The Mindful PhD: Being Fully Present in the Classroom
by Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant Director
A recent study on students’ laptop use in the classroom has brought a lot of attention to the issue of, well, attention in the classroom. As their title indicates, Sana, Weston, and Cepeda (2013) found that “Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers.” In a 45-minute lecture, half the students were given 12 questions easily answered by Google searches and the like (e.g., “What is on Channel 3 tonight at 10 pm?”), simulating the kinds of activities students might do while listening to a lecture. In the comprehension test immediately following the lecture, those who multitasked on their laptops scored 11% lower than those who didn’t, and even more significantly, students not using laptops but in view of one scored 17% lower (p. 27, 29).* More….
Reposted from The Mindfulness PhD blog.
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