Well, at least I know I'm not the only one...
An article on the PsyBlog takes a look at several studies on the subject and found that people approximately zoned out 5.4 times in a 45 minute period. However, they weren't always aware that they were zoning out (ever read a page and not remember a thing you read?)
So the researchers devised a system to catch these people, and found that minds wandered about 13% of the time while reading. However, what is more disturbing, is that in another experiment, mind wandering occurred in almost half of the participants when they were asked in everyday general life.
How Does It Affect Education?
Well, it doesn't bode well for activities in the classroom, especially with the "need satisfaction immediately" generation we are teaching. If one in two of your students are mind-wandering, or half of your students are zoning out at any given moment, how can you keep students on task?
Some suggestions: keep activities fresh, focus on student-centered learning, and follow up with students about what they just learned.
Do you have any ways to keep students (or yourself) on task? Comment below!
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