American Study: Better Book Than Electronics

A new study conducted in the U.S., with the aim of learning what is the best method of learning, electronics, or printed books, results in that old method of reading printed books is more effective.

To further explore these models, three studies have been conducted that revealed students ' ability to understand information on paper and on screens.

After reading two passages, one online and one in the press, the students later completed three tasks: Describe the main idea of texts, list key points covered in readings, and offer some other relevant content that may be remembered. When done, scholars asked students to judge their own performance of meaning.

Throughout the studies, texts varied in length, and various data (e.g. reading time) were collected. However, several key conclusions appeared that shed new light on the differences between printed reading and digital content.

Some students preferred to read more digitally. Reading was evidently faster than he was in printed books. At first glance, it seemed that digital reading was more successful, but when it came to specific questions, the meaning was evidently better when participants read printed texts.

From these findings, there are some lessons that can be conveyed to policymakers, teachers, parents and students about the importance of printed texts, in an increasingly large digital world.