14/06/2025
✍️ What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades . . .
Does handwriting matter?
In a world where children are typing before they’re writing, a fascinating 2020 study from NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) reminds us: cursive handwriting is a powerful tool for learning.
🔍 Using high-density EEG, researchers observed brain activity in children and young adults while they engaged in:
Cursive handwriting
Typewriting
Drawing
🧠 Key Finding:
Cursive writing and drawing activated brain patterns associated with memory, attention, and learning (specifically, theta activity in parietal and central brain regions). Typewriting, however, showed less engagement in these crucial areas.
💡 What this means:
When children write by hand, their brains are more engaged, more focused, and better at retaining information. It's not just about the words—they're building neural pathways that support long-term learning.
In other words, it’s not just what we write that matters — but how.
“When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated,” said Stanislas Dehaene, a psychologist at the Collège de France in Paris. “There is a core recognition of the gesture in the written word, a sort of recognition by mental simulation in your brain.
📌 Implications for educators and parents:
💟 Don’t rush to replace notebooks with screens.
💟 Include handwriting and drawing in daily learning.
💟 Digital tools are useful—but not at the cost of core motor and cognitive skills.
🖋️ In short: Handwriting is not outdated. It's foundational.
Let’s keep pens and paper part of the learning journey.
https://lnkd.in/dVU2JDGi
