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The Relationship Between Inattentive
Behaviors of Children and the Amount of Time
Spent in School
Isabelle Lee
IB Psychology HL Y1 (1B)
September 28th, 2009
[1,523 words]
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Abstract:
The aim of this observation was to determine if the frequency of inattentive
behaviors in 3rd grade students is directly affected by the amount of hours spent at
school. We hypothesize that the more hours spent at school, the frequency of
inattentive behavior amongst students will increase. As a group we conducted this
observational study by observing a target population (3rd grade students of 3GH) in
two 35-minute observation sessions. One observation was made in first period, and
the other during last period. We categorized 8 inattentive behaviors and tallied the
number of times it happened during each session. As seen on the coding sheet (see
Appendix B), on average, more inattentive behaviors were present during the
afternoon science class, more so than the morning math class. From the results
derived from the data, it can be concluded that the occurrences of inattentive
behavior increased significantly during the end of the average school day (6 hours).
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Introduction:
By conducting a naturalistic observational study of the inattentiveness of 3rd grade
students, we can determine if the amount of hours spent at school affects a 3rd
grader’s attentive behavior and concentration. Most often, inattentive behavior in
the classroom is overlooked. However, there are reasons to why students often
perform inattentive behavior. It is extremely important for teachers to comprehend
the causes for these behaviors in order to provide maximum education for the
students. “How To Recognize And Counteract Student Inattentiveness In The
Classroom” by Dr. Joseph S.C. Simplicio from the Journal of Instructional
Psychology; Sep2001, Vol. 28 Issue 3 ultimately focuses on strategies that
counteracts the inattentiveness of students in the classroom. The article discusses
how long tediously repetitious school days give students the opportunity to slip into
“drift times” when they “explore their feelings, personal thoughts, and the everyday
experiences that make up their lives”. During which students do not absorb any
teaching material. Simplicio implies that the longer school hours progress, students
have a more frequent tendency to wander into daydreams. These day dreams or
“drift times” are classified as inattentive classroom behavior. Without
acknowledging the concept of “drift times” most often it can be considered
detrimental to student learning.
Method:
Design:
This non-participant naturalistic observation was designed to observe overt
behaviors present in a 3rd grade classroom. As a group we decided to choose a
sampling procedure that pertained to the number of times the target population
performed certain behaviors (inattentive). Event sampling would be the ideal
sampling method because it allowed us to observe inattentive behaviors in 3rd
graders and tally if it occurred more often in the morning or in the afternoon
classes. As a group, we chose two “classroom” subjects, math and science to reduce
extraneous factors that could hinder our data. Furthermore, we also ensured that
our presence would not become a distracting variable by informing the teacher and
discreetly entering the classroom. The data collecting duration was designed around
two 35-minute sessions on the same day, one session around 8:30 in the morning
and the other at 2:30 in the afternoon. The target population was kept constant in
order to maximize data accuracy.
As we got permission from the student’s superior, namely the principle and teacher,
there is no invasion of privacy. There are no apparent ethical issues within the
group’s design as it does not defy the law, nor does it involve physical or
psychological contact with the participants. Ultimately, no harm is being done to the
participants.
Participants:
The target population was 3rd grade students of class 3GH in Shanghai American
School Pudong campus. Characteristics include both female and male genders 8-9
years of age.
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Materials:
Pencil, highlighter, sheets of paper, coding system (see Appendix B), permission
letters (see Appendix A)
Procedure:
I first gained permission from the school principal including the class teacher whose
class I would be observing. I then requested for the class schedule in order to
correlate observation times with the group’s class schedule. Furthermore, the group
and I ensured that the class teacher would not mention our presence. After taking a
look at the 3rd grade class schedule, the group and I decided to observe the class that
had math first in the morning and science last period. The reason why we chose
math and science was not only due to the fact that they were scheduled at perfect
times, but also the two subjects are classified as “classroom” subjects. Therefore, the
similar choice of subjects limited extraneous factors that could affect the accuracy of
our data.
There should be two observers who will observe and record inattentive behaviors
in one of the two sessions. On the 17th of September 2009, the first observer (Tim)
at approximately 8:30am observed the students of 3GH during a math class. He sat
at the back of the class in order to avoid confrontation with the students, to ensure
that his presence would not affect their classroom behavior. As their class started he
observed each behavior that I classified as inattentive. He recorded the 8 different
attentive behaviors (behaviors are noted in the result section), and tallied their
frequencies. At approximately 2:31pm on the same day, I observed 3GH, Mr.
Harder’s afternoon science class. I mimicked Tim’s procedure and began to observe.
Regardless of overall “categorization” I nit-picked every behavior that pertained to
the ‘distractive’ or ‘inattentive’ category. I too wrote down the 8 types of inattentive
behavior, and then each time a behavior occurred I would tally the number of times
it happened during the 35-minute session. In addition, I wrote down the overall
attitude and behavior of the students and other qualitative observations that I
thought were useful. Then finally, I compared my results with that of my group
member (Tim) who observed the target population (3rd graders of 3GH) in the
morning.
