Linking this thread, because it already crossed my mind so many times https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29863108
Since that thread, did you try tablets and eInk/ePaper devices?
Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
41–50 of 130 posts
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why I think AI chatbots have so much potential for education. Every student can have extended dialogue about the topic and really exercise those neurons.
I think the widespread use of that for education would have precisely the opposite outcome that you'd want. Nothing sinks in to anyones brain because they're not actually talking about it and they don't need to actually learn it for any reason in school because they can just ask the chatbot again at any moment.
That would not be a side effect of the dialogue, but from awareness of the wider world.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#43I've been taking notes in a text editor since 1994. What I found was that taking notes via computer was much easier because I could finally keep up with what I'm taking notes about (typing is MUCH faster than writing), and could therefore spend more time considering the thing I'm taking notes on, rearrange things, group them, etc using simple keyboard commands. My impression is that my retention went way up and I had…
I am 100% the same.
People often claim that taking notes by hand, because it is slow, forces you to interpret and condense what you are learning into a more compact representation, and therefore understand it better.
That has never been the case for me -- while I'm busy doing that thinking, I missed the last 3 sentences from the lecturer, and then am struggling to catch up, and when I finally figure out what they're explaining again, there's no more time to write it down.
But I can type faster than lecturers speak. And obviously you don't take notes verbatim either, just the gist of a sentence. Then after the seminar is over, I can go over the notes at my own pace to build my understanding. Details that didn't seem that relevant during the seminar, I suddenly realize are key.
I really don't understand why people don't talk about this advantage more.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#44Now do it with a Dvorak or Colemak layout. lol.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#45Neither handwriting nor typewriting existed while the brain evolved.
Why does the more modern method have to be the bad one again?
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#46"Allowing the use of (the fingers of) both hands would cause many unforeseen effects on the brain, which would make it hard to interpret the results" so all participants had to "type using the right index finger [only]". How does one rule out the relevance of those "unforeseen effects" when claiming to compare typing in general vs handwriting in general? The paper only contains that one line about the matter, in the…
I think it gets worse
> To prevent artifacts produced by head and eye movements caused by shifting gaze between the screen and the keyboard, typed words did not appear on the screen while the participant was typewriting.
So no only were typists not touch typing, they couldn't see what they were typing.
Too many variables are changed between the two tests.
A) writers can see whole words vs no visual feedback B) writers use their natural writing technique (2 or 3 fingers?) vs 1.
It'd be interesting to test typing with a single hand (using words that can be entirely touch typed with one hand)
I'm surprised the choose not to gather that data.
https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2306&...
Is interesting in that it shows the opposite effect: improved recall. It also measured velocity/speed of response. Which shows writing was faster.
Another idea for a test: writing without ink.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#47I'm visually impaired and not being able to write in a notebook is one of the relatively few things I actually miss.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the widespread use of that for education would have precisely the opposite outcome that you'd want. Nothing sinks in to anyones brain because they're not actually talking about it and they don't need to actually learn it for any reason in school because they can just ask the chatbot again at any moment.
and that is a problem because? i remember when maths teachers would scold me for not knowing my multiplication tables “are you going to carry a calculator around with you every day?” they would say when seeing me use one. Turns out i do.
That is such a tired, boring, selective memory meme. Did you not use a calculator later on in your education, say high school, for stuff like graphing and helping with equations? Do you not think educators in primary school teaching basic arithmetic knew about that?
All our maths education is based on lies which are progressively disclosed. You’re told we can’t go below zero, that numbers are integers, that you can’t take the square root of a negative number… And slowly are introduced to all those concepts building on what you learned before.
And yet this meme of “hur dur, mah teachers saids I’d haves no calculators on me but I use a phone all the time, epic fail” prevails instead of pondering for two seconds that maybe your teacher was giving a cookie-cutter argument that a literal child could comprehend but be unable to refute so they could continue with the damn lesson.
And as if people use calculators that often. They don’t. Yet being able to do some basic arithmetic is useful in such simple areas as shopping, to make more informed decisions in a world that is constantly trying to trick you.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if having offloaded arithmetic to calculators has led to a society that can't do math in their head well enough to make good choices at the supermarket or in other daily situations where simple math would be useful but the situation is too casual to pull out your calculator. But the impact of that is tiny compared to the prospect of future generations offloading their general ideation and critical thinking t…
People internalize conversations and the thought processes that went into them. If I have a conversation with somebody, I often walk away remembering and understanding what somebody else said and why they said it. And these memories get used in future interactions. So just like the offloading of arithmetic likely resulted in people not being able to perform mental math, what would be the result of conversing with an…
I hadn't considered that. If that's the case then we should hope people simply copy and paste the output rather than try to engage with it or take it seriously.
Though in more practical economic terms, perhaps what we're being trained for is a future in which the typical worker has a low paying job sanity checking AI output rather than a higher paying job doing the work themself.
Re: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread connectivity in brain
#50"Allowing the use of (the fingers of) both hands would cause many unforeseen effects on the brain, which would make it hard to interpret the results" so all participants had to "type using the right index finger [only]". How does one rule out the relevance of those "unforeseen effects" when claiming to compare typing in general vs handwriting in general? The paper only contains that one line about the matter, in the…
Wow. Junk science indeed. "Unforeseen effects on the brain" so you essentially test in a way that is incomparable to those who are experienced typists? If you're only using one finger to type, of course you're using less brain activity to control that one finger, versus all ten. I'm unable to read the actual paper, but from the comments here, it sure seems like they worked backwards from an existing premise ("handwri…
They give a recommendation for education, but didn't measure retention.
I agree with their premise provided students don't know how to touch type (given the anecdotal amount of visual typing I've seen a reason concern for students) it's also interesting that it's cursive, which is being taught less.