Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III
ARAYAT HOLY CHILD EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC.
Poblacion, Arayat, Pampanga
Senior High School Department
S.Y. 2022-2023

Hocus.. Pocus.. Time to Focus!: Myth and Mystery of Shrinking Attention Span

A Triangular Approach
Presented to the Senior High School Department
of Arayat Holy Child Educational Foundation Inc.

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in

Practical Research II

De Silva, Ken Andrei M.

Guevarra, Allaine Russel S.
Guiao, Josh Earl P.
Macapagal, Rhyline A.
Pecson, Janarie Khen G.

12 STEM 2

Ms. Jeanina Joy Delos Reyes

Research Adviser
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CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Almost all teachers ask their students to pay their full attention to the lessons

being explained. Teachers assert that paying close attention to everything they say will

help students understand the lessons and concepts more thoroughly and will save them

time when it comes time to review what they have learned. This fact is typically imparted

to students by teachers who are unaware of its accuracy or validity. Teachers "...know

intuitively that they need to harness attention for learning," according to Dean (2006)

(p.22). However, a psychological perspective can be used to explain such an idea.

Attention is a major component of learning. It has been suggested that attention

aids the learning process because attending to lessons has a huge impact on students'

immediate response (Kruschke, 2000). Selective attention is said to be the most

significant aspect in learning because it helps students to focus only on what is

important (Kruschke, 2000). However, students may be faced with many distractions

that prevent them from learning effectively, such as the setting of the classroom, the

school environment, noises from both inside and outside the classroom, and the

teacher's voice and method of teaching which can eventually lead to short-attention

span. There are also some medical reasons for inattention such as ADHD, physical

weaknesses that lead to inattention, and shallow breathing and oxygen deprivation

(Super & Optom, 2005).

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It’s no surprise attention spans have been decreasing over the past decade with

the increase in external stimulation. Attention training is said to be part of education,

particularly in the way students are trained to remain focused on a topic of observation or

discussion for extended periods, developing listening and analytical skills in the process.

Most educators and psychologists agree that the ability to focus attention on a task is

crucial part for the achievement of one’s goals.

“How long should students be expected to pay attention during lessons?”

Throughout every level of education, there are frequently issues with students’

ability to maintain their attention throughout the entirety of a lesson. Attention span is the

length of time during which a person can be able to concentrate effectively on a subject

or particular matter before they need a break or get distracted. According to data gathered

by the National Center of Biotechnology Information in the United States, students'

average attention span in 2013 is eight (8) seconds, compared to twelve (12) seconds in

the year 2000. However, as claimed by some psychologists, the average student's

attention span is roughly 10 to 15 minutes, despite the fact that in-person classes last

between 50 and 90 minutes. Students' attention spans vary greatly depending on

motivation, mood, enjoyment, and the time of day. From incorporating demonstrations or

visuals into lessons to requiring students’ participation, educators should do their best to

keep students interested and awake.

It is undeniable for years, many factors contribute to a student’s academic

performance, including individual characteristics, family, and neighborhood experiences.

But the researchers suggest that among school related factors, attention span matters the

most. Additionally, psychologists who specialize in attention disorders or other mental

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health conditions will find this study useful. And also, short attention span is a transitory

response to additional stress or stimulus in your life. However, if it persists, it could be a

sign of a mental health disease or attention problems. 

Today, perhaps more than ever, the field of education is looking for potential

factors that could either undermine or foster deep thought processes and positive effects

on students. The attention span of the participants in this study is a potential factor that

may or may not influence their performance. The issue of lack of attention in students—

both those with and without learning disabilities—has received a lot of attention in

studies. Additional research has examined methods for helping students develop better

self-control and attention spans. The purpose of this study, then, was to determine how

students' academic development is impacted by short attention spans.

Statement of the Problem

One of the dilemmas that students face in higher education is having a short

attention span. Students with a short attention span have difficulty concentrating on a

given task and participating in class discussions. Since this condition has a very

significant place in every step of life and affects the quality of life, thus, not paying

attention might have some problems in terms of communication, distractions, and

understanding (Cicekci & Sadik, 2019; Kumar & Assistant, 2019). Besides, learning is

ineffective when attention is inadequate and inappropriate.

