Dealing with the 12-15 minute adult attention span
The course states, "The average attention span of an adult is 12 to 15 minutes and the retention starts to drop off dramatically after 8 minutes". I teach technology courses and often use the 3-5 second pause in the classroom to refocus the students - even though it can be awkward. Besides using short periods of silence what are some other methods to refocus the students?
Dawn,
the standing up & moving around to discuss (if you have the space for it) is a great way to break up the "monotony" of a longer lecture.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I frequently have physical therapy students stand up and move about the room to feel or perform some task related to the topic.
Sometimes it is just "I know this topic is dry but we really need to understand it because _____. Everyone stand up, find a partner, and give a 10 second shoulder massage." Then I pose a question related to the topic for group discussion.
Juvenal,
I have found breaking up the lecture with some quick, mini-discussions, often in pairs can be very helpful.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
The “12 -15 minutes adult attention†attract me. I learned that I needed to deliver the material but in small pieces and to alternate the delivery method such as lecture, hands-on, discussion, etc. Using this technique keeps students focus and at the same time embraces student's learning styles.
Robert,
this is a great use of the brief pauses that we can & should build into our lectures.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I feel that you want to gauge understanding and clarity, Stop and start a discussion on what you briefly lectured on and start to build a bridge to the next area of concentration, then review key terms and concepts at least three times
Collin,
hmm, not sure I'd call mine a "master example" but I have a couple of thoughts. Generally I like to pull a question that has to deal with the subject at hand. For instance, I teach communication courses & if I'm teaching a section on the importance of really listening to someone else, I might throw out the question: "find someone in the class & tell them about a time when you really felt like you were listened to & heard." This is just an example.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Can you give an example of a question you would give for this mini-discussion? I have ideas but I'd love to work with a "master example"!
Acie,
these are both great strategies to helping the students keep focused & retain the material.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I try to keep the lecture time to about 15 minutes then have some class activity, have a discussion, or use images as reinforcement to the subject at hand. Some topics are hard to break down into these small chunks, like technology, so in that case I tend to slow my delivery down a bit. I also like to take a 10 minute break after about 50 minutes of class time.
Martha,
this is a great idea, it helps them learn the material & also breaks things up.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I usually lecture, demo and then provide students with time for some hands on exercises. These different activities provide a little bit longer attention spans. The repetition of the material covered in the different ways provides students an opportunity to pick up the material if they happened to tune me out.
I will try this!! I also give a 10 min.break after every 50 min.
Vance,
Short spurts of "lecturing" & then having 2-3 minute "mini-discussions" in pairs is a little technique I picked up & found it works real well.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
