Research Proposal
AbstractLack of concentration in class is one of the critical factors that affect students learning in school. The ability to listen to the teacher and maintain an interactive session is essential for the students as it enhances their content and knowledge grasping skills. To understand this concept better, I decided to research how reading ahead before a class would affect my ability to pay attention in class. Numerous writings and researches have shown that the level of paying attention to students, especially with the current curriculums, declines in 15 minutes of commencing a lecture. One factor resulting in such an outcome is the failure to read ahead, and to find out the extent of truth in this claim, I plan to carry out a study involving classmates in collaboration with the lecturer. Among the three groups of 10 students I intend to help in the study, I expect that those who will have knowledge of a particular study or with a prior reading of it allocated by the lecturer will show a high level of paying attention than those will not have prior knowledge.
Keywords
Paying attention, Students, Class/Lecture
Introduction
The ability to pay attention in class for students in class is a matter that every teacher in the 21st century has to deal with. Coincidentally, students too have a hard time paying attention in class, and it can be due to several reasons. The use of phones in class and working on other things not related to the current class are examples of distractions (Weimer, 2014). However, could it be that failing to read ahead of the course also contributes to not paying attention? I want to carry out a study to find out whether if I fail to understand for some classes, how that would affect my concentration in class or whether I need to spend a lot of time reading ahead to avoid not paying attention. Therefore, my research hypothesis seeks to answer the question of whether if students read before a lecture, their attention rate would be higher than those who do not read.
Methods
I intend to do the study in a regular and random classroom. It will be more of a qualitative kind of study whereby I will be seeking to identify, interpret, contextualize, and describe the behavior of students in the class-based of this concept. The study will be carried out anonymously among students but in collaboration with the lecturer to maintain the integrity of the outcome. I intend to use a class of approximately 30 students and divide them into three groups for the study. I will also preferably be part of the study and be part of the class to collect data based on observation.
I intend to have 10 participants in each group whereby, by working closely with a lecturer, we will assign the first group with a chapter to study based on a particular study. The next ten will be advised to prepare for a discussion involving that specific study, and the final group will be left to just come to class according to their regular routine. Being part of the class will help me in the study as I can easily blend in with the other students through participating in the study. The observation process will also be more natural. According to Gerschler (2012), distractions contribute in no small part of students not paying attention in class, and therefore being part of them, I will be able to gain perspective on this finding. The method for choosing the students to various groups will be random to understand the dynamism of concentration among all the students.
Expected Results & Discussion
The format of teaching, according to several consistent findings, does not necessarily influence the ability of a student to pay attention. Hence the format, according to Bradbury (2016), is not the most significant variability in such a study as this. However, Bradbury (2016) asserts that different teachers affect the ability of students to pay attention to. However, my aim, in this case, is to relate the level of concentration in students based on reading or not reading ahead a particular material handed by the teacher to the students, and also for a student not having an idea about the content nevertheless. Students tend to most of the time report fewer lapses in concentration whenever a lecturer is not lecturing but engaging methods such as using in demonstrations, engaging in clicker questions and mobilizing group activities (Bunce et al., 2010, p. 1,442). Having this in mind, I am expecting that the group that had prior knowledge of the study material will give a more positive response in terms of paying attention as compared to those that just came to class on a routine basis. This is because, as Weimer (2014) details, teachers should consider using a variety of instructional approaches to try and improve their students’ level of paying attention in class. Also, having students actively engage in class through giving them prior reading exercises to work on ahead of the class will enable students to encounter the content and formats of a particular study ahead of the class (Weimer, 2014). Therefore, when the class finally resumes, students will be able to contribute through answering questions and engaging the teacher on their perspectives.
For my colleagues who will not have any prior information about the study allocated by the lecturer, different results expected. Kuther (2019) states that one thing that most college and graduate students have in common is reading. The ability to read the material ahead puts the student on edge in terms of grasping the content better. When one reads ahead time, he/she gets into a better place to understand the organization of the lecture (Kuther, 2019). In my study, there are those students who will have a chance to understand the topic before, and those will not. For those who read ahead, according to Kuther (2019), they can determine what questions and gaps to fill when the lecture is delivered. However, for those who do not read beforehand, their focus and attention are likely to be affected as they are not familiar with what questions to answer or ask, depending on that particular class (Kuther, 2019). Research carried out by Bunce et al. (2010) shows that students report a decline in attention during lectures, mainly due to response to distractive activities and objects. Such attention losses vary from zero to one minute, depending on the student and the distraction. However, the same study shows that introduction of pedagogies and demonstrations results in a significant decline in self-reported loss of attention during a lecture (Bunce et al., 2010).
References
Bradbury, N. A. (2016). Attention span during lectures: 8 seconds, 10 minutes, or more? Advances in Physiology Education, 40(4), 509-513. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00109.2016
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(12), 1438-1443. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed100409p
Gerschler, J. J. (2012, September 19). Classroom strategies for maintaining student focus. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326066230_Classroom_Strategies_for_Maintaining_Student_Focus
Kuther, T. (2008, November 2). 6 reasons to read before class. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/reasons-to-read-before-class-1686430
Weimer, M. (2014, January 23). Students and attention: An interesting analysis. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/students-attention-interesting-analysis/