Essay On Distraction In The Classroom

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Distraction in the classroom obstructs student learning. This is because distraction directly causes students to multitask. Rather than being able to focus on an individual task, distractions continuously compete for students’ attention and cause attention to be diverted to multiple tasks at once. This is a problem because we all have limited resources to process and store information. When we attempt to process multiple tasks at once, information processing becomes fragmented and the performance on each task decreases. In educational research on the topic, researchers have found that multitasking reduces the quality of cognitive work while also hampering the creation of long term memory (promoting, instead, the prevalence of learning material the day before the test and forgetting immediately after). Distraction is nothing new. Students passed notes, talked to each other, stared out the window, and generally faced distraction ever since schools existed. Sometimes, this is a result of students lack of interest in the material. After all, many students go to school against their will and even for those choosing school there will always be…show more content…
In response to the ever changing technology environment, both types of policies have been attempted at state and local levels. When schools are mandated to implement technology, teachers are forced to deal with the distractions these add. Conversely, banning the use of various websites and technological tools takes away some of the benefits of technology in the classroom (group work, looking up information, youtube videos to help with math, etc.). Moreover, technology may be more beneficial for some classrooms and students than others (depending on age, history with technology, etc.).Thus, instead of these broad policies, schools and teachers should be allowed the autonomy to use technology as they see
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