Throughout the entire year, we witnessed students spending hours tied to iPads and Chromebooks, all day, every day, in the face of remote and hybrid learning. While such technology has luckily enabled online learning that would have been unthinkable a decade ago, excessive screen time has been linked to a slew of negative consequences.
This year, to recover some balance between digital and analogue learning, I shall require pupils to utilize paper notebooks. Paper notebooks can help divert young people’s attention away from devices while also providing educational benefits.
Using a notebook forces students to be more meticulous in their note organization and presentation. Numerous apps allow students to write and organize notes, it is clear that using notebooks lays more responsibility on students to develop, adapt, and keep to a strategy that works best for them.
Furthermore, when students focus on and practice an orderly note-taking technique, they are developing a lifelong talent that will help them comprehend and record data and facts efficiently, which applies to a wide range of vocations. When choosing a notebook, it is important to choose the correct notebook for the proper task, you can go through the best notebook collection from here.
Students who use their gadgets to take notes are frequently assaulted with updates, messages, and notifications, and they are also distracted by the constant urge to explore the web. Authentic learning, on the other hand, necessitates concentration and profound, uninterrupted immersion in a subject. Constant distractions, according to the University of Michigan, may impair the mind’s ability to retain knowledge.
Similarly, according to psychologist Daniel Goleman, the ability to focus is “more essential than IQ or the socioeconomic status of the family you grew up in for determining career achievement, financial success, and health.” Students may claim that they can adeptly juggle a variety of responsibilities. However, studies show that humans are not wired to multitask. And when multitasking, according to the Cleveland Clinic, people are most likely to be “less efficient and more prone to errors.”
Taking notes by hand improves learning and memory. According to Cindi May, a psychology professor at the College of Charleston, “students who employed longhand remembered more and had a deeper knowledge of the content.” Paper notebooks alone will not address the concentration challenge or the multitasking issue. Students will continue to daydream and doodle but scheduling a tech-free time to take notes or answer questions on paper provides a little respite from digital distractions.
A typical notebook may appear to limit the student’s ability to think creatively, however, this is not the case. Ask students to take a break, read over their notes, and draw an illustration next to crucial ideas. (Drawing aids retention and memory.) Use Doodle Notes, or have students turn their paper notebooks into colourful interactive notebooks. Also using notebooks allows pupils to use coloured pencils, markers, tape, glue, and scissors in class and it might benefit kids by providing a physical layer to note-taking.
