Font and Memory

Elementary and Middle School Science Fair Project

Class syllabuses. Handouts. Lecture notes and presentations. Throughout the learning process, students come into contact with various forms of written material/information that, in order for them to be successful, needs to be internalized and remembered. Ever wonder if the font of the document has any effect on memory? We found a science fair project over at Science Fair Adventure that seeks to explore this very question! For elementary/early middle school students interested in life science and neuropsychology, this project is sure to offer an interesting look at what affects human memory!

Project Suggestions

  • We suggest selecting 3-5 fonts to test. Consider including a mixture of serif fonts (fonts that have little tails) and sans serif fonts (fonts without tails), as well as cursive.
  • Compose sentences/statements of different lengths - short, medium, and long. You'll want to create 2-3 sentences of each length. [NOTE: Be sure to tailor the sentences to your proposed audience. You do not want the sentences/vocabulary to be above their reading level since the goal is to test their memory and not their reading skills!]
  • When typing out the sentences in the different fonts, be sure to keep everything the same - e.g. font size, spacing, etc.

For the full project and tips on devising your own study, be sure to visit Science Fair Adventure!