The last topic that I will be researching is how students grades and mental health can change weather you have more or less breaks during the school day. To start I will talk about how if students are just learning for hours at a time it is not good for your brain. It can give you something called direct attention fatigue, or DAF. DAF can decreased vigilance, increased errors, and a general decline in cognitive efficiency. so if your sitting in a class developing DAF it could lead to your mental health not being great because of any of the reasons that I listed above. If students were given even short breaks during the day they would get something called attention restoration theory, or ART. This theory was created by Kaplan, and shows that if students are given those short breaks more consistently, then they would be able to restore their cognitive efficiency and be able to learn better witch would lead to better mental health.(1) Another thing to add on is the physical health side. If your sitting in one position for hours at a time then you will get back pain or your eyes might hurt from looking at screens for too long. but, if you get those breaks to move stretch and play the your body will physically feel better. And when you feel good it will make you happier and help with your mental health. (2)
As for the grades side of it research has shown that it is actually more effective to take 10 minute brain breaks than to have 30 minutes of time off. The reason for this is because studies have shown that during this time students brains are able to process all the information that they were just given, so they could do better at skills like reading comprehension and more. (3) Some other studies have shown that taking short breaks during the school day can help students be more engaged an ready to learn when they are learning. Witch will then lead to the students getting better grades because they are actually learning the information given to them.(4) Although the longer lunch breaks can also be good for students. Students still need to have time to be able to eat there lunch canmly, and not in a rush and still have time to go out and play/ socialise with their friends. Witch then brings it back to the mental health aspect where they would be happier to be at school and to learn. (5)
1- Why should students have breaks during the school day? – California Learning Resource Network
2- Why Taking Breaks is Important for Students – Through Education
3-The Power of Breaks in School – Penn State PRO Wellness
5-The Psychology Behind Short School Lunch Breaks: Impact on Children’s Development
Hi Nicola! I really enjoyed reading your post, and I think you picked a fantastic topic. I can tell that you did a lot of research on your topic and put a lot of thought into this blog post. I think it would help if you came to a conclusion about how students feel about more breaks rather than a longer break, because I feel that some students wouldn’t like many short breaks, while others might. Overall, this post was an interesting topic, and I definitely learned a lot.
Hello Nicola,
I thought your blog post was really well explained and a captivating read. I enjoy how you explained topics that can be complicated in a simple and straight-forward manner. In addition, your photos really helped explain what you were trying to communicate. I think that when you are making your presentation of learning, it would also be helpful to include some diagrams or statistics to strengthen your explanations. Even more, in your presentation, your opinion would add a lot of value, such as how you work when given breaks in a classroom versus in a class without breaks.
Great job!
– Ariana
Hi Nicole, your blog is awesome. Firstly, it outlines the significance of breaks after lessons among students. Not only that but also it explains how lack of breaks may interfere with the mental health of students. At the same time, it highlights the need to give student ample time before proceeding with their lesson I therefore wait to learn more from you. Lastly, you may visit the following page for more info.
http://www.historytools.org/school/how-long-are-high-school-classes-an-in-depth-look.