Results:
Inattentive Behavior
Playing with objects
Looking around the room
Comical movements
Communication with others
Doodling
Interaction with each other
Making distracting noises
Staring into space
# Of times it happened in AM
9
0
1
2
0
2
1
4
# Of times it happened in PM
7
14
4
3
1
1
1
0
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Figure 1: Non-Attentive Behavior in the Morning and Afternoon
Discussion:
The general age of the participants would be around 8 years of age.
Generally, every table in the classroom had 2 girls and 2 boys and a total of 4 tables.
So the class consisted of around 16 students. The observation situation consisted of
a group member sitting inconspicuously at the back of the class observing the
interactions and inattentive behavior of the students during class while the teacher
is teaching. It should be noted that during the morning math class, the children
learned about addition and subtraction in problem solving. In the afternoon science
class, they learned about sounds and frequencies while studying graphs and
diagrams. The behaviors that I focused on were the 8 different types of inattentive
behavior. Playing with objects, looking around the room, comical movements,
communication with others, doodling, interactions with each other, making
distracting noises, and staring into space.
Analyzing the data derived from the table and graphs presented in the results
section of this report, we can conclude that on average, inattentive behavior
occurred more frequently amongst students in the afternoon class compared to the
morning class. However, certain behaviors are only evident in either the morning or
the afternoon. Inattentive behaviors such as staring into space only occur in the
morning. Perhaps it is due to fatigue and tiredness primarily caused by sleep
deprivation. Doodling and looking around the room are signs of more active,
physical behaviors that were observed only in the afternoon session. Doodling
especially is an example of when children drift away from lessons and express
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personal fantasies or ideas throughout the day on paper/worksheets. Behaviors
such as comical movements, physical interactions with each other, looking around
the room are much more frequent as the day prolongs and reaches its end. These
inattentive behaviors show signs of student anxiety, irritation and urgency to leave
their seats considering it is almost the end of the day. In conclusion, inattentive
behaviors were occurring at a much higher frequency towards the end of the school
day due to tedious long school hours that led to an increase in these behaviors.
According to the article that was earlier mentioned, “How To Recognize And
Counteract Student Inattentiveness In The Classroom” discusses how teachers must
develop their lessons in accordance to the frequency of “drift times” in order to
allow students maximum retention of learning material. Our data in relation to this
research article concludes that long school hours directly affects the learning
capacity of students, as their inattentive behavior may often become a distracting
factor that hinders their absorption of learning material (Simplicio). The
significance of inattentive behaviors ultimately correlates with that of student
learning. Without direct understanding of how the hours spent in school affects
inattentive behaviors, student learning would be diminutive therefore child
development cannot progress (Simplicio). Instructors, who do not acknowledge the
idea that inattentive behavior commonly prohibits development in learning, will
find themselves repeating and re-teaching certain materials to students. Certainly, it
is of the utmost importance that instructors understand the theory of “drift times” in
relation to inattentive behaviors and develop techniques that encourage students to
pay attention.
There were various extraneous variables and factors that could have
manipulated the validity of our data. Although the target population and the
instructor were kept constant throughout both observational sessions, the
environmental factors (rainy weather in the afternoon, sunny morning), gender,
personality, ethnicity and other such factors may have tampered the overall data.
These forms of limitations are ones we cannot control. They are present in any
group of children and in any classroom, unless we somehow specifically eliminate
the factors pertaining to the dynamic characteristics of the children. Moreover, two
different observers were used in two different sessions. Observation techniques and
skills differed, possibly affecting the collection of data accuracy. Our data collection
only pertained to one 3rd grade class in one school; therefore the data isn’t a
complete generalization. If we had observed other 3rd grade classes from different
schools, the data would have been more valid. Moreover, our targeted population
for observation was much too big, (around 16 students), therefore we could not
catch every single behavior of each individual. Despite the limitations, there are
strengths. All data was collected on the same day, eliminating the chances of
different variables on separate days. Furthermore, the target population and the
teachers were always kept the same; even the location of the classroom was kept
constant. Thus, different classroom environment was not a variable that could have
affected how the children performed.
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References
Simplicio, J. (2001, September). How to Recognize and Counteract Student
Inattentiveness in the Classroom. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 28(3),
199. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from Psychology and Behavioral
Sciences Collection database.
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Appendices:
Appendix A. Permission and Request letters
Dear Mr. Harder,
For our year one IB Psychology Y1 assignment, we would like to formally request
your permission for observing the behaviors of your students during your first block
(math) and the last block (science) on September 17th, 2009. Each of these sessions
is 35 minutes each and we request that we are not introduced to the students in any
way. It is strictly for observational purposes only. We have already received an
approval from Mrs. McVean and look forward to conducting our experiment. This is
an observational task we would like to perform in order to collect data on student
inattentive behaviors and how that correlates with school hours for our psychology
reports. We understand the inconvenience it may bring, and thank you for your
cooperation.
Sincerely,
Tim Chen, Isabelle Lee, Andrea Ivarrson
September 15, 2009
Dear Fay,
We are only too pleased to work in collaboration with you and to support the
learning of your students. The administration confirms approval of your project.
Please have your students request permission directly from classroom teachers for
classroom and student observations.
Thank you,
Sacha McVean
Shanghai American School
Elementary Principal
Pudong Campus
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Appendix B. Coding System (Handwritten Tally Sheet)
Note: the change of handwriting marks the 2nd observation session during 3rd grade science class.
(Observation begins at: water bottle)