I think when people read to themselves and make their own notes that they will retain information better. I think it will be better because writing uses more parts of your brain than reading does and doing both probably uses even more of your brain.

This project matters because it will figure out if reading or writing is better so people can learn better in schools. The parts of the brain used in reading are the temporal lobe, Broca’s area, and the angular and supramarginal gyrus. The temporal lobe which lets you read the words. Broca’s area lets you understand words. The angular and supramarginal gyrus let you link letters together to make words (1)) . The parts of the brain used to write are the frontal lobe, the hippocampus and Broca’s and Wernicke's areas. The frontal lobe lets you plan stuff. The hippocampus is where the long term memory is. Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area help you to read and write (2). When you read and write you are using more parts of the brain.

When you read and write you are using more parts of the brain than you use if you just read or just write (3).  When you write you remember in your muscles and in your vision (3). Gourley, P. did a study that showed that people got higher grades on tests when they took 2 pages of notes for each chapter (4). When you write you learn to link letters together, it is good for reading and writing (5). Writing helps to learn the letters better and be able to recognize them (3).

Independent variable: The test subjects will read a list of facts, then take notes on a list of facts, then read to themselves and take notes on a third list of facts.

Dependent variable: How many answers are correct on the test in each section.

Control variables: Time from reading or taking notes to the test. There will be 10 randomized facts on each list of facts. The group of people is the same for all 3 sections of the test. They will be a 9 to 14 year old group of students.

Step 1   I will get a group of people who will read a list of facts to themselves and try to remember it.   

Step 2   The same people will take notes on a different list of facts that are read to them. 

Step 3   Then they will read to themselves and take notes on a third list of facts.   

Step 4   One week later they will take a true/false test on the three different lists of facts.

Step 5   After they take the quiz I will take the test scores and average them out for each of the categories.   

Step 6   Then I will find out if reading, taking notes or doing both is better for memory recall. 

The average of the test subjects when they read the list of facts to themselves was 5.71.

The average of the test subjects when they were read to and they took notes on the list of facts was 6.53.

The average of the test subjects when they read to themselves and took notes on the list of facts was 6.24.

The standard deviation was 1.58.

Please see the attached graph.

Before the experiment I guessed that test subjects reading to themselves and taking notes would work best to help them remember information. In this test, the group with the actual highest average score was the group that was read to and took notes. However, the average score for the group reading and taking notes was 6.2/10 and the average of only taking notes was 6.5/10. The difference between the groups was only 0.3/10 which is not a big difference. The group I thought would get the lowest average was the group that read to themselves and did not take notes. I thought they would have the lowest average becuase my research showed that writing uses more of your brain than reading, and I thought reading and writing together would help them remember better. The group of test subjects was only 17 people so the averages would probably have been different if the group had been bigger.

You could use this information to figure out if kids should learn by writing reading or both in school to teach them better.

-If we did the math wrong.

-If people missed questions.

-If the sites were not reliable.

-If there were too many test sheets and not enough signed consent forms.

-If people answerd questions wrong on purpose.

(1) Edwards, C. (2016) On the Brain Lecture.  Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute. Accessed March 13, 2024 https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/reading-brain#:~:text=Among%20them%20are%20the%20temporal,the%20brain%20so%20that%20letter

(2) Andres, Z. (2019) Psychologically speaking: your brain on writing.  University of Waterloo. Accessed March 13, 2024  https://uwaterloo.ca/writing-and-communication-centre/blog/psychologically-speaking-your-brain-writing

(3) Karin, J. et al (2012) The effects of hanwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1(1), pgs 32-34

(4) Gourley, P. (2021) Back to basics: How reading the text and taking notes improves learning. International Review of Economics Education, 37. doi: 10.1016/j.iree.2021.100217.

(5) Ose Askvik, E. et al (2020). The importance of cursive handwriting over typewriting for learning in the classroom a high density EEG study of 12 year old children and young adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1810).  doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810

Thank you for helping, Mom, Ms. Camilla Krochak, and participating students of Windsor Park CBE.