Why Hand Write?

Handwriting is a building block for learning.

• Far more than just a tool for communication, the act of writing by hand appears to be an important building block for learning.

Scientific Research

Using advanced tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, researchers are finding that writing by hand is more than just a way to communicate. The practice helps with learning letters and shapes, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development.• Pictures of the brain have illustrated

that sequential finger movements activated massive regions involved in thinking, language and working memory—the system for temporarily storing and managing information.

Better Than Typing• During one study at Indiana

University published this year, researchers invited children to man a "spaceship," actually an MRI machine using a specialized scan called "functional" MRI that spots neural activity in the brain. The kids were shown letters before and after receiving different letter-learning instruction. In children who had practiced printing by hand, the neural activity was far more enhanced and "adult-like" than in those who had simply looked at letters.

Hand writing apps are becoming ubiquitous.

Most History Work Will be Written by Hand

• All of your homework will be written out by hand. – It will help you on the tests– You will develop your handwriting skills in order to

write three, legible handwritten essays on the AP exam.

– It will help prepare you for the intense note taking required for college success.

– Minimizes the opportunity and temptation to plagiarize.

Two Types of Notes

• Cornell note-taking method:– A system embraced by many high schools and

universities, allows for margins on paper for later interaction with notes.

• PIRATES CHART– A type of outline we will use when reading the book.

You will categorize key facts from the text in the following categories: P(olitical); I(nteractions); R(religions and belief systems); A (Arts, Science, Education, Language); T(echnology); E(conomics); S(ocial structures).