Abstract
Activities that are effective in supporting attention have the potential to increase opportunities for student learning. However, little is known about the impact of instructional contexts on student attention, in part due to limitations in our ability to measure attention in the classroom, typically based on behavioral observation and self-reports. To address this issue, we used portable electroencephalography (EEG) measurements of neural oscillations to evaluate the effects of learning context on student attention. The results suggest that attention, as indexed by lower alpha power as well as higher beta and gamma power, is stronger during student-initiated activities than teacher-initiated activities. EEG data revealed different patterns in student attention as compared to standardized coding of attentional behaviors. We conclude that EEG signals offer a powerful tool for understanding differences in student cognitive states as a function of classroom instruction that are unobservable from behavior alone.
Highlights
Online measures of student attention have long been of interest to educators seeking to promote student learning[1,2]
Planned contrasts revealed that alpha power was significantly higher, consistent with lower student attention, in teacher-initiated activities than in student-initiated activities, b = −0.43, t (55) = −6.32, p < 0.001, r = 0.65
We examined this claim by comparing alpha power across activities for the 2 min at the start versus the end of each 10 min-activity
Summary
Online measures of student attention have long been of interest to educators seeking to promote student learning[1,2]. Field studies of attention in the real-world setting of the classroom are limited. Methods commonly employed to assess attention during learning— including self-report[6,7,8], behavioral observation[1,9], and assessment of learning-related activities and outcomes10—are each indirect and cannot pick up the dynamic changes in student engagement. As a result, these tools are limited in the extent to which they capture individual differences and fluctuations in attention during instruction[11]. There exists a need, for new methodology for objective real-time assessment of attention in the classroom setting
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
