Fortifying Interest in a Distracted World

Interest and focused attention are essential to successful student outcomes.  It follows that the process of capturing and sustaining our students’ interest deserves regular attention.  

These days new ideas and advances are occurring quickly, there are games, social media and news bulletins to distract us. What strategies help students stay engaged in today’s learning environments?

On the surface, modern education environments seem to offer easy opportunities for stimulating learning. Online information and commentary can easily be found that aligns with students’ individual interests and the desirable outcomes.  That should get us close to ideal conditions …

But does access translate to a focus on learning objectives, or does the intended activity get derailed by more alluring content/activities that are also accessible?  Is excessive distraction reducing focused attention spans, taking energy and motivation away from planned learning objectives?  Is the “process” of becoming distracted habit forming, in the same way gambling is habit forming?

Do we discount our own tendency to get distracted by texts, FB, emails, videos, etc, but expect our students to stay focused? 

The evidence is mounting that it’s not enough for us to become familiar with the technology and content our students are consuming. We should expect the down side and make plans to avoid it.

Student achievement has not been rising in tandem with increased access to computers and web browsers. In fact, one National Research Council study found that as many as 40% of students at the High School level are not engaged. Is the situation with early learners as bad, or even worse? What happens when students remain largely unengaged for several years?

It may be unsettling to realize the same access we hope will democratize education, is simultaneously helping students distract themselves away from the desired learning outcomes, wasting time.  But it’s not technology’s fault, is it? Whether our students waste gobs of time depends on the set up.

Like most tools, technology must be used well, or the benefit will be limited, or even counter-productive. A teacher works their magic when selecting the best tools then managing situations and students to ensure time in the classroom is used well.

With strong competition for attention, like texting, a regular review of the requirements for generating student interest is valuable, to develop the best strategy for keeping students’ focus on key outcomes.

The roots of student interest are described in the KQED web site article, “How the Power of Interest Drives Learning”:

1        A seven-year-long study by Judith Harackiewicz showed that interest predicted long term learning outcomes more accurately than students’ initial grades in a course. In general, writes Harackiewicz, “research has found that interest is a more powerful predictor of future choices than prior achievement or demographic variables.”

2        The research of Paul Silvia suggests that to be interesting, material must be novel, complex, and comprehensible.

The first point implies that capturing and maintaining interest are vital to success, and that interest is perhaps the great leveler, as opposed to students’ existing assets.  Educators need to get this right. 

The second point provides plausible explanations for why we’re still challenged on the engagement front these days, in spite of the new tools.

Consider how many visual tools no longer meet the first requirement, novelty. Can a high-res video be novel if a student has seen 1000 already? Most children and youth have spent many hours with cell phones, tablets and game stations interacting with dramatic game sequences, or following social drama in online chat groups. Is there such a thing as ‘novel’ media representation today? The efficacy of visual stimulation in today’s classrooms has dropped. Novelty must be achieved, but can’t be assumed.  

A former electronics instructor colleague once commented that his job had become much more difficult lately. Students joining his program had already witnessed much in the way of electrical phenomena, so when they went onto College, he was challenged to spark their interest with the kinds of demos that previously provided good shock and awe value. The college program presented significant complexity, and a good balance and sequence (comprehensibility), but some students’ interest was limited, and those students had trouble maintaining the self-discipline required to learn the basics of applied physics. The novelty challenge was addressed by devising hands-on projects that allowed students to explore areas they could ‘control’. Flashing lights, spinning motors, snapping capacitors ceased to be the main source of interest, instead control over these elements became the focus.

Factor two, comprehensibility, can be addressed by planning for students to succeed on a regular basis (several successes each class), reassuring students they’re steadily building their skills and knowledge.

Capturing interest early on is a great, but it’s equally important to be able to maintain student interest over time. This speaks to the importance of ‘continued novelty, complexity, comprehensibility’.  

A young child learning to play soccer with classmates will experience a novel challenge. If it seems possible to succeed (comprehensibility) and if they are challenged to play hard and be creative in order to score (complexity) they often stay interested in this activity in the short term.  If one team begins to score too easily, some of the more skilled players must be exchanged, to keep things comprehensible for the weaker team, and complex enough for the stronger team. As the group gets older, players improve, so each child continues to be presented with new challenges. The development of peers naturally supplies novel challenges. With timely ongoing adjustments, most children can be kept engaged in this type of healthy activity for years.  Natural reinforcement of novelty simplifies the process?

Returning to the problem of modern classrooms, it’s important to carefully to pick the rules of the game with a purpose to tap the well of interest indefinitely.

A high school mathematics teacher introduced a classroom of students to trigonometry in grade 10. The complexity was there, and the novelty was enhanced by demonstrating a real-life problem that used trig functions, but comprehensibility was a challenge. Many teachers in this situation will encourage students to memorize the basic characteristics of trig functions, and also to remember “procedures”, namely how to use those functions to solve problems of type a, b, c. But the more successful approach in the long term is to have students draw the unit circle then show students how to derive the trig functions on their own. Developing the unit circle “approach” may take an extra class or two to get all students succeeding, but there are some important advantages.

1.      The novelty doesn’t wear off since students will be challenged to derive the basics again within each problem, that seems like a bit of an adventure (novelty) each time, but it also reinforces comprehensibility. Memorizing is something they’ve already done a lot of, a boring tactic.

