Research recently published in the Psychological Science journal has found that students who took notes by hand (as opposed to a laptop), performed better when asked questions about the factual content and concepts they had been taught.
In the paper, those using a laptop wrote more, but when quizzed 30 minutes later they had understood less than those who took notes by hand. Those taking notes by hand also out–performed the others in both factual recall and concept understanding a full week later when quizzed on the topic again! The paper demonstrates that taking notes by hand does appear to encourage both more concise note-taking and encourage conceptual processing of the information at the time to assist you to recall the information (in both the short and long-term). To view the paper, student and staff click here.
Do you prefer pen or paper? Have your say in the comments section below!