We have known a story that could change the way children learn from children. Finland has announced that it will replace the learning of handwriting in schools by typing and using the keyboard as of 2016.
Being the world education model country and precursor to educational trends that are then put into practice in other countries, the end of the teaching of writing is likely to approach as we know it so far. The question is, Is it okay for children to stop learning to write by hand?
Benefits of handwriting
It is true that we write less and less by hand. Paper and pencil have fallen into disuse, and as we get older we use less and less a pen to write. If anything to sign a document, a practice that will soon be forgotten.
But we must not forget that handwriting in children has important benefits for its development. Beyond the use they may get in the future, they probably will not pick up a pencil in their life or even draw (because that will also be done - it is done - with a computer), the practice of writing in the first years of lifetime It has great advantages.
The execution of the first strokes is very important to reinforce psychomotor skills in children. And not only the drawing of lines, the grip in the form of a clamp that the child makes when taking a pencil between the thumb and index finger is a fundamental gesture for the evolution of manual dexterity.
Also, write by hand stimulates brain functions related to other areas, such as reading. According to a study conducted at the University of Indiana, USA. Children who write by hand learn to read faster, and are also better at retaining information and finding new ideas.
Specifically, three areas of the brain are activated: the left fusiform gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior parietal cortex, the same areas that are set in motion when adults read and write. In children who simply write or draw letters, but do not write by hand frequently, no activation of these areas was shown.
Free writing allows us to perform processes that we do not do on the computer. Personally, and being a journalist and blogger is something I practice often, I find it much more inspiring to write by hand than in front of a keyboard.
But we can't go against new technologies
But of course, we cannot deny the evidence. Kids these days learn before using the touch pad of a tablet or smartphone Than to take a pencil. They are digital natives. His way of writing, drawing, playing, and even thinking, are already influenced by new technologies.
In schools they learn typing with specialized methods that teach them the correct position of the hands on the keyboard, when most adults have been self-taught in this regard.
We no longer need handwriting to write a letter (we do it by mail) nor will our children need it to take notes at the University as we have done. Calligraphy is an outdated practice that no longer has a place in today's life, but your learning is still positive.
It is clear that leave the pencil and move to the keyboard it's a natural evolution against which it would be absurd to row and we must encourage, but Is it okay for children to stop learning to write by hand? I think that one thing should not replace the other, but combine them to help boost the development of the little ones.
