The effect of lecture breaks on student’s attention in the teaching learning process N. V. D. P. Priyadarshani

Background Traditional lectures are still one of the best methods to teach “information” to large amount of student. Lecture method is an economically benefit way to deliver the subject content. But students typically have a 10 to 20 minute attention span as shown in below figure 1. Fig 1 Student’s performance over 60 minutes lecture Source: Preparing To Teach, Gibbs & Habeshaw, pp 26

Objectives The main objectives of this research were, Identifying the types of lecture breaks Identifying how effectively introduce the lecture breaks in a lecture to recover the students’ attention Identifying the effect of lecture breaks on student’s attention in the teaching learning process

Research Design/Materials and Methods Sample group - pre service teachers 51 students were selected randomly in both Sinhala and English medium Data collection was done by using discussions, observations, questionnaires and interviews. For identifying the types of lecture breaks, various articles and books were referred

Cont.…. Applied for the separate lectures and examined the student’s behaviour and their engagement for the corresponding lecture. Finally by giving some questions and getting feed backs related to the corresponding lecture, identified the effect of lecture breaks on student’s attention in the teaching learning process.

Results/ Findings Identified practicable lecture breaks to apply for the lectures, Group activities Pair-group activities Individual activities Incomplete handout Presentations Discussion Questioning Five minutes lecture breaks writing notes

Most effective lecture breaks Five minute lecture break Discussion Pair group activities Not effective lecture breaks Presentations Group activities Individual activities Graph 1 : Effective lecture breaks

All the students are willing to attend morning lectures Effective lecture durations are One hour, One and half hours and Two hours. Graph 2 : Effective lecture hour duration

Most student needs break after one hour Graph 3 : The minimum attention span in a lecture

Conclusion Most preferable and effective lecture break is five minute lecture break Pair group activity is also effective to keep the student’s engagement for the lecture than giving group activity. Doing presentations and group activities were identified as a not effective lecture breaks to keep the student actively. All the students are willing to attend morning lectures and effective lecture duration is One hour. In a lecture it is better to apply any kind of lecture break types after one hour.

References Lecture break, William A. Anderson and Byron Harrison, journal of agronomic education, vol. 14, No. 2, 1985. 2009-08-Lecture Breaks Involve Students.pdf - Adapted from The Teaching Professor, October 2003. adept-qmul-incomplete-handouts-for-lectures.pdf Johnstone, A.H. & Percival F., 1976, ‘Attention Breaks in Lectures’, Education in Chemistry, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 49-50. Effect Of Lecture Breaks On Students Attention.pdf, Dr. L Balbis. Chickering A.W and Gamson Z.F, Seven Principles For Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, Washington Center News, 1987 Gibbs G. & Habeshaw T. , Preparing to teach - An introduction to effective teaching in higher education, 2011 Biggs J. & Tang C. (ed 3) Teaching for Quality Learning at Open University Press, Berkshire, England, and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121–2289, USA, 2007

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