Browsing by Author "Aavatuuli, Tuukka"

Over the last decade computers have become widespread in primary schools and typing has become a common task in school life alongside handwriting. Handwriting and typing differ in many ways, although similarities can also be found. Previous studies have indicated that in studying languages, handwriting has benefits in memorisation over typing. This study was conducted to explore if there was a similar effect between writing methods in memorisation in environmental studies. The study was carried out as an experimental intervention study, in which participants practiced memorising Finnish plant and animal species. 42 third-grade students from three classes from a primary school in Helsinki participated in the study. Within each class the participants were randomly assigned into two groups, 22 of them writing by hand and 20 of them typing on a laptop. All participants performed all the exercises and memorisation tests according to the assigned writing method. First, a baseline test was performed to determine how many of the 30 species the participants already knew. After the baseline test, the participants practiced four times 15 minutes. In the practice sessions they wrote on a form the Finnish names of each species five times under the photos of the species. During the practice, the participants were instructed to check the names of the species from a reference sheet. The number of completed tasks was recorded as a variable measuring the amount of practice. After the practice sessions, memorisation was measured with a test on the same species without the reference sheet. The data was analysed with two covariance analyses: a pre-registered repeated measures covariance analysis and an exploratory covariance analysis, both using the amount of practicing as a covariate. When the amount of training had been controlled, neither of the covariance analyses showed statistically significant effect between the writing methods on memorisation. Instead, the amount of practice and previous knowledge had a statistical significance on memorisation. This study provided new information on the impact of writing methods on memorisation in the context of environmental studies. The results showed that the writing method had no effect on memorisation when studying environmental studies. Based on the limitations of this study, no strong recommendations can be made on the advantages or benefits of either writing method in environmental studies. Further research is needed to provide a stronger scientific basis for the possible use of digital devices in schools.