Bunce Flens et al 2010

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Titre de l'article

1. Références

  • Référence complète APA : Bunce, D. M., Flens, E. A., & Neiles, K. Y. (2010). How Long Can Students Pay Attention in Class? A Study of Student Attention Decline using Clickers. Journal of Chemical Education, 87, 1438-1443.


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3. Mots-clés



4. Abstract


5. Résumé (facultatif)

"This research represents a unique use of technology (personal response devices, clickers) as both a pedagogical and a nonconspicuous research tool. As opposed to previous research (5) in which researchers faced the class to record observations of attention based upon students' facial expressions, this study had students register their awareness that their attention had declined during a class without the researchers interrupting or being obtrusive to collect data. Clickers appear to be a convenient way to survey students during class without significantly interrupting the flow of the class.

Contrary to common belief (3, 4), the data in this study suggest that students do not pay attention continuously for 10-20 min during a lecture. Instead, their attention alternates between being engaged and nonengaged in ever-shortening cycles throughout a lecture segment. Although the pattern can be affected by specific teachers and courses, there remains some similarity among student attention patterns across different teachers and courses as reported here. Students report attention lapses as early as the first 30 s of a lecture, with the next lapse occurring approximately 4.5 min into a lecture and again at shorter and shorter cycles throughout the lecture segment. These results challenge part of the work of Johnstone_Percival_1976 who observed student inattention occurring 15 min (beginning 5 min plus 10 min) into a lecture, but these results do support the observation (5) that student attention lapses occur in evershortening cycles as the lecture proceeds.

As many predict, student attention is higher during nonlecture pedagogies such as demonstrations and clicker questions. This was verified by the significantly lower number of selfreported student attention decline occasions during the 5-min duration of either a demonstration or clicker question. Equally important are the data that show that students report significantly lower attention lapses during lecture segments immediately following a demonstration or clicker question than they did in comparable length lecture segments prior to the use of these pedagogies. Interestingly, students report short lapses of attention of 1 min or less significantly more often than either medium (2-3 min) or long (5 min or more) lapses. This is one of few studies in which participants had an option to report the length of their perceived attention lapse. These data may serve as an indication that students are trying to pay attention by reengaging after they realize that their minds have wandered during a lecture segment. With help from the teacher in terms of interspersing lecture with student-centered pedagogies, the amount of time that students pay attention in class may be increased."

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