Bringing Students to the Board: Why the Interactive Writing Matters

In a world where everything is moving towards digital data, perhaps the past, and not electronics, paves the way for the future in the classroom.

Technology has been implemented in the classroom as a means of keeping students up-to-date on the latest trends of technology – but is this virtual reality really helping students learn?

What education leaders didn’t anticipate was that by educating kids on technology, their fundamentals would weaken.

Math, reading, and writing scores are either stagnant or declining in schools that have implemented technology in the classroom. Technology includes laptops, touchscreen tablets, digital homework assignments, smart boards, and other sources of digital learning.

Technology makes up a large chunk of school district’s budgets, landing anywhere between 3-15% of planned expenses and investments each year. As it turns out, such a large investment is actually hindering students’ learning – not helping.

So, instead of technology, what budgetary decisions CAN improve students’ learning?

True progress in learning is not electronic; it’s not a touch screen – it’s a good, old-fashioned erasable surface, designed to bring students attention to the front of the classroom and encourage meaningful learning.

Meaningful learning involves interacting with material in such a way that students have a deep understanding of the concept and are able to recall the information, simply because understanding something allows the brain to retain the information long-term.

One of the most meaningful ways to learn, understand, and remember information is to write it down. Whether it means working through complicated math problems at the board, or taking notes throughout lecture, or even re-writing previous notes – the act of writing things down increases retention by more than 23%.

Simply put, bringing students to the front of the class or even presenting on a white board allows students to encode new information and remember it 3-4 times more than other learning methods.

Writing on the board – or any surface – provides meaningful learning experience that will stand the test of time.

For inspiration on providing writing surfaces in the classroom, check out our education page.