Attention span is something that troubles young students each and everyday. There have been high levels of distraction amongst school age children that make it difficult for children to concentrate. With that being said, there is a large number of decreasing scores on exams, as well as social interaction with children. This prohibits a problem with children to achieve to the next level of their education.

With assessments and testing, there can be ways created to eliminate such a gap between learning and functioning to learn. A lot of tests focus on memorization of different items to memory. Testing a child at a young age can gradually show where and when they have difficulty grasping such educational tasks. Through memory, location, and time with sound, these distractions can show learning disabilities within children. The experiments that are shown in this exercise show different cognitive tasks measured to demonstrate how memory plays a crucial role in attention span.

Methods:

This experiment was with children of school age. Samples from this population were children that attended grade school.The groups were assigned as children who appeared to have great communication and motor skills, as opposed to children who exhibited developmental skills in language and communication. All subjects who attended a public school were included. Children who did not speak or comprehend instructions in English were excluded from the study. Average range of students were from 6-15, females only for this study, who have good educational backgrounds. All the females were from different ethnicity backgrounds. Children were given passes to not have to hand in homework as an incentive for participating in the study.

Apparatus and Procedure:

With the 1st experiment, the beginning of the experiment has a bunch of household items that I have placed on a table. The object of the game is to see how many items could the kids remember and the names of the items. I first did this without the tv on.The items were shown to the children for a total of 15 seconds. They were each of them a piece of paper and a pen. They were asked to turn around and asked them to write down the number of items they saw on the table, as well as the names of the items they remembered. They were given only 10 seconds to write as many down as they could. The second time, the children had to leave the room. The same 10 items were put back on the table and moved around, not in the same location that they were first in. The children were brought back in the room, not facing the items at first. Before they were asked them to do the experiment again, the tv was turned on and the volume loud enough so it could become a distraction. They were given only 10 seconds to look at the items again with the tv on. Their answers were written down how many they got correct as well as how many they named. With the second experiment, the facilitator asks the participants to sit at a table. The participants are given a pen and paper which shows 10 lines, which is the 10 trials. Each trial starts with a number sequence. The numbers start with (3) numbers and continue throughout each trial until (10) numbers is reached. The first 2 trials are with (3) numbers, the next 2 trials are with (4) numbers, then 5-10 for the next 6 trials. This is done with complete silence. With the second phase, the same rules apply but there is music being played in the background. The participants are given another sheet of paper to complete the same 10 trials. The responses are recorded for both phases to see how many numbers they received right during both phases. For the third experiment, for the first phase of the experiment, there were only 14 pairs used. Pairs were all Aces, all Two’s, all Three’s, all Fours, all Fives, all Sixes, and all Sevens, totalling 28 cards, 14 pairs. With the first phase, the cards were shuffled. The object of the game is to pick the red pair with the red number, black pair with the black number. For example, if you picked the Ace of spade, you would have to match that with the ace of club. If you matched the ace of spade with the ace of diamonds, you would put both down and have the other participant go as you did not get them the same. When the participant did get the pairs the same, you would pick up the pair and put it on the side and then that participant would go again. The object of the game is to get the most pairs correctly. With the second phase, it is a little bit more tricky. A condition of time was assigned with the experiment. With this experiment, what was measured of the participant can accurately get pairs faster when the participants  were under pressure with time than when they were not. Same conditions apply from the first stage, but the added condition was the time. The time that was added was after they played the first round. It took both participants 8 minutes to play the first round. Therefore, they were told at the beginning of the second phase that they only had 5 minutes to get the most pairs. Data was collected the same as the first phase, with counting how many each participant received correctly with the allowed time.

