Finalizing my project – Blog Post #12 D.S.
David S -
Hello everyone! Today I will be finalizing my project and sharing some last details with you.
After finishing my research project it was clear that technology did not have a grave impact on middle school students in science classes. Conversations between students turned out to be the greatest negative distractor in the classroom and this came with some findings.
In my questionnaire, I also asked some questions about possible methods to mitigate the top distractor that was picked between the teachers. Since almost all of the teacher chose conversations between students as the top distractor there were also many free response answers that touched upon this topic. This section aimed to create room for further research, as some of the key people in children’s lives are teachers. Therefore, if teachers can help be part of the solution to distractions in classrooms, then the information they provide can be valuable to shaping and restructuring the curriculum to make it easier for students to learn efficiently in the classroom.
One possibility for further research that teachers mentioned throughout many of their responses can be in controlled conversation. Controlled conversation is where students have break times between their lectures, where they are allowed to talk with their friends. After these times are over, students do not feel the need to talk with their friends during lecture time. Then during the lecture times it is strictly for students listening to the teachers’ lecture and paying attention.
Overall, through statistical and sentiment analysis and with the backing of inter-rater reliability, this study makes certain that there is one major distractor found within classrooms. Talking with friends during lectures turns out to be the most prominent distractor in classrooms, as found through the results of this study. More research can be done to help implement methods for students to alleviate their desire to socialize during class to increase attention spans to lectures while maintaining student morale.
Thank you so much for following this blog series and I hope you all have a great day!