Mia Morelli - Mustangs Ahead
(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) - As Advanced Placement (AP) exams, EOCs, and final exams approach at Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS), students are facing an important question: what’s the most effective way to study, handwriting notes or typing them on a device?
The debate has gained attention in recent years as classrooms have become more digital.
Research, however, suggests that handwriting may have several benefits for learning and memory.
In the article, “Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning”, Charlotte Hu explained, “A recent study in Frontiers in Psychology monitored brain activity in students taking notes and found that those writing by hand had higher levels of electrical activity across a wide range of interconnected brain regions responsible for movement, vision, sensory processing and memory.”
The article also notes that these findings support “a growing body of evidence” encouraging educators to continue teaching handwriting skills.
This discussion is especially relevant as students prepare for college level exams. A recent school-wide survey by LRHS journalism 1 classes found that 83.1% of students believe their teachers should give paper assignments along with digital assignments, showing an appreciation for traditional, hands-on learning methods.
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To better understand student perspectives, two LRHS juniors shared their experiences with different note-taking styles.
For Maddison Anderson, handwriting remains the most effective way to retain information.
Anderson shared that “Writing things down helps me focus, process information better, and remember it more easily in the future.”
While she admits that handwriting can sometimes feel too slow during faster-paced lessons, she still believes the method is worth it because “actually writing things down helps me understand material better.”
Anderson also feels that handwriting directly improves her academic success, explaining that it “improves my grades and test performances because it helps me absorb information better and review my material more effectively.”
On the other hand, Addison Hickman prefers typing her notes because of the organization and flexibility it provides.
Hickman explained, “Typing my notes helps me stay organized since it allows me to easily edit… in the past when I wrote by hand, they were messy."
Despite concerns that digital notetaking may make remembering information more difficult, Hickman feels confident in her approach, explaining, “I feel like I remember information pretty well when I type my notes because I still have to process what I’m writing and review it before testing.”
She also believes typing positively impacts her performance, adding that “typing helps my test performance because I can take more complete notes and stay organized, which makes studying easier.”
As students prepare for important exams, both methods show clear advantages. Handwriting may promote stronger memory retention and deeper understanding, while typing can improve organization and speed.
Ultimately, the best method depends on the student, and many may benefit from combining both approaches to match different learning situations.