Attention Span of College Students

Attention span of college students
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Attention span of college students
Attention span is the average time in which a person can remain interested in a particular activity. In other words, attention span is the length of time one can spend on a specific activity without being distracted by anything. The ability to maintain focus on a particular task is essential to the achievement of one’s goals and objectives. The length of one’s ability to focus can change during the day and also depends on the task. Whenever one is tired, the capacity to concentrate on a particular activity is shorter. Also, the attention span of a person is also varied when one is disappointed, exhausted or confounded with a task. The attention span is longer for an activity one appreciates and shorter for those they don’t.
According to some psychologists the attention span for a typical student is approximately ten minutes long, and yet the duration of most university classes is fifty to ninety minutes (Richardson, 2010). Some factors like enjoyment, time of the day, emotion and motivation may cause the attention of a student to vary hugely. Most of the realities that teachers confront daily are the one that involves the students’ losing attention in class. Some of the students are observed sleeping, texting, gazing at some point instead of concentrating on the teacher, working on some assignments for another class or even nodding off.
A study was conducted in three different chemistry courses to determine the attention span of students.

The students were given clickers which had three buttons to press every time one lapsed in their attention. Each button indicated lapses in attention at different time intervals. One button indicated attention lapse of a minute or less; the second button indicated lapses for two to three minutes, and the third button indicated lapses for five minutes or more. Every time the students would realize that the attention has wandered they would report. The data collected in the study only showed the time intervals after the lapses have already happened (Bunce, Flens & Neiles, 2010).
The data gathered was analyzed, and it demonstrated that most of the students don’t pay attention continuously for ten to twenty minutes during a lecture. Instead, throughout the lecture period their attention alternated between ever-short cycles of being involved and not being involved. Some students pressed the clickers thirty seconds after the lecture started, followed by more lapses in attention four –and – a half minutes into the lecture. Short lapses of a minute or less were reported more times by most students as compared to medium or longer length lapses. According to the study, when teachers used things like clicker questions, demonstrations and group work most students recorded fewer lapses. The results confirmed that students have a longer attention span and are more focused when they are doing something else apart from listening to the lectures. The research also identifies that students record fewer attention lapses in the lecture period if the lecturer uses clicker questions or demonstrations as compared to classes without pedagogies (Bunce, Flens & Neiles, 2010).
A lot of university courses are based on lectures which imply that a teacher is teaching a class full of students. This kind of lectures result in students lapsing in attention and mostly concentrating on their phones the entire lecture. Based on researches made, it has shown that the approach used by lecturers where they talk the whole lecture without involving the students leads to students lapsing in attention during classes. Teachers with active learning methods result in fewer students’ attention lapses. There have been no certain evidence that indicates that the students’ attention span in a lecture is ten to fifteen minutes. But according to those studies, the attention of a student in a lecture declines from the beginning to the end (Wilson & Korn, 2007). When students are involved in classes, it increases their attention span and forces them to be more attentive during lectures. The two standard methods used to keep the students active in class are questions and demonstrations in throughout the lecture period.
A study conducted where students used two clickers to answer problems in class. One clicker to respond to the questions and the second clicker to indicate lapses in attention. The study stated that there were fewer lapses in concentration in active learning as compared to the lapses that occurred during lectures. Active learning is beneficial to students since if engages their attention during the class period. Lectures have contributed to students’ attention lapses in class. The active learning approach is advantageous to institutions and students. Based on the studies made in several types of research, lectures should use various educational methods to maximize students’ attention span. Activities such as questions, group work, and demonstrations actively engage students in the class. These activities make it easier for students to avoid attention lapses in classes since they are involved in the lecture (Weimer, 2014).
In conclusion, attention span is the average time in which a person can remain interested in a particular task. The length of one’s ability to concentrate can change during the day and also depends on the work being done. Whenever one is tired, the capacity to concentrate on a particular activity is shorter and also when one is disappointed, exhausted or confounded with a task. In other words, the attention span of a person is longer for an activity one appreciates and shorter for those they don’t. Several studies have been undertaken to determine the attention span of a college student, and according to some psychologists the attention span for a typical student is approximately ten to fifteen minutes long, and yet the duration of most university classes is fifty to ninety minutes.
The studies also indicate that the attention of a student in a lecture declines from the beginning to the end. Other studies have been taken to help identify ways in which the attention span for a college student can be improved. The studies showed that the concentration span for a student is higher in classes where the teacher involves the students. Active learning is beneficial to students since if engages their attention during the class period. A study conducted stated that there were fewer lapses in concentration in active learning as compared to the lapses that occurred during lectures. Based on the studies made in several types of research, lectures should use various educational approaches to maximize students’ attention span. Activities such as questions, group work, and demonstrations actively engage students in the class. These activities make it easier for students to avoid attention lapses in classes since they are involved in the lecture.
References
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.
Richardson, H. (2010). Students only have a’10-minute attention span.’. BBC Mobile News.
Weimer, M. (2014). Students and Attention: An Interesting Analysis. Retrieved December 02, 2016, from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/students-attention-interesting-analysis/
Wilson, K., & Korn, J. H. (2007). Attention during lectures: Beyond ten minutes. Teaching of Psychology, 34(2), 85-89.