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Conceptual Framework

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Profile of the respondents
according to:
 Age
 Gender
 Year Level
 Learning modality
 Independent variable –
Short-attention span
 Dependent variable –
Academic performance
Collection of the data through:
 Administering
questionnaires
 Organization of
students’ responses
 Analysis and
interpretation of data
 The statistical treatment
of data
 Review of related
literature
The result of the study:
 Assessed the students
in improving their
attention span
 Identifying the factors
influencing short-
attention span
 Improved students’
academic performance
 Manage study
distractions that
interfere with their
attention span

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework (IPO Model)

The conceptual framework that was used in the study is the Input-Process-Output

approach as shown in Figure 1. A process is viewed as a series of boxes connected by

inputs and outputs.What goes in is the input, what causes the change is the process, what

comes out is the output. The researchers came up with the IPO model to provide the

general structures and guide for the direction of the study.

For input, it consists of the selected respondent’s profile as well as aspects related

to the research’s dependent and independent variables. Typically, the input specifies

every detail mentioned in the problem statement.

In terms of the process, it entails the administration of questionnaires, the

observations that were made, the ways in which the variables are connected, and the
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statistical analysis of data. It includes everything from the initial gathering of informatio

or data to the final results and recommendations of the study.

And for output, this includes the action taken after interpreting the results of the

study. Action plan, phenomenon or transformation, recommendation and other related

things fall under output. The researchers used this information to develop a

conceptualization of transformation that will aid students in improving their academic

performance by dealing with problems that may interfere with their attention span.

Research Questions

Specifically, this research study sought to address the question “how does short-

attention span influence the students’ learning capabilities?”

Thus, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What percentage of the Arayat Holy Child Educational Foundation Inc. Senior

high school population is struggling with having short-attention span?

2. How much time can students focus during classes before they need a break or get

distracted?

3. What are the variables that could trigger short-attention span?

4. How critical is it for students to know how to deal with short-attention spans?

5. What are a few ways to cope with and overcoming a limited attention span?
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Specific Questions

 What is short-attention span?

 What is the importance of knowing attention span?

 What are some of the issues that make students difficult for them to maintain

attention during classes?

 How does having short or long attention spans affect students ability to progress in

academics?

 How many minutes can students hold their concentration for before they encounter

distraction and need a break?

 How do gender, age, and grade impacts the attention span of AHCEFI senior high

students?

General Objective

The study's overall objective is as follows:

To calculate and examine the attention span of Arayat Holy Child Educational

Foundation Inc. Senior high school students.

Specific Objectives

Similarly, this research seeks to answer the following specific objectives:

 To explain the meaning of short-attention span.

 To verify if knowing one’s attention span has significance.

 To identify the issues that make it difficult for learners to pay attention while

studying.
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 To analyze whether having short or long attention spans impacts students’ academic

success.

 To discover the amount of time students can stay focused before becoming distracted

and need a break.

 To determine the significant relationship between the short-attention span and the

academic performance of Arayat Holy Child Educational Foundation Inc. Senior

high school students.

Significance of the Study

The purpose of this research is to determine how short-attention span impacts

academic progress of Arayat Holy Child Educational Foundation Inc. senior high school

students. This study will be significant in understanding the implications of short-

attention span based on the result. The results of the study will help the researchers to

analyze how short-attention span affects their learning process. This research will benefit

the school, administrators, and other people who are involved in this study.

 To the students - This study will help the students to determine how short-attention

span is a factor in poor academic performance and if its affects the behavior of

students.

 To the graduating Senior high school students - This study will serve as a guide to

the undecided Senior High School students to be their career path if ever they will

take education as their program.

 To the teachers - The outcomes of this study will help the teachers to develop

strategies and techniques in captivating the attention of students and somehow

increase retention.
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 To the Department of Education (DepEd) - This study will set the Department of

Education to be informed about the factors affecting the performance of the students.

 To the parents - The findings of this study will assist the parents of every students

in learning more about their children's attention spans and the situation of their

children inside the school.

 To the future researchers - The results of this study will set as their basis and

secondary data on conducting more research about the short-attention span and its

influences on academic achievement.

Hypotheses

This study is guided by the hypotheses:

1. There is no significant relationship in the performance of Arayat Holy Child

Educational Foundation Inc. Senior high school students with their age, gender, and year

level.

2. Short-attention span does significantly affect the academic performance of Arayat

Holy Child Educational Foundation Inc. Senior high school students.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

The purpose of this literature review is to demonstrate the importance of researching

the impact of attention span on student’s academic progress and to determine the possible
factors influencing one’s attention span. Everyone is prone to becoming distracted from
time to time. Students with limited attention span are the ones who have a hard time
focusing on a given task and actively participating in discussions in a way that requires
their full attention. Furthermore, The overabundance of content exhausts students and
causes them to shift their focus to other things. Because students are free to utilize their
mobile devices, some students seek distraction on the Internet or through social media to
alleviate boredom or tension in the classroom (Rosegard & Wilson, 2013). In a learning
environment, a student's attention span is a critical factor. However, when attention is
insufficient and incorrect, learning is ineffective. Attention is a mental state of
attentiveness as well as a concentrating activity (Posner & Peterson, 1990). On the other
hand, span is the period between two dates and events during which something exists,
functions, or happens.

