to write since preschool and primary school, but the next phase, students begin to become familiar with typing on the computer keyboard. However, psychologists and psychiatrists claim that it is too early to completely eliminate handwriting. A series of studies has demonstrated a close relationship between handwriting and a comprehensive development of education.

According to recent research conducted by French scientists, handwriting not only helps children read faster but also enhances creativity and helps to memorize longer. In other words, writing is an essential activity in the learning process of children. "When we write, a unique link between neurons is automatically triggered," said study author Stanislas Dehaene, a psychologist at Paris College . expressing information simulated inside the brain by action, this is a link that we have little interest in but is invisible, it makes learning easier. "

In 2012, a study conducted by Dr. Karin James at Indiana University contributed to reinforce the thesis. In the experiment, the researchers selected unread, unread and unread children and showed them some characters or objects printed on the cards. Later, the researchers asked these children to reproduce the visible image in one of three ways: redrawing the character, the object seen on the paper with a dot, redrawing it on white paper or typing on the computer. Next, the kids will scan the brain and record images of the brain.

The results showed that in children using completely blank paper to re-express the characters in memory, 3 areas on the brain, including a pattern of left rhombus, lower forehead and parietal lobe with enhanced activity. remarkably. These are the areas of the brain that are activated when adults perform read and write operations. In contrast, the above brain regions in the child only fill the guide dots with a weaker reaction. For children who re-type characters on a computer keyboard, the brain regions are completely unresponsive.

Dr. James hypothesized to explain the difference in experimentation due to the characteristic properties of free handwritten action : To perform handwritten action, not only must we plan in the brain and carry out writing actions that we also create different results after every action written on paper (creating different writing versions). You cannot write two completely identical characters. It is this transformation that is a perfect learning tool: "When children write many different characters they will help them learn and remember that character."

Karin James, a doctor of psychology at Indiana University, used a brain scanner to explore the relationship between handwritten manipulation and brain activity.

The child's brain only understands the meaning of each character when we write many times on paper. When a child learns "A", they have to write it down on their own so that the brain can remember the shape of the letter A when compared to other letters. Dr. James said: "The act of writing is the exercise of the brain in children when they learn the first letters . " To test the conclusion, Dr. James conducted another experiment comparing children who learned letters by writing themselves with just looking at the shape. The experiment has once again achieved similar results and strengthened the argument of the original study.

In another study conducted by psychologist Virginia Berninger at the University of Washington. Research is done by tracking the learning process of 2nd grade students over the years. Accordingly, Berninger discovered the difference between learning methods by reading but not writing, writing and typing on the keyboard. All of these methods are closely related to separate and independent parts of the brain. In addition, each method produces a different learning effect.

The results of Berninger's study show that handwriting not only helps children learn words faster than typing on computers, but also helps to enhance creativity and create more ideas. Moreover, handwritten manipulation also helps images and knowledge content be stored in the brain in a sustainable way for many years thereafter.

Dr. James discovered that handwritten characters are freely written by young children, indirectly activating the enhancement of the activity of three brain regions.Meanwhile, children who use computers to learn do not get the same reaction.

Currently, the problem is still controversial is the difference between learning to print by computer or handwritten content. Especially, there are some ideas that writing practice will disappear in the near future. However, let's look at some of the positive effects of handwritten texts. Some people suffer from dyslexia, but it is difficult to read printed content while handwriting is still readable. The hypothesis is that the ability to write is the result of two independent processes taking place inside the brain, so it is more stable and less affected.

Some researchers also argue that writing is a way to treat dyslexia in people who have it. A report in 2012 pointed out that handwritten texts can cure difficult-to-write syndromes, indicating that the words are reversed horizontally and vertically.

Hand writing, not only benefits children but also adults. For adults, typing can be a quick and effective alternative to handwriting. However, writing by hand will help adults learn new knowledge quickly and remember longer than learning entirely with a mouse or computer keyboard.

Two psychologists, Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer of the University of California, LA, reported that students had a better level of comprehension if taking notes by hand than typing on a computer keyboard. The research of two scientists has been verified in the laboratory as well as in the actual classroom. Unlike previous studies, two scientists did not approach computer learning methods in terms of distracting learners, but in addition, the results showed that both listening and taking notes will It helps the brain encode knowledge content and memorize it more effectively.