[eloisant]

There has been studies that proved that handwriting helps memorizing better than using a computer. The studies took a group of students, randomly assigned them handwriting/computers then they had a test to pass. Handwriting students performed better.

The reason is that handwriting is slower, so it forces you to summarize and make decisions in your note taking. Selecting what's important. On the other hand typing is faster, so you can type everything the teacher says without understanding.

[eviks]

So you only need to slow a person down to achieve the same effect, what's the value of handwriting?

[edgyquant]

The mechanical motion involved, physically putting your thoughts down. It isn’t the same as typing at all where you just click a button, having to motion the letters and words is surely worth something in itself.

[eviks]

You don't click a button, you touch it with your fingers in a mechanical motion physicality putting your thoughts down, the letters and words, there is no learning-related conceptual "surely", just the fact that it's less efficient to do and redo, which in the poorly designed lecture situations can force you to stop and think instead of doing dumb transcribing

[jamespo]

it's slower

[eviks]

It's not? You can artificially limit the speed of typing

[jamespo]

you try that

[wizofaus]

Plenty of people I know handwrite faster than they can type! And have they tested those using shorthand?

What I could believe is that our brains might be better at remembering the sorts of movements our hands make while handwriting (essentially using your wrist and elbow) vs those made while typing (fingers only), perhaps because the former are closer to the act of manipulating the physical environment in ways that might needed for survival (gathering food etc.) and because you're physically tracing out a desired path in 2d space, though it seems tenuous at best.