Students Take Notes On Paper, Computers
According to History of Computers in Schools, schools have been incorporating technology since as early as the 1980’s with old fashioned desktop computers.
Technology can be used for note taking. And many students take notes on their computers instead of writing notes out on paper.
But is it taking notes on a computer better than using paper and pencil?
According to scientificamerican.com, using a computer allows for students to collaborate easier on projects and assignments, access information from the internet, and take more notes–but writing down every last word the teacher says might not be the best idea.
Research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, science researchers, discovered that students who take notes on paper actually learn more.
By writing down all of the information, it allowed the students to have a stronger understanding of the concepts.
When students write things down, they can apply the material better than if they had used a laptop to take notes, according to scientificamerican.com.
Mueller and Oppenheimer concluded that taking notes with pencil and paper required different types of cognitive processing. Taking notes on paper allows the student to summarize the information and capture the meaning better than taking notes on a computer.
Leah Stapleton, a senior at Arrowhead High School said, “I prefer to take notes on a computer because I’m a really slow writer and taking notes on a computer is easier for me and I can get all of the information down faster. I also like having my notes on the computer because then I always know where they are and I don’t have to worry about misplacing them.”
According to globalcognition.org, an advantage of taking notes on a computer is that typing tends to be much faster than writing. Past research states that more notes lead to better test scores. However, students could end up with too much irrelevant information when using a computer.
A study performed found that students learned more information when using a computer because they were able to write more down.
Richa Karmarkar, a junior at Arrowhead High school said, “I like taking notes on paper because I usually tend to remember the information much better because I have to take my time when writing. I do like taking notes on a computer because it keeps me much more organized, but if I had to chose I would definitely go with paper.”