Results:

For the first experiment with the tv off, my 14 year old daughter got 7 items correct and named them all correctly, but said there were only 9 items on the table.. My 11 year old daughter got 8 items correct and named 10 on the table. For the 2nd experiment, my 14 year old only got 5 items on the table correct and stated there were only 8 items there. My 11 year old got 6 items correct from the table and said there were 8 items in total.. It would be safe to say that the tv was a distraction to them, and they did not keep their attention to get all items correct. Second experiment: The first phase results for both participants varied. With participant #1, the 14 year old, the trials up to the sixth trial were correct. After the sixth trial, the numbers were not in sequence. With participant #2, the 11 year old, the trials were correct only up to the fourth trial. After the 4th trial, they were incorrect. Numbers were starting to be misplaced from what was heard. In the second phase with the music playing in the background, with participant #1, only three trials were correct, With participant #2, four trials were correct. With the first stage that took roughly 8 minutes to complete, participant (1) who is 11 years old got 12 pairs correct. Participant (2) who is 14 years old got 16 pairs correct. With the second phase, only at 5 minutes to complete, participant (1) got 7 pairs correct, while participant (2) got 8 pairs correct.

Discussion:

Being distracted can hinder a person’s ability to stay focused, remember things in sequence for exactly what they are, and recall things to retain memory. With the different experiments conducted, a simple noise distraction can hinder memory with a person. When time is a factor and time is running out, it also has a person panic to not remember what is being shown to them. This experiment was used with a teenager and a preteen to show how distractions can cause problems with concentration with school aged children. When children are developing study habits, they tend to get distracted from outside noise and time constraints. Solving the problem with distraction, memory, and concentration is relevant with school aged children to better help students retain information necessary for learning. Music, time, and other outside sources such as electronic devices that encompass these items are an increasingly growing issue with teenagers and preteens. Academics are being affected by this, this scores are dropping because children are having a hard time holding information.

Attention span is something that troubles young students each and everyday. There have been high levels of distraction amongst school age children that make it difficult for children to concentrate. With that being said, there is a large number of decreasing scores on exams, as well as social interaction with children. This prohibits a problem with children to achieve to the next level of their education.

With assessments and testing, there can be ways created to eliminate such a gap between learning and functioning to learn. A lot of tests focus on memorization of different items to memory. Testing a child at a young age can gradually show where and when they have difficulty grasping such educational tasks. Through memory, location, and time with sound, these distractions can show learning disabilities within children. The experiments that are shown in this exercise show different cognitive tasks measured to demonstrate how memory plays a crucial role in attention span.

Methods: This experiment was with children of school age. Samples from this population were children that attended grade school.The groups were assigned as children who appeared to have great communication and motor skills, as opposed to children who exhibited developmental skills in language and communication. All subjects who attended a public school were included. Children who did not speak or comprehend instructions in English were excluded from the study. Average range of students were from 6-15, females only for this study, who have good educational backgrounds. All the females were from different ethnicity backgrounds. Children were given passes to not have to hand in homework as an incentive for participating in the study.