2.      Short cutting the comprehensibility by memorizing is counterproductive in part because this memory is typically short term anyway. When their memory of trig equations begins to slide, they forget the procedures, and feel they don’t know anything about trigonometry. Those who learned how to develop the trig functions from the unit circle can always use that basic approach, refreshing their memory, reassuring them that they understand what’s going on.

Interest is vital to success, we need to adhere to the three components of interest by adjusting the way we approach teaching purposefully, keeping long term objectives top of mind. That’s a good start.

Next we need to realize that children and youth today have an understanding of what is a reasonable way to learn - today. They appreciate interactive tools that provide intelligent feedback along the way because it gives them confidence they’re understanding things. When a teacher is explaining things to the slower 20% of the class, and the other 80% of the class is ready to move on, the faster students are losing interest quickly. An ideal solution is to balance the teacher’s delivery with group activity such as self-paced interactive software. Teachers first need to locate and assess potential interactive tools, to make sure they help maintain a high standard for student interest (all three parts).

A technology tool isn’t worth much unless it is a comprehensive program with an exciting initial subject to explore, also offering a deep well of future challenges and a means to listen and acknowledge student understanding at every stage of learning. Software used for a week is just a distraction.

An example of a multi-year blended learning music program used to great advantage in schools is one that engages students in instrumental skill development, starting at Kindergarten, continuing through elementary school and beyond. Ten years ago, few would have thought it possible to bring an entire school of 650 students from novice to advanced intermediate skill level. A modest time and expense requirement makes for a significant advance (20x efficiency).  With this approach a classroom teacher leads the singing / moving to music, introduction of concepts and other traditional group activities. But each week students also use specialized software on a computer connected to a piano keyboard (via USB cable). The software includes animated composer characters at the early levels, and interactive feedback at every stage of skill development. With an approach that balances the best traditional activities with the specialized software, the classroom teacher is successful keeping students engaged for several years in this highly developmental activity.

This coordinated effort helps teachers achieve what has never been possible in a group class before – significant instrumental skill development for every student. Students remain interested from week to week and year to year in reaching the next skill level. In addition to the aesthetic benefits of music, and the way making music helps make special connections, studies show the special process of developing instrumental music skills also increases listening ability, confidence, self-discipline, and boosts rates of learning in math, science, and reading, while increasing general interest in learning.

Let’s not omit an example of long-term reading and composition skill development that all students require. A brilliant young teacher explained how her classes benefit from a growing body of interactive fiction materials that are designed to provide individual feedback at a level not previously possible, focusing on benefits of engagement. The impact of the specialized, comprehensive tools like ‘Oregon Trail’, and ‘Lost Pig’ is significant in terms of sustaining student interest in reading comprehension and written communication. One might conclude that this software is also multiplying the impact of the teacher by providing twenty times the amount of lower level intelligent feedback, instantly, as the student requires it. It does take time to investigate materials, but I’ve given you a good start.

Maintaining interest with this strategy of selecting tools that properly line up successes and challenges over time develops an appetite or an interest in the subject, but also develops an appetite for more successes, which translates into an interest in learning/succeeding in general.

Unfortunately, the above blended learning approach gives some teachers a nervous feeling… perhaps this very capable software will replace them or diminish the importance of what they do?  This software could raise expectations about what the teacher should accomplish, leaving them with less autonomy. Do these trivial concerns compare to what students are facing? HS students have to deal with rapid change and a growing number of options/variables in play.  And when they graduate from College or University, they will need to retrain continuously, presumably with interactive tools. If a teacher hasn’t already embraced and investigated comprehensive, interactive software, it’s not too late.

To those inclined to reject blended learning tools on the whole, in spite of the positive impact they have on interest and education outcomes, you may be putting your students at a significant disadvantage with respect to self-directed learning, which will be most of their future learning.

It’s completely unrealistic to believe that we will avoid the use of technology in education, at any age. The disruption of traditional learning strategies is accelerating, and shows no sign of reversing.  Those who don’t select and use the best tools will not achieve their best outcomes. To all those teachers hoping that families and school districts will ban screen time, you are off track.

I sympathize with the screen time banners, but it is a step too far. My wife and I allowed our children to watch Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Dress up and the Friendly Giant on TV.  We also had a movie night each Saturday night. We vetoed game boxes until the boys were 14+. We didn’t provide cell phones because cell phones have adverse physical consequences.  But computer use with quality educational software was very helpful from an early age, and it’s different from TV or cell. Most people now realize banning screen time is a political / branding decision, one that prevents the up-side.

Screens and related activities are realistically going to be introduced earlier, and the time spent with computers will increase. It is quite realistic however to educate families and school admin on the best way to accomplish the priorities, i.e. to ensure that work with devices is focused on desirable outcomes and the desirable activities are a priority over passive / impulsive use of technology (TV, video consumption, texting). We can convince students at a young age that watching TV or playing video games, and investing time in passive activities will not get them closer to the real interesting part - their ability to control those elements and create on their own. The best way to un-sell a video game is to create a clear path to something more interesting / valuable to invest their energy in.

If we adapt now, learn how to reduce our own impulsive tendency towards distraction, keep cell phones out of the classroom, and redouble our efforts to engage, we will reverse the current trend - a growing number of young students with an increasing education deficit, and a decreasing level of engagement to handicap them further.

Jim Mullen researches effective modern approaches to education for typical and atypical students. Adventus International creates multi-year interactive blended learning solutions for music classrooms.