Har du någonsin undrat vad man kan göra för att förbättra sin inlärningsförmåga? Många anser att inlärningen underlättas när man tar anteckningar under exempelvis en föreläsning, När jag var student var det penna och anteckningsblock som gällde men nuförtiden är det många som använde en laptop när de antecknar. En ny studie som publicerats i Psychological Science har undersökt hur inlärningen påverkas då man antecknar för hand jämfört med att anteckna med hjälp av en laptop.
I studien deltog 65 collegestudenter som fick se TED Talks (populärvetenskaplig presentation) och slumpmässigt tilldelade antingen anteckningsblock och penna eller en laptop utan internetåtkomst för att ta minnesanteckningar. Därefter undersökte forskare hur mycket de olika studenterna mindes strax efter presentationen.
Resultaten visade att trots att laptop-användarnas anteckningar inkluderade fler ord och orden överlappade mer med orden i presentationen hade dessa försökspersoner sämre förståelse av det de hört jämfört med de som antecknade för hand. Forskarna bakom studien misstänker att förklaringen till detta är att laptopanteckningar snarast är ordagranna beskrivningar av det man hör medan de som antecknade förhand är tvungna att bearbeta informationen och omformulera den till egna ord. Dessa resultat höll i sig även om man specifikt instruerade de som antecknade på laptop att inte skriva ner ordagrant det som presenterades. Handanteckningar var också mest fördelaktiga när man undersökte hur mycket studiedeltagarna mindes en vecka senare.
Betyder detta att datorer är värdelösa i detta sammanhang? Förmodligen inte, däremot indikerar resultaten att om man vi ha utförliga anteckningar kanske man bör välja laptop, men om man snarare vi förstå och minnas det som sägs är anteckningsblock att föredra.
Bild: Emos / Wikimedia Commons
Have you ever wondered what you can do to improve your ability to learn? Many believe learning is facilitated by taking notes, for example during a lecture. When I was a student we used pen and notepad but nowadays, many people use a laptop while taking notes. A new study published in Psychological Science has examined how learning is affected whether you take notes by hand or if you use a laptop.
The study involved 65 college students who watched TED Talks and were randomly assigned either a notepad and pen or a laptop without internet access in order to take notes. Thereafter, the researchers examined how much the different students remembered shortly after the presentation.
The results showed that although the laptop users’ notes included more words and a greater verbatim overlap, these subjects had not could not recall the presentation as well those who took notes by hand. The researchers behind the study believe that the explanation for this is that laptop notes literally describes what is heard while those who take notes by hand are more likely to process the information and reformulate it into their own words. These results persisted even when the laptop users were specifically instructed not to write down verbatim what was presented. Hand notes were also most beneficial when looking at how much the study participants remembered a week later.
Does this mean that computers are useless in this aspect? Surely not, however, the results indicate that if you want to have extensive notes maybe you should opt for the laptop, but if you rather want to understand and remember what is said notepads are preferable. that learning is facilitated by taking notes, for example during a lecture. When I was a student we used pen and notepad but nowadays, many people use a laptop while taking notes. A new study published in Psychological Science has examined how learning is affected whether you take notes by hand or if you use a laptop.
The study involved 65 college students who watched TED Talks and were randomly assigned either a notepad and pen or a laptop without internet access in order to take notes. Thereafter, the researchers examined how much the different students remembered shortly after the presentation.
The results showed that although the laptop users’ notes included more words and a greater verbatim overlap, these subjects had not could not recall the presentation as well those who took notes by hand. The researchers behind the study believe that the explanation for this is that laptop notes literally describes what is heard while those who take notes by hand are more likely to process the information and reformulate it into their own words. These results persisted even when the laptop users were specifically instructed not to write down verbatim what was presented. Hand notes were also most beneficial when looking at how much the study participants remembered a week later.
Does this mean that computers are useless in this aspect? Surely not, however, the results indicate that if you want to have extensive notes maybe you should opt for the laptop, but if you rather want to understand and remember what is said notepads are preferable.