Apparatus and Procedure: With the 1st experiment, the beginning of the experiment has a bunch of household items that I have placed on a table. The object of the game is to see how many items could the kids remember and the names of the items. I first did this without the tv on.The items were shown to the children for a total of 15 seconds. They were each of them a piece of paper and a pen. They were asked to turn around and asked them to write down the number of items they saw on the table, as well as the names of the items they remembered. They were given only 10 seconds to write as many down as they could. The second time, the children had to leave the room. The same 10 items were put back on the table and moved around, not in the same location that they were first in. The children were brought back in the room, not facing the items at first. Before they were asked them to do the experiment again, the tv was turned on and the volume loud enough so it could become a distraction. They were given only 10 seconds to look at the items again with the tv on. Their answers were written down how many they got correct as well as how many they named. With the second experiment, the facilitator asks the participants to sit at a table. The participants are given a pen and paper which shows 10 lines, which is the 10 trials. Each trial starts with a number sequence. The numbers start with (3) numbers and continue throughout each trial until (10) numbers is reached. The first 2 trials are with (3) numbers, the next 2 trials are with (4) numbers, then 5-10 for the next 6 trials. This is done with complete silence. With the second phase, the same rules apply but there is music being played in the background. The participants are given another sheet of paper to complete the same 10 trials. The responses are recorded for both phases to see how many numbers they received right during both phases. For the third experiment, for the first phase of the experiment, there were only 14 pairs used. Pairs were all Aces, all Two’s, all Three’s, all Fours, all Fives, all Sixes, and all Sevens, totalling 28 cards, 14 pairs. With the first phase, the cards were shuffled. The object of the game is to pick the red pair with the red number, black pair with the black number. For example, if you picked the Ace of spade, you would have to match that with the ace of club. If you matched the ace of spade with the ace of diamonds, you would put both down and have the other participant go as you did not get them the same. When the participant did get the pairs the same, you would pick up the pair and put it on the side and then that participant would go again. The object of the game is to get the most pairs correctly. With the second phase, it is a little bit more tricky. A condition of time was assigned with the experiment. With this experiment, what was measured of the participant can accurately get pairs faster when the participants  were under pressure with time than when they were not. Same conditions apply from the first stage, but the added condition was the time. The time that was added was after they played the first round. It took both participants 8 minutes to play the first round. Therefore, they were told at the beginning of the second phase that they only had 5 minutes to get the most pairs. Data was collected the same as the first phase, with counting how many each participant received correctly with the allowed time.

Results: For the first experiment with the tv off, my 14 year old daughter got 7 items correct and named them all correctly, but said there were only 9 items on the table.. My 11 year old daughter got 8 items correct and named 10 on the table. For the 2nd experiment, my 14 year old only got 5 items on the table correct and stated there were only 8 items there. My 11 year old got 6 items correct from the table and said there were 8 items in total.. It would be safe to say that the tv was a distraction to them, and they did not keep their attention to get all items correct. Second experiment: The first phase results for both participants varied. With participant #1, the 14 year old, the trials up to the sixth trial were correct. After the sixth trial, the numbers were not in sequence. With participant #2, the 11 year old, the trials were correct only up to the fourth trial. After the 4th trial, they were incorrect. Numbers were starting to be misplaced from what was heard. In the second phase with the music playing in the background, with participant #1, only three trials were correct, With participant #2, four trials were correct. With the first stage that took roughly 8 minutes to complete, participant (1) who is 11 years old got 12 pairs correct. Participant (2) who is 14 years old got 16 pairs correct. With the second phase, only at 5 minutes to complete, participant (1) got 7 pairs correct, while participant (2) got 8 pairs correct.

Being distracted can hinder a person’s ability to stay focused, remember things in sequence for exactly what they are, and recall things to retain memory. With the different experiments conducted, a simple noise distraction can hinder memory with a person. When time is a factor and time is running out, it also has a person panic to not remember what is being shown to them. This experiment was used with a teenager and a preteen to show how distractions can cause problems with concentration with school aged children. When children are developing study habits, they tend to get distracted from outside noise and time constraints. Solving the problem with distraction, memory, and concentration is relevant with school aged children to better help students retain information necessary for learning. Music, time, and other outside sources such as electronic devices that encompass these items are an increasingly growing issue with teenagers and preteens. Academics are being affected by this, this scores are dropping because children are having a hard time holding information.

Being distracted can hinder a person’s ability to stay focused, remember things in sequence for exactly what they are, and recall things to retain memory. This can be a factor when trying to identify if a child is having a learning disability. With the different experiments conducted, a simple noise distraction can hinder memory with a person. When time is a factor and time is running out, it also has a person panic to not remember what is being shown to them. This experiment was used with a teenager and a preteen to show how distractions can cause problems with concentration with school aged children. When children are developing study habits, they tend to get distracted from outside noise and time constraints. Solving the problem with distraction, memory, and concentration is relevant with school aged children to better help students retain information necessary for learning. Music, time, and other outside sources such as electronic devices that encompass these items are an increasingly growing issue with teenagers and preteens. Academics are being affected by this, this scores are dropping because children are having a hard time holding information. 

