The 21st century skill students really lack

Daniel Willingham:

Most teachers t think that students today have a problem paying attention. They seem impatient, easily bored.

I've argued that I think it's unlikely that they are incapable of paying attention, but rather that they are quick to deem things not worth the effort.

We might wonder if patience would not come easier to a student who had had the experience of sustaining attention in the face of boredom, and then later finding that patience was rewarded. Arguably, digital immigrants were more likely to have learned this lesson. There were fewer sources of distraction and entertainment, and so we were a bit more likely to hang in there with something a little dull.

I remember on several occasions when I was perhaps ten, being sick at home, watching movies on television that seemed too serious for me--but I watched them because there were only three other TV channels. And I often discovered that these movies (which I would have rejected in favor of game shows) were actually quite interesting.

Students today have so many options that being mildly bored can be successfully avoided most of the time.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 15, 2013 2:18 AM
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