Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

scientificamerican.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 132 posts

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#61

Post by hk1337 »

softfalcon wrote: post #31

I was late to this game of "going backwards" to improve my memory and understanding of what I read and wrote. Being raised by two technologically forward engineers, we jumped on the palm-pilot/laptops/tablets/phones/e-readers bandwagon very early. 5 years ago I started turning back to calligraphy, fountain pens, and hand writing. I buy books and fill up my bookshelf. It wasn't just for the memory recall, it was the p…

That's great and I have no doubt it's nice writing with a good fountain pen but people should not get caught up in that they HAVE to write with some expensive fountain pen or mechanical pencil. Most of the time, a basic pencil and notepad will work just fine.

Not that that is what you do but people may read your comment and get fixated that it has to be a nice fountain pen or mechanical pencil.

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#62

Post by dthedavid »

In university I noticed that some of my classmates just sat there and didn't take notes. So I stopped as well. I sat there, listened and then took pictures of the blackboard. This method worked better for me and I noticed that I performed better. The lesson here is that people learn in different ways.

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#63

Post by LtWorf »

kerkeslager wrote: post #33
sowbug wrote: post #11

Anyone else remember less from reading an ebook compared to a physical one? This happens to me, and I think it's a similar explanation. I recall less of where I read something in an ebook. But in a physical book, I often remember that a phrase was at the top or middle or left side of a page, or that I was sitting in a particular chair when I read it. There's simply more of the brain working when I read a physical boo…

> Anyone else remember less from reading an ebook compared to a physical one? [...] But in a physical book, I often remember that a phrase was at the top or middle or left side of a page, or that I was sitting in a particular chair when I read it. This seems weird to me. Does your ebook reader not have a "page" concept? I read China Mieville's Kraken on a Rakuten Kobo about 6 months ago and I distinctly remember the…

I guess they reflow as a single long string?

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#64

Post by pentaphobe »

munificent wrote: post #52
softfalcon wrote: post #31

I was late to this game of "going backwards" to improve my memory and understanding of what I read and wrote. Being raised by two technologically forward engineers, we jumped on the palm-pilot/laptops/tablets/phones/e-readers bandwagon very early. 5 years ago I started turning back to calligraphy, fountain pens, and hand writing. I buy books and fill up my bookshelf. It wasn't just for the memory recall, it was the p…

I love handwriting. As in, I hand-lettered every single one of the hundreds of diagrams in my two books [1]. I am also a sucker for nice pens and fancy paper. Office supply stores are like toy stores for me. (What can I say, I was a teacher's pet growing up.) So I am 1000% the kind of person to get into fountain pens. But I'm also a lefty. :( I know it is possible to learn to use a fountain pen while writing left-han…

You don't really have to learn it, a couple minutes of concerted effort will get you most of the way there

When I first started I'd say I was up to my normal speed within about half a page of Freeform journaling, initially it took conscious effort but then the brain just kinda went "oh."

Tangent: after that first day I had the thought to hold the resulting pages up to a mirror. The backwards writing was disconcertingly neater than my regular. (And remained that way even as I got faster and lazier)

Also for some unknown reason I formed the lowercase "A" entirely differently - everything else was the same..

Brains are weird.

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#66

Post by andy-eye-candy »

dthedavid wrote: post #62

In university I noticed that some of my classmates just sat there and didn't take notes. So I stopped as well. I sat there, listened and then took pictures of the blackboard. This method worked better for me and I noticed that I performed better. The lesson here is that people learn in different ways.

This was key for me as well. I tried doing transcription style notes on my computer (I'm a fast typer), and I tried doing deliberate handwritten notes. When I first started actually paying attention without noting I learned so much more

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#67

Post by JoeDaDude »

satao wrote: post #48
JoeDaDude wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW: I went to an unusual grade school which required us 3rd graders to use fountain pans. There were many stained fingers and homeworks, but yet, they insisted on using what seemed to us archaic devices. Fast forward to now, decades later, and I have recently rediscovered fountain pens and what a delight it is to use one compared to the cheap disposable ball point. I am using an inexpensive Pilot Metropolitan pen a…

Was it a Waldorf school?

It was a German school in South America (no WWII refugees there, lol). I guess the school leadership was taught that way, and they were sure to make the kids learn that way too - with fountain pens!

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#69

Post by jerlam »

chenxi9649 wrote: post #51

I wonder if it also had to do with the fact that handwriting is slower . Which means that you generally hold the concept in your working memory for longer than typing. Which often times does not require the concept to be held in working memory at all because typing speed matches reading speed. I also wonder if looking down at the page as you write vs looking up at the board. Constantly looking up and down is like a h…

I had a teacher who told us that when we took notes, we could not just transcribe what the teacher said - we had to take the ideas and write them down in our own words, because we would actually be thinking and learning and not just brainlessly writing it down.

Re: Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

#70

Post by intelligencesec »

softfalcon wrote: post #31

I was late to this game of "going backwards" to improve my memory and understanding of what I read and wrote. Being raised by two technologically forward engineers, we jumped on the palm-pilot/laptops/tablets/phones/e-readers bandwagon very early. 5 years ago I started turning back to calligraphy, fountain pens, and hand writing. I buy books and fill up my bookshelf. It wasn't just for the memory recall, it was the p…

I can never get over the "scratching" feeling of fountain pens. It gives me a weird goosbump feeling and makes them impossible to use.

Am I using them wrong? Using the wrong brand/type?

Post reply on HN