Since the dawn of education, students have been physically writing their thoughts and answers down on paper. From children learning to write their first words on paper to college students manually writing research essays, paper is undeniably integral to education. However, more schools and districts are making the switch from paper and pencil to screen and keyboard.
Paper has played such an important role in students’ learning throughout the ages that a paperless classroom might be hard to imagine. Instead of receiving hundreds of paper assignments throughout the year, students can now keep everything neatly organized in their digital drives. However, is this really the best change to make in modern education? The answer might be a combination of the two, which has all the pros with minimal cons.
Although typing may be faster and more convenient for students, the impacts of handwriting on the brain are undeniable. Handwriting activates a broader range of brain functions, improving several necessary skills like fine motor development. Although there is some overlap between the functions activated by handwriting and those activated by typing, typing has reduced engagement compared to handwriting. For example, writing by hand has been shown to be better for learning words in both native language and foreign languages because it is better for memory retention.
The same study showed that those who typed the new words could repeat them more often in their writing because typing is faster than writing by hand. However, those students could not achieve the learning results of those who were writing by hand. As the world digitizes, it is important to consider the effects less handwriting will have on learning.
However, digital work shines in ways that physical work cannot. It is much easier to keep track of assignments and nearly impossible to lose a document. It can also be argued that digital is less costly than paper. Although a device still needs to be purchased and charged daily, the device is an upfront cost that does not need to be paid again. Many students receive a device from their school, and the electricity used by charging these devices is not as significant as constantly replacing paper and ink.
In the end, the pros for using paper and pen are based on brain activity and deeper learning, while the argument for digital is about convenience and efficiency. The best choice would be a hybrid of both: taking notes on paper so one can remember concepts better, while writing longer assignments on a computer for higher efficiency.
Contact Noelia Ocampo Resendiz at [email protected]