Books are better compared to Books Online on Screens
Bound Books Are Better
Books On-Line Pale in Comparison to Real Books
by Barbara Pytel
Dec 25, 2008
Don't throw out those textbooks and library books yet. Researchers have found that technology is not always better.
Email has improved communication between friends and family. Cell phones have improved safety and communication in families. Store scanners, surveillance equipment, GPS and safety features on automobiles have improved our lives. Laptops in schools allow students to create amazing projects. However, reading a book on a computer may not be one of those improvements.
Norwegian Researchers Say Books Are Better Than Computers
Holding a book and turning the pages allows individuals to have an experience with the book. It also helps with attention spans. The scrolling and clicking that is necessary to read a book on a computer is distracting. The reader is more likely to remember information read from a book and less likely to remember if read on a computer screen. Technology does not improve everything in our lives.
Anne Mangen, associate professor at the Center for Reading Research at the University of Stavanger in Norway, believes that the physical appearance of a book offers tranquillity to the reader. "Several experiments in cognitive psychology have shown how a change of physical surroundings has a potentially negative affect on memory. Technology provides for a number of dynamic, mobile and ephemeral forms of learning, but little is known about how such mobility and transience influence the effect of teaching. Learning requires time and mental exertion and the new media do not provide for that," Mangen believes. [ScienceDaily, December 22, 2008]
Paper Wins Over The Screen
Swedish researchers believe that reading on paper is better. The navigation required reading a book on a computer distracts from the written word. Reading a book promotes better understanding than reading from a screen. Mangen also believes that when text is not perfectly adapted to the computer screen, the reader struggles to maintain attention. This can lead to increased problems with comprehension.
Hypertext Stories Decrease Comprehension
Mangen is most critical of hypertext stories. These works use hypertexts, video, sound, and pictures embedded into the text. These stories resemble a computer game more than a written work. Mangen states, "The most important difference is when the text becomes digital. Then it loses its physical dimension, which is special to the book, and the reader loses his feeling of totality."
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Mangen is especially interested in the relationship between motor functions and attention. The more a reader must do to continue with the reading experience, the more potential there will be to lose comprehension and more opportunities to abandon reading and move on to something else.
Sources:
"Storybooks On Paper Better For Children Than Reading Fiction On Computer Screen, According to Expert" ScienceDaily.com, December 22, 2008.
Anne Mangen’s work, "Digital fiction reading: Haptics and immersion," is published in the Journal of Research in Reading, 2008.
Related article: Homework And TV - A No No
The copyright of the article Bound Books Are Better in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Bound Books Are Better in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Reading Real Books Aids Comprehension
Digital Books Are Distracting To The Reader
The Printed Word Has Much Value
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Jan 6, 2009 9:26 AMGuest : Thank you for this validation. As a reading teacher, I have found that when students read on a computer, they seem to be more easily distracted. But, when they sit with a book on the carpet, they can sit for longer lengths of time. Some even do not notice other students coming and going because they are so focused. That is not the case in a computer lab. Thank you!
Apr 24, 2009 4:32 PMGuest :
this is very true...the problem comes when you have minds that are so trained to getting information in a split second as they do online - and then go tell them to read a book...yeah right..wont happen...their minds are geared towards the interactive and not the uninteractive...we have raised a generation of minds not geared toward learning the traditional way but geared toward having their information needs met in an instant.
Guess what - a study was already releashed showing how experience changes literal brain chemistry......with more and more people turning to the internet for so much - those experiences are changing our brains - and yes i know all that data as far as how is still under debate..but one thing i am certain of is that it is decreasing our working memory...making for a mind geared more towards distraction and less towards focused concentration.
we havent realized it yet....but this form of a medium has already grabbed hold of the youth and has begun to change their minds. I admit there are those that are more suseptible to such issues with such a medium, we shall begin seing them as time moves forward.
the very definition of what a book is must change for the web to work...books need not be bound..need not have pages..and need not have a front and back - the book becomes bits and pieces of information to take up.
what needs to happen is for the internet to create walls - by walls i mean ways for all those distractions to be contained - without that kids will do no learning online in a true sense and the advantages of the technology that is coming of maturity will be wasted.
Read more: http://educationalissues.suite101.com/topiclist/article.cfm/bound_books_are_better#ixzz0JJz1uUAz&C
Books On-Line Pale in Comparison to Real Books
by Barbara Pytel
Dec 25, 2008
Don't throw out those textbooks and library books yet. Researchers have found that technology is not always better.
Email has improved communication between friends and family. Cell phones have improved safety and communication in families. Store scanners, surveillance equipment, GPS and safety features on automobiles have improved our lives. Laptops in schools allow students to create amazing projects. However, reading a book on a computer may not be one of those improvements.
