Start writing by hand

Does your child write by hand or mostly use the key-board of the computer or mobile handset? With digital learning also reaching the interior areas of India during the lockdown and pandemic, a sizeable chunk of school children in fact have lost the habit of writing by hand. Thanks to on-line lessons taken by teachers through the smartphone, class work and home work have almost become a thing of the past. As children are getting increasingly glued to various kinds of screens during digital learning, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have said that things are not moving in the right direction, and that children must receive at least a minimum of handwriting training for best learning and memory.

Results from several studies conducted by NUST have meanwhile shown that people, whether children and adults, tend to learn more and remember better when they use their hands for writing. Researchers have also confirmed that choosing handwriting over keyboard use yields the best learning and memory. According to Audrey van der Meer of NUST, the use of pen and paper gives the human brain more 'hooks' to hang their memories on. Writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain, which in turn enhances and accelerates the process of learning and comprehension. Meer has also said that a lot of senses are activated when the fingers press the pen or pencil on paper, while the eyes see the letters children write and hear the sound they make while writing.

These sense experiences in turn create contact between different parts of the brain which then open the brain up for learning, the Norwegian professor has said. It is a fact that whether journaling thoughts, chronicling the day, attempting poetry or starting a novel, the "old-fashioned" pen-and-paper has also have immense positive impact on emotional well being, and helps students organize their thoughts and even improve their moods. Additionally, the act of writing itself can reduce stress, which helps improve focus and attention in the classroom. Making writing a regular habit on the other hand has been shown to increase creativity and deepen thinking, thus keeping the brain sharp.