Attention span is the length of time during which a person can be able to concentrate
effectively on a subject or particular matter before they need a break or get distracted.
According to data gathered by the National Center of Biotechnology Information in the
United States, students' average attention span in 2013 is eight (8) seconds, compared to
twelve (12) seconds in the year 2000. However, according to popular perception, the
average student's attention span is roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Several books and essays on
teaching have backed up this assertion, despite the fact that classes last between 50 and
90 minutes. There is no doubt that attention spans have been decreasing with the increase
of external stimulation. Students' attention spans vary greatly depending on motivation,
mood, enjoyment, and the time of day. Affective engagements refer to students'
emotional reactions to a task, such as displaying interest in, wonder about, or enjoyment
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of a task, communicating a positive attitude, and expressing the task's value, importance,
or personal relevance (Boykin & Noguera, 2011).

As Kiley Stasch asserts, “Throughout every level of education, there are frequently
issues with students’ ability to maintain their attention throughout the entirety of a
lesson” (2014). Students frequently struggle greatly with attention spans. Several studies
have concentrated on the issue of students' poor concentration both during learning
without having any recognized learning difficulties. Additional research has looked at
strategies to help develop stronger self-control and lengthen the attention span of
students. Scheduled and enforced movement or exercise periods within the class will be
identified as a potential additional strategy that could aid in developing longer
concentration times. The capacity to focus frequently provides a persistent challenge to
teachers. Many students are still immature and unable to concentrate for the time required
to complete a certain task. This difficulty often baffles teachers who must interact with
each student within a set amount of time. When working with such, it's sometimes better
to allow students time to finish their work alone while the teacher deals with small teams
or gives personal attention. Academic performance may be strongly impacted by one’s
ability to concentrate in achievements by impeding the acquisition of new skills. This
issue could also impede the teacher's ability to use the limited time both for group and
individual lessons.

Also, Kiley Stasch’s work called, “The Effect of Focused Attention Span on Overall
Academic Achievement”, explains how focused attention span affects the overall
academic achievement. Kiley Stasch reports, “Students’ ability to focus often presents a
consistent difficulty for first grade teachers” (2014). Many first-graders are still immature
and unable to concentrate. For the time required to complete autonomous job. This
difficulty often baffles educators. Academic performance may be strongly impacted by a
child's ability to concentrate achievement by impeding the acquisition of new skills. This
issue could also impede the teacher's ability to use the limited time for the both class and
individual lessons work. The functioning of the classroom depends on the students'
capacity to work individually on seatwork or with the entire group of students. Having
transparent communication about the significance and purpose of the duties assigned is
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essential. Students are able to make seatwork relevant and discover a purpose, which
results in a greater overall comprehension of the subject. Higher academic
accomplishment results from students' attention spans expanding when they perceive
tasks to be important.

In a recent study by Anna Kamille Balan and Thomas Anthony Montemayor, “The
Influence of Online Learning Towards the Attention Span and Motivation of College
Students” expounds how online learning impacts the attention span of students. As the
study implies, “The impact of a shorter attention span and lower level of concentration
hits harder on online learning” (8). Online learning is a form of distance learning wherein
the discussion is delivered over the internet. The students use their devices to attend
classes via Zoom or Google Meet, which serves as their virtual classroom. Most of the
time, online classes include a blend of recorded or live lectures, readings, and
independent assessments. Every online conference has a minimum of one-hour of
discussion, which may lead to boredom that can cause a shortening of the attention span
of a student. Boredom is the feeling of being tired and frustrated due to disinterest.
Meanwhile, attention span refers to how long you can focus on something even if there
are distractions. Since students are allowed to use their devices, some of them depend on
the internet to divert the boredom or frustration they feel in online sessions, which can
affect their academic performance. Moreover, some professors think of different tactics
to capture the attention of their students. Having an icebreaker in the middle of the
discussion can help to capture the attention and lessen the boredom of a student. It may
also serve as a short break to refresh their minds and enable them to be more productive
and pay attention in class.

