Reading and writing are essential to learning. In fact, a new study now shows that writing by hand may help kids learn and understand letters faster. It also may help kids learn to read more quickly. Published in Psychological Science, the study found that handwriting allowed participants to take in several components of new letters they learned, helping them to potentially process the information more effectively.

During the research, the participants, who were all adults, were divided into three different learning groups: a handwriting group, a group that watched videos, and a group that typed responses. Each group was then introduced to Arabic letters and then had to reproduce them in different ways. Those in the handwriting group wrote the letters with a pen and paper. The video group saw the letters on the screen and had to identify them. And the group with typed responses had to locate the letters on a keyboard. The individuals in the handwriting group learned the information more quickly.

While the test was performed on adults, researchers believe the results can apply to children’s ability to learn letters, identify them, and perhaps read earlier. Children learn by using different learning styles: seeing, hearing, moving or touching. The benefit of using handwriting with these learning methods is that it brings the methods of learning information to get her in a way that strengthens understanding. Dr Wiley notes that writing is not necessary to learn to read. But the ability to connect everything being learned about the letters can be beneficial as children become readers. And handwriting can play a part.

In fact, many experts agree that computers and digital learning can be used to improve the educational experience and not to replace handwriting and that writing should be a part of the curriculum. “We should stick with some form of written practice. That’s what the evidence really shows,” Dr Rapp concludes.

With the current world conditions forcing us to stay longer indoors, you’ve likely tried to pick up a new skill. If you aren’t an active learner, you may think it’s taking you too long to pick up that new skill.【小题1】 But slow learning often has more to do with our ability to focus and our attitude towards learning than our innate ability to learn. Let’s take a look at three reasons why you may be learning slowly.

Lack of focus makes learning slow. But once you improve your focus, you’ll be surprised by how much faster you can gain new knowledge and skills. So try every means to improve your focus.【小题2】Choose a quiet environment to do your learning and ensure you won’t be interrupted.

Unrealistic expectations make us believe we’re slow learners. Whenever we want to pick up a new skill, we assume that the learning process will go smoothly.【小题3】When we don’t meet our unrealistic expectations of how fast we should be learning, we think we don’t have any talent or that we aren’t smart. So we must keep our expectations realistic.

【小题4】The person who’s already a good surfer and skater has a foundation of board sports to transfer into snowboard, which will make him learn the new skill faster. We may think we’re slow learners when we compare ourselves to others, but they may already have knowledge and skills that allow them to pick up the new learning much quicker.【小题5】The more we learn, the faster we can learn new things.