Some schools have gone down iPad route and insist kids buy those. I'd be opposed to that. Many schools now do a book rental scheme covering many of the required books. Such works out fine for my kids.surely parents are jumping up and down at the silliness and expense of it all?
There was a recent study of 12 year olds where they were all given the same book to read. Half had a physical book and half an ebook. Memory retention was better among those who had a physical book.In surveys many people say they prefer to read paper rather than electronic texts. However, learning studies of tablet users show that they learn about as effectively as those using traditional books.
I'm dyslexic (amongst other things) so I've always found I retain knowledge I consume through audiovisual means better than that which I consume through printed means. I put it down to me using more of my brains processing power reading than other people do.There was a recent study of 12 year olds where they were all given the same book to read. Half had a physical book and half an ebook. Memory retention was better among those who had a physical book.
Some people will be fine with an ipad, where others will have significant poorer performance than with a regular book. When it comes to studying, I find it a lot easier putting in a load of post-its and flicking between marked sections in a physical book.
I like technology and I love my iPhone etc, but I always print out material that I need to read. I will read newspapers etc online but I buy books, I don’t like reading these online.
Marion
There was a recent study of 12 year olds where they were all given the same book to read. Half had a physical book and half an ebook. Memory retention was better among those who had a physical book.
Some people will be fine with an ipad, where others will have significant poorer performance than with a regular book. When it comes to studying, I find it a lot easier putting in a load of post-its and flicking between marked sections in a physical book.
Only if the production of the books were taken public as well. Publishers would happily increase their margins on e-only books. I don't underestimate the task. An e-book still needs typesetting, though a set of standardised LaTeX templates would go a long way to managing this. There is plenty of relevant experience in academia. There is also the distribution infrastructure which would be required. I'd expect some up front costs, but don't see why the ongoing cost of administration shouldn't be less than a euro per book, which could easily be absorbed by the taxpayer....were the school to ditch the printed versions you would expect a significant reduction in the costs.
it's hard to see the logic of providing both formats to students.
It may not have a sequence of events, but there is still an association that e.g. pythagoras is covered about a third of the way into the book. That can help with visualising what's there.Not every book has a sequence of events. The expensive maths books I mentioned in the opening post don't.
With regards publishing costs, the printng costs actually represent a surprisingly small percentage of the overall costs. One author was answering the question of why ebooks are not hugely cheaper than physical books, and put out some of the figures along the way. Now I can't find that. A breakdown of costs is not something the publishing houses are ever likely to produce voluntarily.
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