Norwegian Researchers Say Books Are Better Than Computers
Holding a book and turning the pages allows individuals to have an experience with the book. It also helps with attention spans. The scrolling and clicking that is necessary to read a book on a computer is distracting. The reader is more likely to remember information read from a book and less likely to remember if read on a computer screen. Technology does not improve everything in our lives.
Anne Mangen, associate professor at the Center for Reading Research at the University of Stavanger in Norway, believes that the physical appearance of a book offers tranquillity to the reader. "Several experiments in cognitive psychology have shown how a change of physical surroundings has a potentially negative affect on memory. Technology provides for a number of dynamic, mobile and ephemeral forms of learning, but little is known about how such mobility and transience influence the effect of teaching. Learning requires time and mental exertion and the new media do not provide for that," Mangen believes. [ScienceDaily, December 22, 2008]
Paper Wins Over The Screen
Swedish researchers believe that reading on paper is better. The navigation required reading a book on a computer distracts from the written word. Reading a book promotes better understanding than reading from a screen. Mangen also believes that when text is not perfectly adapted to the computer screen, the reader struggles to maintain attention. This can lead to increased problems with comprehension.
Hypertext Stories Decrease Comprehension
Mangen is most critical of hypertext stories. These works use hypertexts, video, sound, and pictures embedded into the text. These stories resemble a computer game more than a written work. Mangen states, "The most important difference is when the text becomes digital. Then it loses its physical dimension, which is special to the book, and the reader loses his feeling of totality."
Ads by Google
Read With Your Child
Use Interactive Reading to Accelerate Language Development
www.ChildUp.comFood Processing Plant
Find & Contact Low-Cost Suppliers Sign up Free, Become an Active User
Alibaba.com
Mangen is especially interested in the relationship between motor functions and attention. The more a reader must do to continue with the reading experience, the more potential there will be to lose comprehension and more opportunities to abandon reading and move on to something else.
Sources:
"Storybooks On Paper Better For Children Than Reading Fiction On Computer Screen, According to Expert" ScienceDaily.com, December 22, 2008.
Anne Mangen’s work, "Digital fiction reading: Haptics and immersion," is published in the Journal of Research in Reading, 2008.
Related article: Homework And TV - A No No
The copyright of the article Bound Books Are Better in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Bound Books Are Better in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Reading Real Books Aids Comprehension
Digital Books Are Distracting To The Reader
The Printed Word Has Much Value
Recommend Article!
Print Article
Email Article
View All Articles
How to subscribe to feedsAds by Google
Lucky Numbers?
Whatever your sign is, with your Birthdate I can predict your luck.
www.sara-freder.com/lucky
"My 1 Trick To Lose Fat?"
I struggled for years to burn fat, until I found this 1 secret.
FatBurningFurnace.com/HowIDidIt
Fine Motor Development
Activities to develop hand skills Strengthen fingers, wrists & arms
www.Theraproducts.com
Post Project For Free
Get cheap offers from pros! Freelacers will battle for it.
Vois.com
Post Your Comment
2500 characters left
NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.
What is 7+1?
Comments
Jan 6, 2009 9:26 AMGuest : Thank you for this validation. As a reading teacher, I have found that when students read on a computer, they seem to be more easily distracted. But, when they sit with a book on the carpet, they can sit for longer lengths of time. Some even do not notice other students coming and going because they are so focused. That is not the case in a computer lab. Thank you!
Apr 24, 2009 4:32 PMGuest :
this is very true...the problem comes when you have minds that are so trained to getting information in a split second as they do online - and then go tell them to read a book...yeah right..wont happen...their minds are geared towards the interactive and not the uninteractive...we have raised a generation of minds not geared toward learning the traditional way but geared toward having their information needs met in an instant.
Guess what - a study was already releashed showing how experience changes literal brain chemistry......with more and more people turning to the internet for so much - those experiences are changing our brains - and yes i know all that data as far as how is still under debate..but one thing i am certain of is that it is decreasing our working memory...making for a mind geared more towards distraction and less towards focused concentration.
we havent realized it yet....but this form of a medium has already grabbed hold of the youth and has begun to change their minds. I admit there are those that are more suseptible to such issues with such a medium, we shall begin seing them as time moves forward.
the very definition of what a book is must change for the web to work...books need not be bound..need not have pages..and need not have a front and back - the book becomes bits and pieces of information to take up.
what needs to happen is for the internet to create walls - by walls i mean ways for all those distractions to be contained - without that kids will do no learning online in a true sense and the advantages of the technology that is coming of maturity will be wasted.
Read more: http://educationalissues.suite101.com/topiclist/article.cfm/bound_books_are_better#ixzz0JJz1uUAz&C
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