Washington, September 17 (ANI): It may not be wrong to say that the pen is mightier than the keyboard, for a new study on schoolchildren so suggests.
Virginia Berninger, a University of Washington professor of Educational Psychology, looked at the ability of second, fourth, and sixth grade children to write the alphabet, sentences, and essays using a pen and a keyboard.
“Children consistently did better writing with a pen when they wrote essays. They wrote more and they wrote faster,” said Berninger.
The researcher further said that only for writing the alphabet was the keyboard better than the pen.
Results were mixed for sentences.
However, when using a pen, the children in the three grade levels produced longer essays and composed them at a faster pace.
The study also showed that fourth and sixth graders wrote more complete sentences when they used a pen, and that this ability was not affected by the children’s spelling skills.
The research also showed that many children don’t have a reliable idea of what a sentence is until the third or fourth grade.
“Children first have to understand what a sentence or a complete thought is before they can write one. Talking is very different from writing. We don’t talk in complete sentence. In conversation we produce units smaller and larger than sentences,” Berninger said.
She, however, added: “We need to learn more about the process of writing with a computer, and even though schools have computers they haven’t integrated them in teaching at the early grades. We need to help children become bilingual writers so they can write by both the pen and the computer. So don’t throw away your pen or your keyboard. We need them both.”
She further said: “We need more research to figure out how forming letters by a pen and selecting them by pressing a key may engage our thinking brains differently.” (ANI)
Oz selector Hilditch indicates Clark will be dropped for Ashes decider
Adelaide (Australia), Aug.12 (ANI): The chairman of Australia’s cricket selection committee, Andrew Hilditch, has declared that Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle are the future of the Australian bowling attack and that fourth Test hero Stuart Clark will be dumped for the Ashes decider at The Oval.
“Stuart Clark got the nod (last Test) and he did a good job, but the other three bowled exceptionally well also and took more wickets,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Hilditch, as saying.
“So, I think we go into the final Test with those three fast bowlers as our leading fast bowlers at the moment, plus spinner Nathan Hauritz.”
SBS Ashes commentator and former Test spinner Stuart MacGill, however, led a chorus of support for Clark’s retention – claiming he reignited Australia’s Ashes campaign at Headingley.
The New South Wales seamer made an immediate impact with 3-18 in his first innings but appears to have lost support after being belted in the second innings, when he finished with 0-74 off 11 overs.
“I don’t think only Stuart Clark would be hard done by if he missed out on the final Test – I think the Australian public would be hard done by,” MacGill said.
“I believe Andrew Hilditch’s comments that the future of Australian bowling does lie with Johnson, Hilfenhaus and Siddle. But we have to pick a team for now, not tomorrow, and Clark needs to be in that team,” MacGill added.
Hilditch expressed his views on the pace line-up as he unveiled the limited-overs squads in Adelaide.
Former Test spinner Greg Matthews said Clark, his Sydney University grade cricket teammate, had “left the door open for the fifth Test axe” when he leaked runs and looked tired in the second innings at Headingley.
Matthews said he could understand the selectors wanting to bring Hauritz back in to the XI, adding that he believed the New South Wales tweaker had been “the second best bowler for Australia” in the Ashes series behind Hilfenhaus. (ANI)