Our vision is to improve the socio-emotional climate in the classroom, fight distractions and boredom in classes by striving for lessons of interest, quality and engagement.
Problem: Loss of instructional time due to off-task behavior is a well-established problem in educational settings, recognized both by researchers (e.g., Baker, 2007; Karweit & Slavin, 1981; Lee et al., 1999) and practitioners (e.g., Lemov, 2010) for over a hundred years (cf. Currie, 1884 as cited in Berliner, 1990). The link between the quality of attention and performance has been demonstrated in the cognitive psychology literature (e.g., Choudhury & Gorman, 2000; Dixon & Salley, 2007; DeMarie-Dreblow & Miller, 1988). It has also been documented that off-task behavior has a negative impact on performance and learning outcomes in school settings (for reviews see Frederick & Walberg, 1980; Goodman, 1990).
Based on the study funded by the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, researchers concluded that roughly 25 percent of an elementary school student’s time in the classroom is spent distracted—not learning. Prior research examining examining the frequency of off-task behavior has estimated that children spend between 10% and 50% of their time off-task in regular education classrooms (Lee et al., 1999; Karweit & Slavin, 1981). Classrooms employing cognitive tutors report similar results with estimates of offtask behavior constituting 15% to 25% of instructional time (e.g., Baker, Corbett, & Koedinger, 2004; Baker, 2007).
Therefore, we intend to introduce a new dimension into teaching activity and classroom environment that would increase students’ engagement, concentration and delight all participants.
Teachers have a big challenge to fight students’ off-task in the classroom. Despite the teachers’ multifunctional skills and knowledge, many of them lack abilities to motivate students and still use old-fashioned methods of teaching. They have a fear of changes in teaching and those who are willing to do some innovations in the class usually have difficulties in finding information sources with good practices.
Activities:
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- Gathering good practices across EU
- Teachers training
- Toolbox for teachers
