Penmanship is long gone, cursive is out, is handwriting itself doomed?

As educators shift away from handwriting and into the world of the keyboard (the common core state standards only call for handwriting in kindergarten and first grade), many believe that we are teaching efficiency, but, in fact, research suggests that handwriting helps us learn in a different way — a way that helps students generate ideas and retain information. It is argued that the act of writing out one’s thoughts manually slows down the process and helps one acknowledge and understand what’s important.