Cursive-The Power of Connected Writing PART 5
PART 5: Greater activation of the brain by hand-writing.
In a summary of the impact on education of first learning to write by hand, Konnikova noted that children who hand-write learn more quickly, retain information better, and on average are more proficient at generating fresh ideas. Konnikova cited a psychologist who stated that we activate more neural circuits when we write by hand and posited that writing creates a mental simulation of reality in the brain that allows learning to be easier (2014). Konnikova cites a Karin James study published in 2012 where preliterate children who were asked to freehand draw letters showed increased brain activity in areas of the brain used when reading and writing compared to children who merely traced or typed the same letters.
Virginia Berninger (also cited in Konnikova) showed that different parts of the brain handle printing, cursive writing, and typing. Perhaps the most important conclusion of the Berninger study is that when children were composing by hand, print or cursive, they could write more words quickly AND could express more ideas than when they used a keyboard. Interestingly, and perhaps significantly, older children in the study with better penmanship exhibited the most neural activity in working memory when asked to generate ideas for composition.
Konnikova notes that researchers like Berninger do put forward research that indicates cursive is overall superior to printing, but the take-home summary of Konnikova’s survey of handwriting is that any persistent handwriting increases our ability to process and store in memory new information compared to typing only. New learners learn letters better AND the literature shows a better overall learning ability by those who write by hand. Citing Konnikova, Figure 1 shows the major learning benefits of handwriting that the teachers of the Montessori Learning Center emphasize when we discuss this with those curious about our handwriting push.
Figure 1 – Benefits of Handwriting in General
- Proficiency in handwriting and proficiency in reading are directly related.
- Proficiency in handwriting leads to better retention of information.
- Proficiency in handwriting has been linked with an increase in a child’s ability to generate unique ideas.
- Handwriting activates a unique neural circuit in a child’s brain that enhances his ability to learn.
- Handwriting strongly activates three other areas of the brain that are only slightly activated by tracing or typing.
- Studies show that children who write by hand write more words and are able to express more ideas than their typing counterparts.
- Children with better handwriting show greater activation in the brain’s memory centers.
- Studies show that students who take notes by hand are better able to retain, reframe, reflect, and manipulate information.
Konnikova, M. (2014, June 2). What’s lost as handwriting fades. The New York Times.
