The benefits of note-taking by hand

Even in this digital age, when automation is in full force and being swift on the keyboard is a crucial skill, using your hand and pencil is still on top of the charts for cognitive learning.

Every student of all age groups has one cognitive toolkit with them: a pen and a notebook, to be able to take notes by hand. Handwritten notes are an important and powerful practice to infuse information in the brain, making it easier to retrieve information when required.

• Keyboarding information verbatim into the laptop does not involve any cognitive engagement like concept and vocabulary mapping, paraphrasing, summarizing or organizing as manual, by-hand note taking does.
• When we use a pen and paper, we are creating notes in the real sense, crafting and designing them by hand, which aids brain processing.
• The cognitive demands of note-taking, taking into consideration speed and legibility makes the process slightly challenging, and creates stronger memory.