Four Ways to Keep Students'
Attention
Creating classroom experiences that
grab and hold students' interest is not only good teaching, it's good science,
writes Karen Costa.
Want
to learn the art of attention from an expert? Visit a kindergarten classroom. Clap-clap-clapclapclap! The
sharp, intentional and unexpected rhythm rang out through the library while I
was volunteering with my son’s class. And then, a retort from the now-quiet
children. Clap-clap-clapclapclap!
The children’s eyes settled on their teacher; the jubilant
conversations had ceased. Attention was ready to be paid.
Consider
this common expression: Pay attention. Currency is exchanged. There is an
offering (our teaching) and a cost (students must divert their attention from
other sources). Reflecting on both sides of this equation in the context of
what science knows and what our teaching does can help us to improve the
classroom experience for teachers and students.
John
Medina, author of Brain
Rules, reminds us of the stakes: the greater the attention that is
paid, the more we learn. The neural mechanisms that influence attention are
complex; Medina states that our attention is influenced by a combination of
memory, interest and awareness. Our prior experiences (and how we remember
them) affect attention. Whether or not we define something as aligned with one
of our interests will also impact if the brain latches on to the new
information. Finally, if we are so focused on something else (a cell phone,
perhaps) that we lack awareness that our teacher is calling our name, we aren’t
able to give our attention where it’s due. Creating classroom experiences that
grab and hold students’ attention and teaching students the connection between
attention and learning is not only good teaching, it’s good science.
Medina
offers four critical components to becoming an attention-savvy educator.
Emotions
as Chemical Post-it Notes
Think
of emotions as chemical Post-it notes, Medina says. Emotions paint an
experience in fluorescent orange, making us more likely to notice and retain
the information at hand. How? Emotions trigger a release of dopamine into our
system, and dopamine improves our ability to remember. For example, you
probably remember vivid details from your wedding day, the birth of your first
child or defending your dissertation.
But do you remember the day before or after those momentous
events? Probably not. Now reflect on your classroom learning experiences; your
most vivid memories are probably tied to happiness, excitement, shame or fear.
How
can we intentionally incorporate emotions into our classrooms to increase
attention? First, share your enthusiasm for your subject with your students.
What made you fall in love with the study of psychology in the first place? Why
do you believe that the humanities will save the world? How did you feel the
first time you looked into a microscope? This is as important as the
theoretical or practical content you’re about to teach them.
Next,
tell stories. If you don’t have a story, find someone else’s online (TED talks
are a great emotional resource). Draw students into the topic emotionally to
attach a Post-it note to your instruction. Think that your subject matter
prevents you from incorporating emotional stories into your teaching? Check out
the work of the late Randy Pausch, a computer science professor who considered
storytelling one of his most powerful teaching strategies.
Do
the Why Work
Daniel
Pink, an expert in motivation and the author of Drive, states that “why” is “the most
underused word in the modern workplace.” Could we say the same of the modern
classroom? Pink goes on to assert that people are “thirsting for context.”
According to Medina, we can gain our students’ attention by quenching their
thirst for why.
Much
of this “why work” starts in the course development and lesson planning stages
of teaching. Begin by answering this question in one sentence: What is the purpose
of your course? Ideally, this will connect to the why of your program and the
why of your institution. If you can’t articulate the answers to these
questions, how can you expect your students to understand the big picture of
their course, program, and college?
Concept
mapping (or mind mapping) is an excellent next step. You can find a great free
mind-mapping tool at Text
2 Mind Map. Draw your course. How do the concepts you’ll be teaching in week
one connect to the overarching why of the course? How does week two connect to
week one? If these connections aren’t there, build them or reconsider the value
of including them in the first place. I’ve noticed teachers getting better at
the what; many will place an agenda on the board at the start of a class or at
the start of a new module in an online classroom. But for our brains, more
important than the what is the why. Medina argues that brains are hierarchical
and prefer to learn from the top down. He won a teaching award for designing
10-minute lectures that applied this model.
Medina
also cites the work of John Bransford, emeritus endowed chair in learning
sciences in the College of Education at the University of Washington, who
argued that the difference between an expert and a novice is that an expert can
explain connections between ideas, while a novice can only list the ideas. Step
into your role as an expert. Don’t just tell -- teach.
Create
a Device-Free Zone
When
I was teaching in a land-based classroom, I used to allow laptops. It felt
forward thinking to give students this option. I’ve since changed my mind.
Brain science has confirmed that our brains cannot multitask. Each time we
switch tasks, we have to restart that brain sequence. Medina estimates that
multitasking takes 50 percent longer than focusing on one thing at a time.
The recent findings on laptop use in classrooms support the
idea that decreasing classroom distractions and limiting opportunities for
students to attempt to multitask are valid teaching strategies.
I
recently sat next to a young woman during a lecture where I was in a student role.
Every 10 minutes, her phone buzzed. I would glance in her direction, pulled
away from the teacher’s words. She didn’t flinch. I wondered to myself if we’ve
entered a phase where we are so desensitized to our devices that vibrate is the
new silent. I now have a personal habit of keeping my phone set to do not
disturb unless I’m expecting an important call. I have a landline where I can
be reached alternately. I get to choose when I turn my attention to my device,
not the other way around.
Create
distraction-free classrooms, but do so as a teacher, not a tyrant. In the first
days of your course, share the research on distractions with your students.
Talk to them about screen addiction and attention, and show them the value of
focusing on their course instead of their device.
For
online students, the stakes are even higher. If your online courses aren’t
teaching students how to limit distractions while online, you are doing them a
disservice. Teach students to turn off notifications and devices while working
on their online courses. Again, do the why work here to show students the value
of paying attention.
Rest
and Digest
Does
it seem like the number of course objectives associated with your course grows
each term? Do you feel increasingly constrained by time? Many professors do.
But beware of the urge to cram more content into your courses. Medina equates
this to force-feeding and argues that brains need more time to digest. Because
the brain is, as Medina explains, a “sequential processor,” it needs to fully
process one idea before it can move on to the next. Simplify. Students will
paradoxically learn more when you teach less.
Medina
offers an outline for a typical 50-minute lecture-based class period. Break the
class into five sections, because most people start to lose interest after 10
minutes. The first minute of each section should be spent on an
emotional-meaning maker. Hook them. Writing teachers: you know the value of a
great hook. Grab them with that first minute in order to hold them for the next
nine when you can focus on details and explanation. Repeat.
Continue
to do the why work throughout the lecture, bringing students back to the
central purpose of the class so that their brains don’t have to switch tasks.
Professors can swap out lecture segments with other strategies like individual
journaling or small-group activities. The same overarching model of hook, big
picture and details still applies.
By
incorporating these rules into your teaching and your classrooms, you can begin
to harness the power of attention. And remember, we are students, too.
Reflecting on the role of attention in your own life can only serve to improve
your ability to teach these concepts to your students.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan
& Co
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