They didn’t test learning at all; they tested writing a word or typing a word based on a Pictionary prompt.
I’m not a research scientist, but it seems like you could look at this evidence and just as easily conclude that writing by hand increases the extraneous load for learners, i.e. that the task of writing itself requires more attention or “mental bandwidth” which would be diverted away from whatever you’re hoping they will learn.
I’d like to know if there’s evidence against this alternative explanation.
I’m not a research scientist, but it seems like you could look at this evidence and just as easily conclude that writing by hand increases the extraneous load for learners, i.e. that the task of writing itself requires more attention or “mental bandwidth” which would be diverted away from whatever you’re hoping they will learn.
I’d like to know if there’s evidence against this alternative explanation.