MULTITASKINGThe newest information from educational research

LT: I can analyze information on strategies to be successful in school by reading and discussing articles in small groups.

Entry Task: Can you multi-task? Why or why not? Use an example to support your claim? (write three sentences or bullet points to support your answer)

MULTITASKING

How many of you are effective multitaskers?

What does successful multitasking behavior look like?

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We have a brain with billions of neurons and many trillion of connections, so let’s use them, right?

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Based on 50 years of cognitive science and brain studies…we know now for certain that people who multitask:

- Do less - Miss more information

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When you multitask –

- It takes time (about 15 minutes) to re-orient to a primary task after a distraction such as a text or youtube video

- Long-term memory and creativity is reduced

- Your efficiency can drop by as much as 40%

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So…why can’t we multitask?

When you are trying to accomplish 2 dissimilar tasks, each one requiring some level of consideration and attention, multitasking falls apart. Your brain just can’t take in and process 2 simultaneous, separate streams of information and encode them fully into short-term memory.

If info never gets into our short-term memory…it can’t be transferred into long-term memory for recall later.

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But…everybody multitasks – they talk while driving, they respond to texts while looking at stuff online, they walk and chew gum at the same time…

It turns out that we are really just task-switching. We switch very quickly, and it feels like multitasking.

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But distractions and tasks are everywhere…what should we do?

The secret to thriving in an age of universal distraction isn’t to avoid distractions, but to distract SMARTLY

Short bursts of attention punctuated with equally deliberate breaks are the surest way to harness our full capacity to be productive.

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Other details/tips?

Make an effort to do one task at a time. Stick with one until completion if you can. If attention starts to wane (typically after about 18 minutes) you can switch to a new task. Then give the new task attention for as long as you can.

Find a “focus time”People used to close their office door when they needed to focus. Do the same today with the digital equivalent.

Admit that not all info is usefulThink about what is helping you and is worthy of interrupting you, and what you should ignore.

Articles Jigsaw

I am going to pass out three different articlesAfter you read the article, answer the following

prompts in your journal:◦ What is the main idea of the article?◦ Summarize the main points of the article (bullet points are fine)

◦ What is the author’s main argument? (Is it different from the main idea?)

◦ What evidence do they use to back up their argument◦ Do you believe the author? (Did you ‘buy’ their argument?) Why

or why not

Articles Jigsaw

Gather in groups based on which article you had.◦ Article 1: Meet in the desks by the sink.◦ Article 2: Meet in the desks by Ms. Shane’s desk in the

back.◦ Article 3: Meet in the rows of desks.

Discuss the questions you answered after reading the article

Articles Jigsaw

Now meet in small groups of three, based on the letter written on the articles.◦Share what your article was about and what

your larger group discussed. ◦(Remember that they have not read your

article. You must relay all the important information to them.)

Articles Jigsaw

Whole Class Share◦Main ideas of articles?◦Author arguments?◦Evidence?◦Did they convince you?