Anna Kamille Balan and Thomas Anthony Montemayor’s study called “The
Influence of Online Learning Towards the Attention Span and Motivation of College
Students” illustrating how online learning impacts the attention span of students. As the
study emphasizes, “The overflow of content tires out the student and causes them to turn
their attention towards other things” (11). Online learning has two parts. The first part is
synchronous, wherein it is held in an online classroom-like Zoom or Google Meet. In
synchronous classes, students have a virtual discussion with their professor wherein
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students can receive an immediate response from their professor about the lesson that
needs clarification. With this, students can understand the lessons quickly. Live reporting,
Q&A, and oral recitation were held in synchronous time. On the other hand,
asynchronous classes allow students to learn and do things on their own within a certain
period. Also, in asynchronous classes, students accomplish their activities, performance
tasks, lectures, readings, and quizzes at their own pace with a minimum duration. Adding
that, some professors overloaded their students with multiple activities, written work,
quizzes, and reports due within a short period of time. Sometimes, unintentionally,
students are given a task with their different professors at the same time, which can
exhaust and inflict stress and pressure on the students. Most of the students turn their
attention toward other things instead of accomplishing their activities, just to ease the
pressure that they feel because of overwhelming schoolwork. Furthermore, because their
attention was diverted elsewhere, they were unable to complete their schoolwork, which
could have had a negative impact on their grades.

In the testimony of Angel C. de Dios, the chapter entitled "Attention Span and
Mindfulness," it is described how “we do need to pay attention and paying attention is a
will” we basically choose and decide. “There is one big reason why we pay attention, we
think something important and paying attention involves two things: ability and
willingness” (de Dios, 2013). Our minds' attention is drawn to things that are catchy,
beautiful, interesting, and different. Humans need to be able to pay attention since it can
help you focus on necessary data. Feeding the multitasking frenzy, not only are we less
productive, but we also become less satisfied. It's challenging to "pay attention"
especially when a subject appears boring. If a student can focus inside the classroom like
how a student focuses on their gadgets, that may be remarkable. Social media is a
hindrance to the nature of the brain, depleting it of self-control and students’ capability to
focus. Technology may have made so many distractions available to us, but realizing that
it is only our perceptions of what is and is not important that have changed should serve
as a reminder that we are still capable of paying attention. When you accomplish
something enjoyable, our neurons release dopamine, and you'll experience small bursts of
dopamine throughout the day that’s why our attention gets to another subject when we
are not interested anymore. Being mindful is the opposite of rushing or multitasking.
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Being mindful can also help us focus and become more aware of our present selves and
emotions, so we need to be mindful of ourselves to be more aware of what we are doing.

"Are Attention Spans Decreasing?" an article published by Elizabeth Getahun on

February 2022 highlighting the factors that may cause attention spans to be short. A s
claimed by one study, people's attention span was around 12 seconds in 2000, but it
was around 8 seconds in 2013. A goldfish, on the other hand, has an attention span of
about 9 seconds. At first, it appeared to be an exaggeration with no concrete
evidences. But howewer, is it possible that as an individual with more information to
digest as a result of having increased access to data, news, research,nd other
resources than ever before, attention span may be decreasing as a result of tons of
information being transmitted daily? Many factors influence our ability to pay
attention and do something. We know that sleep, exercise, diet, and other factors all
contribute to brain health and, as a result, our ability to focus. However, there may be
other factors in today's concern about attention spans. With technological
advancements and an increase in media consumption, particularly social media, it
seems like concentration is becoming more difficult and attention spans are
shortening.

Furthermore, because mobile phones have become more compact to use and
exposure to technology, students can accomplish anything without having to do much,
such as multi-screening, citing, and viewing, which can lead to a short attention span.
According to Tucci Reyes in her news forum, children nowadays are easily able to
modify their opinions, making it more difficult for parents to supervise their children's
behavior (2020). Students in the present period have a huge impact since they can
do a lot of things with only one click of a gadget, resulting in short attention spans. She
went on to explain that the teacher couldn't see what the students were doing during
online classes. Reyes also mentioned that some students multitask while taking their test;
for example, some students open their notes or split their screen to search for information
on Google. When a student sees another student focused on their work, "Your mirror
neurons work, and the kid believes, since other students are concentrating, I should be
concentrating as well." Reyes stated.
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But fear not. There are things to do to improve our dwindling attention span. Some
researchers discovered that brief distractions help to increase concentration and focus,
allowing tasks to be completed efficiently without a decline in performance. Various
studies noted, chewing gum, drinking water, meditation, and behavioral therapy are just a
few ways to help improve attention spans (2019). Chewing gum reduces stress and
increases alertness. Drinking water is essential because dehydration impairs one’s ability
to think and reason. ADHD is an attention disorder, and exercise is extremely beneficial
to those suffering from it. Meditation allows to practice redirecting thoughts and training
the mind to concentrate, which has been shown to be effective in increasing attention
spans. On that note, congratulations for focusing long enough to make it through this
paper.