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The Resource Distracted : why students can't focus and what you can do about it, James M. Lang

Distracted : why students can't focus and what you can do about it, James M. Lang

Creator
Author
Summary
"A decade ago, James Lang banned cell phones in his classroom. Frustrated by how easily they could sidetrack his students, Lang sought out a distraction-free environment, hoping it would help his students pay attention to his lessons. But after just a few years, Lang gave in. Not only was his no-cellphones policy ineffective (even his best students ignored it), he realized that he, like many of his fellow teachers, was missing an important point. The problem isn't phones. It's our antiquated notions of the brain. In Distracted, Lang makes the case for a new way of thinking about how to teach young minds based on the emerging neuroscience of attention. Although we have long prized the ability to focus, the most natural way of thinking is distraction. Our brains are designed to continually scan our environment, looking for new information, occasionally wandering off in different directions in search of new insights. This is not to say that iPhones are not good at distracting us, but that what they represent is in principle nothing new, because sustained periods of intense focus are not what humans are good at. Of course, we still do need to pay attention to learn. The problem is that we think of learning as a matter of managing distraction, when we should instead think of it as actively cultivating attention. This starts with letting go of technology bans, which are little more than a fig leaf applied to the objective difficulty of paying attention. But it involves more active ways of rethinking classroom conventions too. For example, rather than structuring lessons as 45 or 60-minute blocks of lecturing, teachers could segment their classes into a series of smaller lessons, with regular shifts in focus, appealing to the brain's interest in novelty. Simple changes can drastically improve students' performance, and in Distracted, Lang takes readers on a sprawling tour of how some of America's best teachers are improving student performance using concepts such as modular classrooms, flow states, and student-directed learning. Together, these insights offer a new way of thinking about how to not only more effectively teach a lesson plan, but to teach students the most important lesson of all: how to learn"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xiv, 284 pages
Isbn
9781541699809
Instance
Label
Distracted : why students can't focus and what you can do about it
Title
Distracted
Title remainder
why students can't focus and what you can do about it
Statement of responsibility
James M. Lang
Creator
Author
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
"A decade ago, James Lang banned cell phones in his classroom. Frustrated by how easily they could sidetrack his students, Lang sought out a distraction-free environment, hoping it would help his students pay attention to his lessons. But after just a few years, Lang gave in. Not only was his no-cellphones policy ineffective (even his best students ignored it), he realized that he, like many of his fellow teachers, was missing an important point. The problem isn't phones. It's our antiquated notions of the brain. In Distracted, Lang makes the case for a new way of thinking about how to teach young minds based on the emerging neuroscience of attention. Although we have long prized the ability to focus, the most natural way of thinking is distraction. Our brains are designed to continually scan our environment, looking for new information, occasionally wandering off in different directions in search of new insights. This is not to say that iPhones are not good at distracting us, but that what they represent is in principle nothing new, because sustained periods of intense focus are not what humans are good at. Of course, we still do need to pay attention to learn. The problem is that we think of learning as a matter of managing distraction, when we should instead think of it as actively cultivating attention. This starts with letting go of technology bans, which are little more than a fig leaf applied to the objective difficulty of paying attention. But it involves more active ways of rethinking classroom conventions too. For example, rather than structuring lessons as 45 or 60-minute blocks of lecturing, teachers could segment their classes into a series of smaller lessons, with regular shifts in focus, appealing to the brain's interest in novelty. Simple changes can drastically improve students' performance, and in Distracted, Lang takes readers on a sprawling tour of how some of America's best teachers are improving student performance using concepts such as modular classrooms, flow states, and student-directed learning. Together, these insights offer a new way of thinking about how to not only more effectively teach a lesson plan, but to teach students the most important lesson of all: how to learn"--
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Lang, James M
Dewey number
370.15/4
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Motivation in education
  • Attention in adolescence
  • Interest (Psychology)
  • Effective teaching
  • Classroom environment
  • Active learning
  • Problem-based learning
  • Student participation in curriculum planning
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • EDUCATION / General
  • Active learning
  • Attention in adolescence
  • Classroom environment
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Effective teaching
  • Interest (Psychology)
  • Motivation in education
  • Problem-based learning
  • Student participation in curriculum planning
Target audience
adult
Label
Distracted : why students can't focus and what you can do about it, James M. Lang
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-267) and index
Control code
on1143651850
Dimensions
25 cm.
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xiv, 284 pages
Isbn
9781541699809
Lccn
2020015825
System control number
(OCoLC)1143651850
Label
Distracted : why students can't focus and what you can do about it, James M. Lang
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-267) and index
Control code
on1143651850
Dimensions
25 cm.
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xiv, 284 pages
Isbn
9781541699809
Lccn
2020015825
System control number
(OCoLC)1143651850

Subject

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