Efficient ways to read and learn a new topic [closed]

Solution 1:

Perhaps the question in general is more concerned with cognitive processes than with mathematics alone. Having said that, there are differences between typing (interpret it as your "blogging") and handwriting: Marieke Longcampa, Marie-Thérèse Zerbato-Poudoub, Jean-Luc Velaya, "The influence of writing practice on letter recognition in preschool children: A comparison between handwriting and typing", Acta Psychologica Volume 119, Issue 1, May 2005, Pages 67–79. And I quote part of the abstract: "The results showed that in the older children, the handwriting training gave rise to a better letter recognition than the typing training." (my emphasis). Mathematics is composed not only of letters, but also of many different symbols. The above mentioned study should suggest that if letters are better recognized by handwriting, then mathematical symbols (specially if you are in such pure abstract field as topology) even more so. And there are several other similar studies, for example: Marieke Longcampa, b, , , Céline Boucardb, Jean-Claude Gilhodesb, Jean-Luc Velayb, "Remembering the orientation of newly learned characters depends on the associated writing knowledge: A comparison between handwriting and typing", Human Movement Science Volume 25, Issues 4–5, October 2006, Pages 646–656. I quote part of their abstract: " Results showed that when the characters had been learned by typing, they were more frequently confused with their mirror images than when they had been written by hand. This handwriting advantage did not appear immediately, but mostly three weeks after the end of the training.".

Finally, let me quote Janet Emig "Writing as a mode of Learning", College Composition and Communication, Vol. 28, No. 2, May, 1977. Mind you, Emig does not compare the usage of typing into a computer, as opposite to handwriting, but she does implies all along that when she is speaking about "writing" she means "handwriting". Emig says: "what is striking about writing as a process is that by its very nature, all three ways of dealing with actuality [1) enactive - learn by doing; 2) iconic - we learn 'by depiction in an image' and 3) representational or symbolic] are simultaneously or almost simultaneously deployed. That is, the symbolic transformation of experience through the specific symbol system of verbal language is shaped into an icon (the graphic product) by the enactive hand.If the most efficacious learning occurs when learning is re-inforced, then writing through its inherent re-inforcing cycle involving hand, eye, and brain marks a uniquely powerful multi-representational mode of learning".