Is Handwriting Instruction Important?

 

Should Schools Still Teach Cursive?

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/06/should-schools-still-teach-cursive/ 

“I think there is value in learning a skill that that takes patience, perseverance, and diligence to master.”

What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=0 

“When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated,” said Stanislas Dehaene, a psychologist at the Collège de France in Paris. “There is a core recognition of the gesture in the written word, a sort of recognition by mental simulation in your brain.

“And it seems that this circuit is contributing in unique ways we didn’t realize,” he continued. “Learning is made easier.”

Five Reasons Kids Should Still Learn Cursive Writing

http://time.com/2820780/five-reasons-kids-should-still-learn-cursive-writing/ 

Research suggests that printing letters and writing in cursive activate different parts of the brain. Learning cursive is good for children’s fine motor skills, and writing in longhand generally helps students retain more information and generate more ideas. Studies have also shown that kids who learn cursive rather than simply manuscript writing score better on reading and spelling tests, perhaps because the linked-up cursive forces writers to think of words as wholes instead of parts.

 

Does The Fight For A Cursive Comeback Miss The Point?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/03/25/294212825/kids-these-days-can-type-but-cant-write-cursive-is-that-bad 

Professor Amy Bastian, a motor neuroscientist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has dedicated her career to studying how the brain talks to the body. "The more variety of things you do in the fine motor domain, the more variety of hand movements you make, will improve your dexterity," Bastian says.

Cursive handwriting in schools: Should it be taught?

http://7online.com/archive/9327105/ 

 "Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard," said Bateman, who handwrites 125 ornate letters each year. "We're not thinking this through. It's beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards."

Why Handwriting Still Matters in the Digital Age 

http://www.bamradionetwork.com/educators-channel/2167-why-handwriting-still-matters-in-the-digital-age