Tag Archives: attention

Do Classroom Decorations Distract Students? A Story in 4 Parts… [Reposted]

As we prepare for the upcoming school year, how should we think about decorating our classrooms? Can research give us any pointers? This story, initially posted in March of 2022, paints a helpfully rich research picture. Teacher training programs often



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Do Classroom Decorations Distract Students? A Story in 4 Parts…

Teacher training programs often encourage us to brighten our classrooms with lively, colorful, personal, and uplifting stuff: Inspirational posters. Students’ art work. Anchor charts. Word walls. You know the look. We certainly hope that these decorations invite our students in



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How to Capture Students’ Attention for Online Readings (tl;dr)

When do students focus while reading online? When do they lose focus and let their minds wander? Does the length of the passage being read influence the answer to these questions? Several researchers, including Dr. Noah Forrin, have been exploring this topic,



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The 10-Minute Rule: Is The Lecture Dead?

The “10-minute rule” offers teachers practical guidance. It typically sounds something like this: If students aren’t intrinsically interested in material, they can pay attention to it for no more than 10 minutes. Ergo: teachers should do something different every ten



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outdoor learning advantage

The Best Length of Time for a Class [Repost]

Quite consistently, this post has been among the most searched for and most popular on the blog. Teachers and administrators REALLY want to know: What is the optimal amount of time for our students to meet? What’s the very best



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Where Should Students Study?

My teachers told me to study in the library. What does today’s research say? Continue reading



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“How We Learn”: Wise Teaching Guidance from a Really Brainy Guy

How We Learn, by Stanislas Dehaene, offers a rich and fascinating look at human brains, their ways of learning, and the best ways to teach them. Continue reading



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Should Students Exercise DURING Learning? A Twitter Debate Rages…

Does exercise DURING learning help students? Twitter knows the answer to the question quite confidently. Research on the topic, however, invites us to be both cautious and optimistic. Continue reading



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Does Music Training Help Us Pay Attention?

We can’t improve our students working memory. But, recent research from Chile suggests that music training might benefit one part of our attention system. Continue reading



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Today’s Neuro-Nonsense: Reading Brainwaves in the Classroom

Live EEGs in the classroom just don’t work this way. Continue reading



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