Children Learn Better from Books, Not Screens
In recent years, the nationwide decline in reading scores among students in America has caught the attention of headline writers, educators, and government bureaucrats. According to survey results published by the Department of Education in June, the text comprehension skills of 13-year-olds have dropped an average of four points since the 2019-2020 school year, which was impacted by Covid-19. The results of the lowest-performing students have fallen below the reading skill level recorded in 1971, the year of the first national study. This decline in student performance has been attributed by politicians to Covid-19 and the lockdown measures. While everyone in the debate over student performance points to the post-Covid lockdowns as the cause, experts note that no one is discussing the consequences of children abandoning books for screen-based reading. They pose the question, “If the decline in middle school literacy is not due to a virus, a union leader, or ‘remote learning,’ then what other factors may be contributing to this decline.”
A groundbreaking study soon to be published by neuroscientists from Columbia University reveals that reading a text on paper, as opposed to on a screen, offers a clear advantage for “deeper reading.” Under the guidance of Dr. Karen Froud, the research team conducted a study involving a cohort of 59 children, aged 10 to 12. These participants were tasked with reading original texts in both paper and screen formats, all while wearing hair nets equipped with electrodes to analyze changes in their brain responses. The study identified differences in brain responses to texts presented in print and digital media, with written texts showing deeper semantic encoding than digital texts. Froud and her team are cautious in their conclusions and refrain from making firm recommendations for classroom practices and curriculum. Nevertheless, numerous social scientists, among them Norwegian researcher Anne Mangen, persist in publishing articles and reports emphasizing the superior aspects of reading comprehension and retention when utilizing traditional paper formats.