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1st grade teacher Kim Arkainno, right works with student Justin at Students at Village Charter School in Trenton, New Jersey, use their individual netbook computers in class. Cursive writing has fallen by the wayside at some schools, which are teaching students typing more often than handwriting.Michael Mancuso/The TimesTo purchase this and other photos, visit http://TimesofTrenton.zenfolio.com

(Mancuso, Michael)

PRINCETON — While the keyboard is becoming the note-taking tool of choice for students across the country, new studies out of Princeton University say students are more likely to learn when they use old-fashioned handwriting rather than the computer to take notes in class.

The studies are referenced in the article “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking,’’ published in the journal “Psychological Science” in April.

Written by Princeton researcher Pam A. Mueller and Daniel M. Oppenheimer of the University of California, Los Angeles, the trio of studies followed the note-taking habits of Princeton University students and tested the knowledge retention of those pupils who used a laptop to take notes against those who wrote longhand.

The results?

Note-takers who used laptops created nearly verbatim records of the lectures in the study, but scored lower on tests of retention than those who wrote their notes longhand.

Even when students were given a week’s delay before a test on the same lecture, those who used laptops performed below that of longhand writers, according to the study.

“Despite their growing popularity, laptops may be doing more harm in classrooms than good,” the authors wrote.

Why?

The authors are not exactly sure. But they posit that it may be because “longhand note-takers engage in more processing than laptop note-takers, thus selecting more important information to include in their notes,” they wrote.

Mueller, a graduate psychology student at Princeton, said during an interview that when it comes to taking notes, her

research shows that taking slow, deliberate, handwritten notes helps retention in both the short- and the long-term.

Computers have advantages as learning aides, but they are not universally effective, Mueller said.

“I don’t think they’re the enemy, necessarily, but in situations where you’re trying to understand ideas, I don’t think they’re very useful,’’ she said.

Mueller said the most surprising finding from the research was that the computer note-takers tested below handwritten note-takers even after the groups had a week to study before being tested.

“You’d think that those who took nearly verbatim notes would benefit from the extra detail when they were allowed time to study, but that wasn’t the case,’’ Mueller said.

The studies come out at a time when classroom instruction in cursive writing — often regarded as the fastest form of handwriting — is waning in schools throughout the country. The new Common Core standards, adopted by 45 states — including New Jersey — do not require school districts to teach cursive writing.

Cursive Introduced in second grade

In the Hamilton school district, cursive writing is introduced to pupils in second grade, with continued instruction in third grade, according to Michael Gilbert, director of curriculum and instruction. But that instruction, he said, is taught alongside printing and keyboarding.

“We have an obligation to teach our children 21st-century skills,’’ Gilbert said.

Times have changed, Gilbert said, and schools have to prepare students to live in the world they’re going to encounter outside school. That, increasingly, involves using a keyboard to write.

“It’s just not like it was 25 years ago,” Gilbert said. “I don’t see us ever not teaching cursive, but it’s more about giving kids another option for expressing their ideas.”

Cheryl Lundy Swift, of the organization “Handwriting Without Tears,’’ recently led a workshop session in Princeton for teachers on the benefits of handwriting instruction in early education. She said a balanced approach that mixes instruction in keyboarding and handwriting, akin to what is offered in Hamilton, will serve students best.

“We believe both are super important,’’ Swift said.

“We believe both should go hand-in-hand. It’s important to learn both to be able to communicate in writing.”

Swift said there is an assumption that more complete note-taking is akin to better learning. But many students, she says, are simply taking dictation.

“They’re not engaged in the learning process,’’ she said. “Writing is slower, so you have to be more selective. You can’t write down every phrase, so you have to think about it, engage your brain.”

Mueller agrees, saying that clacking away on computers may not be the ideal way to follow a lecture or discussion in a classroom.

“I think people are just using them in a way that they believe is beneficial, but that’s backfiring,’’ she said.

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