A new study shows that students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens -- Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

Saving this for next term’s “History and Future of the Book” course.

Students said they preferred and performed better when reading on screens. But their actual performance tended to suffer. For example, from our review of research done since 1992, we found that students were able to better comprehend information in print for texts that were more than a page in length. This appears to be related to the disruptive effect that scrolling has on comprehension. We were also surprised to learn that few researchers tested different levels of comprehension or documented reading time in their studies of printed and digital texts. —Business Insider

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9 thoughts on “A new study shows that students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens”

Duuuhhhhhhhh! When I can I try to buy an in-print textbook. Physically turning the page or touching it helps me associate it better in my mind. Scrolling down and reading on a screen tricks my mind into thinking I’m doing it for leisure and therefore don’t absorb as much. I’m sure there are people out there who can learn from reading an e-text but I sure am not one of them. There’s also the question of whether or not I have trained my brain to be resistant to absorbing e-text information as well as on a physical book…

Dennis G. Jerz says:
21 Oct 2017 at 4:42 pm
“Scrolling down and reading on a screen tricks my mind into thinking I’m doing it for leisure.” Interesting. I prefer electronic text for looking things up, for information-foraging, for work. I don’t associate e-text with pleasure. I’d much rather *teach* from an ebook than a print book. As I leave my 40s, my eyes need more light than they used to, and the extra light is not relaxing. When I read purely for pleasure, e.g. to pass the time in bed before I fall asleep, I am likely to listen to an ebook.
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Tessa Turtle Curtis says:
21 Oct 2017 at 4:51 pm
I understand that. But when I am taking a class that has a book online I have to take way more thorough notes than when I have the physical book. Could be because I’m nervous about it, could actually be effective. Nevertheless I’m a slow reader.
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Who’s behind the article? Is it Pearson et al? Are they comparing static content or are they comparing textbook to truly interactive content? I’m skeptical.

I am strongest in visual memory. I can remember writing or print on a page, its placement and basic content, but have no similar ability on a computer screen, even in page format. As I find even mild screen glow rather annoying, I wonder if that is the factor that interferes with my encoding.

Pamela Harvey says:
22 Oct 2017 at 11:46 am
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried a non backlit screen, like a basic kindle, but I find them much better for long reading
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Scrolling is frustrating and not conducive to long reading in my experience. But digital pages, I can do. I conquered War and Peace primarily on an iPhone in iBooks.

The article mentioned that scrolling may have a disruptive effect on comprehension. I couldn’t access more than the abstract of the study, but I wonder if they used only scrolling digital text or if they also experimented with digital text where you can “flip pages,” like on a Kindle. Personally, scrolling to read is difficult for me and I get distracted while reading. However, I concentrate better reading on a digital medium that requires me to “flip a page” as opposed to reading an actual book.

I’m a few decades removed from being a college student, but I have most definitely preferred reading on a screen since that became available (even back in the DOS days 🙂). My husband, OTOH, prefers print, so we get two daily newspapers and countless journals and magazines – and our large recycling container is usually FULL. And I truly do believe that I comprehend and remember better if I have read something on a screen… 🙄

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9 thoughts on “A new study shows that students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens”

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