To content
Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology

Tuesdays for Education on October 7 – Learning in the digital world

-
in
  • News
  • Tuesdays for Education
  • Press release
  • Events
Ein Grundschulkind arbeitet am Tablet, darunter der Schriftzug "Tuesdays for Education" © stock.adobe.com​/​AnnaStills
Primary school: No differences in learning success when reading on paper and on screen

There has been much discussion in recent years about digital media in schools and, more specifically, about reading on screens instead of paper. Now there are empirical findings: for fourth-grade elementary school children, it makes no significant difference whether they learn new words by reading texts on paper or on a screen. Although the students say that reading on paper is more demanding for them, this perceived effort is not related to learning success. This is confirmed by the results of the DiAna study conducted by the Center for Research on Education and School Development (IFS) at TU Dortmund University. Overall, the results show that digital reading media can be used in elementary schools without impairing learning success when learning new words.

Further information can be found in the press release and in the summary report.