Next time you’re sitting in class taking notes, you might want to consider putting the Chromebook away and getting some good, old-fashioned pen to paper action.

New research from a study of college students, conducted by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, shows that students who handwrite their notes often tend to learn more than their typical typing peers. The studies included hundreds of students from Princeton and UCLA, and the lecture topics ranged from bats, bread, and algorithms to faith, respiration, and economics. Half of the class was instructed to take notes on their laptops, and the other half to take notes in a notebook. The average college student can type faster than he/she writes, which allows him/her to take more notes on lectures. This seems like a good thing, right?

Actually, it’s the opposite. This strategy of taking verbatim notes directly from the PowerPoint or lecture cuts out the need to process the material, therefore these students learn less. Students who handwrite their notes tend to be more careful with what they write down, as they overall will not be able to write as quickly. As they listen to the lecture, they must analyze which pieces of information are the central ideas of the lesson and connect these concepts to examples provided. This allows students who handwrite their notes to retain the information, as well as understand it better. Their understanding of the material was assessed immediately after the lecture via a short quiz. By and large, the students who hand wrote their notes scored higher on the quiz. While the Chromebooks can be a useful learning tool, keep in mind that sometimes it can be most beneficial to take your notes the traditional way.

Source: Scientific American