Do most children learn better if they write it down and read it back?

[puellamvoco]

We have some algebra work books created in the 80s, and they are amazing. Everything produced for maths learning nowadays seems to be online (other than workbooks for early years). Have studies been done about this, whether it is more effective for children to learn if doing handwritten exercises, which are then corrected and re-done where necessary, or for things like history and language, writing it down and then re-reading?

Things are produced online because it seems cheaper and easier, I can see that, but is it as effective as writing things down?

What do other parents prefer?

Yep, there's certainly something to be said for having to write things down... you basically spend longer concentrating on it, and making sure it's correct.

All the maths GCSE comes in both digital and paper workbooks.
Maths you would need to solve problems to learn it.

Other subjects, writing it down and reading it back is the best way for some children.

Definitely not for my dyslexic child though,

You should listen to Hugh grant on the subject!
Yes online is completely rubbish for maths and languages which are then examined in a written paper.

I wonder if there will be a push to change how exams are done too, to be done online instead. Along the lines of changes to how work at university is done, now submitted online. I hope not.

I wonder whether the changes so far at university have been entirely positive - excellence more likely to be achieved by hand written submission or online (sometimes with the help of AI)?

I think for schools there should be a move backwards, get everything away from online. Other than how to programme and suchlike.

There are quite a few studies showing that adults absorb written information differently (better) from paper than a screen, and that writing stuff by hand commits it to memory more effectively. I imagine this will have been even more studied in children.

I suppose it's possible that native keyboard users might develop the same direct hand-to-brain connections that my generation has with a pen and paper. Boffins must have investigated this!

I was reading a long thread on here yesterday, in which several posters were adamant that literacy's redundant. They said you can get everything you need from the spoken word. I found this so horrifying, I had to hide the thread - people arguing for a return to prehistory?! Something's gone badly wrong in education.

Would you mind linking the thread?

Taking notes on any subject helps to bank it down in your memory.

I didn't see that thread, but I have seen groups of posters saying the same things on other threads. It is bonkers and reminds me of a 1984 Orwell stance on language - "simplify language, simply thought, remove opposition" - though who is driving it I am not sure. I don't think the Conservatives are to blame, for once! If you go through funders of funders of funders you will probably find the answer. The same poster groups push for things like "progressive" (ie zero) education, removing algebra from the curriculum and similar, increasing degree subject matters beyond what we would consider academic, and also take extremely partisan stances on various political and world affairs issues (eg pro Kamala Harris)

Trying to find good resources for traditional grammar rules is hard at the moment. I think that the electorate needs to push for more concern about protecting language. But as i say, it seems to have become a political hot potato, bizarrely. The British Council surprisingly takes the side of "progressive" grammar, which is along the same lines as "should of" should become the same thing as "should have" and "down with the pedants" (according to one article I read on their site)

I think there are some studies that show that people in general learn better and remember things better if they rate them down versus seeing them digitally. For instance if you write your schedule down in a paper planner you remember those appointments and things better than if you just put them directly into the calendar on your phone.

There’s a book called “The Shallows” by
Nicolas Carr that looks at how the internet is affecting our brains and how we think. It links to this. Really interesting.