This experiment is relatable to other studies in the field as it pertains to the growing of cognitive maps in children to try and remember different schemas as part of learning. One problem with this study is that there were only two participants readily available to perform the study, With more participants we can see a stronger correlation between memory loss with distraction. Different experiments in the future with the two participants can be used to determine an in depth look for a learning disability such as an IRB questionnaire, mood experiments, and recalling past experiences with testing.

Attention Getter

The object of the game Attention Getter is to see if students can recall certain items that were shown to them in two separate scenarios.

This experiment was done on my two daughters, ages 14 and 11. There were 10 household items picked that were easily identifiable to both children. In the first setting, the children were placed in a dining room without any distractions. Each child was given a pen and paper. The children were told that they were going to look at some items placed on the dining room table and they would have to write down how many items there were on the table, as well as what the item names were. Both children were given 15 seconds look the items. They were asked to turn around and write down how many items they saw and the names of each item they can recall. In the second setting, the children left the room. The same 10 items were placed back on the dining room table, but in different order. The children were given another pen and paper. In this setting, the tv was placed on with a television show that they know best, considerably loud to the ears. They were given the same instructions as the first setting. Only difference is they were only given 10 seconds to look at the items, with the television playing at a loud sound in the back ground. The children were asked to turn around and write down again how many items were on the table, and write down how many items they can name. The information was measured for inaccuracy with the items numbered and named.

Results:

Attention span is an issue that not only involves children, but also adults. This can occur while excessively playing video games. My thesis will show a correlation to how excessive video game playing can lead to a decrease in attention span within students of all ages. Excessive video game playing can hinder a child’s attention and can create social and behavioral problems within students who do or cannot communicate with their peers. This is essential in the process towards my goal settings as I want to become a mental health counselor. While understanding how a person’s attention can be altered while playing video games excessively, this can give me the tools and understanding with future clients suffering with a mental disorder that can include attention deficiency.

Thesis: Can the excessive amount of video game playing decrease a student’s attention span?

Hello everyone!

My name is Jessica Tavarez. I played a game called At-Risk by Kognito Interactive. The URL for this game is https://demos.kognito.com/courses/atrisk-us-demo/launch.html.

The learning objective of this game is to helping players to identify an individual who is under distress, with attempts on helping them engage in conversation about their issues. These individuals are from a high school or college based age. The beginning of the game has an introduction with a virtual narrator whom explains what the game is about and asks questions about people you might know that fit into a category of feeling certain ways: depressed, anxiety, thoughts of suicide, etc.  After the brief introduction you are then taken to through a scenario where you have a friend that you must interact with to help then discuss what is bothering them. There are preset questions and statements that you are able to choose to interact with this person. When there is a question or statement that has you go off course and not speak about the issue in itself with your friend, the narrator steps in and gives advice on how you can stay on tract with engaging with the character to identify the issue and help the character speak upon it. At the end of the simulation the game gives a number where you can call if you know someone who is in distress or feeling depressed, anxiety, etc.

I think this interactive game is a great for anyone. For myself who is studying mental illness, I connected with this game immediately because I have studied how to identify certain attributes within individuals who are suffering from an illness or disorder. But you do not need to be studying mental illness to connect with this game. There might be people in your own personal life that you know who are having a difficult time dealing with everyday activities, and their behaviors and attitudes might not be their norm. This game gives insight to any person who might know of a person who acts a certain way and help them to try and engage in conversation with them to open up about their problems. The only downfall about this game that I do not like is how they cut the simulation short, and you do not actually find out what is bothering the person. In retrospect, people can be going through a number if issues at the same time, and it can be a while before everything comes out. So for that aspect I can understand why it is not that long. People are in therapy for a long time and it can take a psychologist time to find out the root of a problem,or you might have a friend that has a hard time expressing their feelings to you. Either way, this game gives a one-on-one simulation on how you can approach someone going through situations that they themselves might not understand, and help guide you onto how to present the situation without being overbearing.