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Preliminary Study on Implications of Cursive Handwriting Learning in Schools

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Multidisciplinary Approaches to Neural Computing

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe a new database acquired in two different elementary schools of Barcelona province. The study assessed the effect of the type of handwriting learning in general writing performance. In the first school, classical cursive handwriting is learnt while the second one substitutes this skill for keyboarding and print-script handwriting. Analyses in two different groups of age (8–9 and 11–12 years old) for both schools have been performed. A set of 14 different handwriting tasks has been acquired for each student using an Intuos Wacom series 4 tablet plus ink pen and specific software to conduct the analysis. The results revealed that cursive handwriting might improve the handwriting performance by increasing the speed of writing and drawing.

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References

  1. Bourne, L.: Cursive vs. Printing: Is One Better Than the Other? http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/cursive-vs-printing-is-one-better-than-the-other.html

  2. Russell, H.: Signing Off: Finnish Schools Phase out Handwriting Classes. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/31/finnish-schools-phase-out-handwriting-classes-keyboard-skills-finland

  3. Van de Geyn, L.: The End of Cursive Writing in Schools? http://www.todaysparent.com/family/education/cursive-writing-in-schools/

  4. Boone, J.: Cursive Handwriting Will No Longer Be Taught in Schools Because It’s a Big, Old Waste of Time. http://www.eonline.com/news/481596/cursive-handwriting-will-no-longer-be-taught-in-schools-because-it-s-a-big-old-waste-of-time

  5. Doverspike, J.: Ten Reasons People Still Need Cursive. http://thefederalist.com/2015/02/25/ten-reasons-people-still-need-cursive/

  6. Klemm, W.R.: Why Writing by Hand Could Make You Smarter. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-hand-could-make-you-smarter

  7. Konnikova, M.: What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=3

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Acknowledgements and Privacy Statement

This work has been funded by Ministerio de economía y competitividad, Reference: TEC2016-77791-C4-2-R.

This study was approved by ethics inspection officer of the public schools involved according to Catalan government rules for the management of learning activities involving children. Full information about the study was provided to the schools’ direction board who supervised the data acquisition, and to the participants in the study, and consent forms were acquired before handwriting and drawing assessments were carried out. All the material collected was anonymized for privacy concerns.

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Correspondence to Andreu Comajuncosas .

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Comajuncosas, A., Faundez-Zanuy, M., Solé-Casals, J., Portero-Tresserra, M. (2018). Preliminary Study on Implications of Cursive Handwriting Learning in Schools. In: Esposito, A., Faudez-Zanuy, M., Morabito, F., Pasero, E. (eds) Multidisciplinary Approaches to Neural Computing. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 69. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56904-8_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56904-8_32

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56904-8

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