A student pays attention to a single activity for 10-18 minutes. (Resilient Educator)
And the thing is that a classroom session lasts for 30-40 minutes.
Yes, the data regarding students’ attention span is frustrating for teachers.
The research on students’ concentration is growing in numbers indeed. However, they all exhibit that kids or student of the age of twelve or thirteen cannot concentrate the way adults do.
Students pay attention to teachers when the topic is a source of interest. But, sometimes, engaging a student’s mind becomes impossible when the topic seems drab to them. Moreover, when students find out a task is more challenging than usual, their attention span decreases fast.
For instance, when teachers hand over challenging class 7 Science worksheets, students’ interest and attention fall from the cliff.
In contrast, a comparatively easy worksheet may glue students’ attention from the beginning to the end.
While young students begin fidgeting and playing with pencils, students from class 7 or 8 also concentrate on everything except the task on hand.
Hence, what is the solution?
The quick way is to present the topics engagingly.
But, there are other ways too.
Let’s discuss them.
Does Students’ Attention Span Matter?
It is out of the question.
Unless students pay attention to the classroom sessions, how can they soak up the information the teachers share with them?
However, students’ attention span being shorter can go further.
- Chronic inattentiveness results in long-lasting consequences.
- A four years child’s attention correlates strongly with whether they graduated from college by age 25 or not. (Pub Med Central)
- Students will promote a healthy school life when they work on their attention span.
- Moreover, a healthy attention span impacts students’ self-control, memory, and cognitive flexibility.
But, it is also true that attention skill training is not that easy.
For example, think you are training someone with comparatively weak leg muscles to play football.
At first, the person can not kick the ball properly.
However, by practicing more and more, he will become able to strengthen his leg muscle and easily kick the ball.
Hence, specific ways can gradually boost students’ attention span.
Effective Ways To Enhance Students’ Attention Span
If you’ve ever felt like your students have the attention span of a goldfish, follow these simple steps to ensure the most extended students’ attention span.
Unveil The Mystery Around Attention
Unless students understand the value of attentiveness in class, how can they start working on it?
- So, make sure you explain the advantages of staying attentive in class to students.
- Furthermore, a clear explanation is an effective way to figure out the strength and weaknesses of students in the class.
- In this way, students can immediately initiate working on their attention issues.
The Reason Behind Attention Inconsistency
Every action of students holds a reasonable cause.
When there is a consistent lack of attention among students, then be sure of it; there is a reason behind it.
It is not always a matter of attitude problems or lack of motivation that leads students to inattentiveness. In fact, sometimes, the inconsistent attention springs from a lack of interest in studies.
If it is the leading cause of students’ attention span being shorter, then both teachers and parents should come out of effective lesson plans.
Practical and relevant training methods will bring students’ interest back in studies. Their attention and concentration span will automatically grow.
Consider About Medication
- Medication proves itself as a mind-blowing way to improve attention issues among children and adolescents.
- The medication increases mental awareness. When the mind is constantly alert, students will naturally stay always attentive.
- Additionally, medication on a regular basis boosts students’ concentration in studies and memory as well.
- Furthermore, medication is an elixir for impulsive students. From impulsiveness also, less attentiveness grows.
Improvise Instructional Strategies
- If you wish your students will stay attentive in your class, then at least give them a reason to pay attention to your lectures.
- The conventional way of teaching sometimes brings monotony to the students’ minds.
- Instead of following mundane instructions, teachers can whisk a little creativity and innovation into them.
- Teachers can make changes to their instructional methods n every 15 minutes.
- For example, In the first 15 minutes, teachers share the knowledge with students through lectures. And in the next 15 minutes, teachers may let the students watch a relevant video to clear their doubts. The last 10 minutes will engage the students in exercise or activity.
- In this way, students’ attention span will increase. They will stay attentive in the session from the beginning to the end.
What Is The Source of Your Students’ Interest?
Like the earlier statement, attention is an offshoot of interest.
When the teacher is discussing an interesting topic, students’ attention remains intact.
Hence, if teachers give a little push to students’ interests, attention will undoubtedly get heightened.
Some students’ interest goes with reading, while some prefer to write. Some students show a keen interest in facts and reasons, while many loves to mug up topics in a storytelling manner.
If you identify the students’ interest and nurture it with care, then lack of attention and concentration will remain a distant dream.
Leveraging VR Learning
A Virtual Reality-driven learning ecosystem is the hottest trend running across the education sector.
VR classroom is one of the sure ways to improve your students’ attention span, concentration, and interest in the study.
VR lesson programs can benefit students in many ways:
- Direct involvement in lessons boosts students’ engagement.
- Language barriers will no longer seem to be an issue. The built-in translation will help students to comprehend every word the teacher is saying to them.
- The interactive learning process helps students in enhancing their learning abilities.
- Even after the class, students can reach out to the study material anytime they want.
Implementing Gamification In Learning
Gamified learning is now more than a buzzword.
It is, in fact, a proven way to boost the attention of students.
But, How?
- Gamification in learning makes learning interactive and more entertaining.
- The reward of gamified learning boosts students’ interest in their studies.
- The learners get the scope to go through the real-world applications.
- The gamified lesson plans facilitate the learning process of students.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, it is the most challenging job for a teacher to make every student in the class stay focused and attentive to the lesson.
Whether it is class 7 Science worksheets or class 8 maths worksheets, students must stay focused to enhance their knowledge and skill.
And in that case, teachers must take measures to boost students’ attention span.
Kompanions experts tinker with advanced technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to develop peerless learning programs to boost students’ attention.
To learn more, visit Kompanions.