She thinks this might be the key to their findings: Take notes by hand, and you have to process information as well as write it down. That initial selectivity leads to long-term comprehension.

Handwriting notes in class might seem like an anachronism as smartphones and other digital technology subsume every aspect of learning across schools and universities. But a steady stream of ...

Writing by hand can also lend itself to verbatim note-taking too, though—especially if educators couple their lectures with wordy PowerPoint presentations or dense textbook readings.