Here is something surprising: Many studies show that individuals understand and remember material better if they read it on paper than on a screen. I just read about this research in the November issue of Scientific America. The implications for instructors and students? Choose paper books over online version for maximum learning. Also, for students, print out online material such as pdfs for reading rather than reading it online.
So, paper beats rock in rock-paper-scissors, and paper beats screen in understanding-remembering. How does paper faciliate learning? The article gives several answers supported by at least some evidence: (1) humans may have evolved in a way that makes the tactile and three-dimensional aspects of books helpful in reading; (2) the light that comes from screens can tax a person, leaving less energy and enthusiasm for learning, (3) something about screens leads individuals to futz around rather than focusing on the written content (reading content that requires scrolling is particularly bad in this regard), (4) individuals seem to benefit from being able to flip around easily from beginning to end and to judge quickly how many pages are left in a text, and (5) individuals do not take material on a screen as seriously as they do printed material.
I myself do not like reading long articles on a screen. After learning of these research findings (I read them on paper!), I believe I will print important journal articles out before analyzing them closely. That will kill more trees, but it may help me complete my work more effectively.
What do you think? Does reading material on paper help you understand and remember?
The article: Jabr, Ferris. (2013, Nov.). Why the brain prefers paper. Scientific American, pp. 35-39.
John Malouff, PhD, JD, Assoc Prof of Psychology
I tried going paperless for one trimester in 2012 and very quickly switched back. Reading on the screen is fine for less intensive and shorted things like blogs and news, but serious study – paper wins hands down, every time.
Hi Niki. I am usually a tree-hugging eco-maniac, but I go with paper for content I need to understand well, e.g., articles to use in a meta-analysis. I like the ease of marking on paper, and I feel happier flipping paper pages than scrolling. But I don’t subscribe to a paper newspaper. That sort of content is not very important and I don’t usually want to mark it.
I’m also a tree-hugger, but I vote for paper, and enjoy the fact that our home has a library (something our daughter’s friends find fascinating). My exception is short term info to write a quick article. As a student, it was helpful to have both paper and online text access at one stage, because I could “search” the whole textbook for a term easily.