Final answer:
The QWERTY keyboard layout was not designed to improve ergonomics but to prevent jamming in mechanical typewriters by separating commonly used letter pairings. It has since become the standard for typewriters and computer keyboards, despite not being ergonomically optimized.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that QWERTY keyboards were designed to improve ergonomics is False. The QWERTY layout was actually created during the 19th century by Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor and printer. The primary reason behind the design was to prevent jamming in mechanical typewriters by separating commonly used letter pairings. Over time, this layout became the standard for typewriters and was eventually adopted for computer keyboards as well.
However, it was not designed with ergonomics in mind. In fact, alternative keyboard layouts like the Dvorak and Colemak have been developed to promote better ergonomics and typing efficiency.