Poster #1 - Children’s Attentional Behaviors in In-person, Online, and Other Learning Situations

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Children’s self-regulation is crucial for school success (Blair & Razza, 2007; McClelland et al., 2006), and self-regulation is integrally related to the deployment of attention in the classroom setting. Students’ attention and on-task engagement change both as a function of instructional factors, such as small-group vs. whole-class vs. one-on-one instruction (Godwin et al., 2016; Hart et al., 2011; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2005), and as a function of individual variability in attentional processes, such as children with ADHD vs. their typically developing peers (Kofler et al., 2008; Rapport et al., 2009). With the surge of online schooling due to COVID-19 school closures, teachers and parents are increasingly curious about students’ attention in the new learning environment and have expressed concern regarding student inattention. This may have greater impact on the experiences of children with lower self-regulation skills or ADHD, who may exhibit behaviors associated with lower attention in class. Therefore, the current study examines attention/inattention in children with and without ADHD – via systematically coding behaviors including gaze, fidgets, and active/passive engagement – among four semi-naturalistic learning situations: in-person learning, online learning, video watching, and hands-on crafting. We ask: (1) to what extent does children’s attention differ in various learning situations, and (2) to what extent does it differ based on individual characteristics like age, gender, and ADHD symptoms?

Children aged 6-10 (N=40; mean=8.08, 32.5% girls), who were identified as 30% White, 25% Asian, 20% Latinx, 17.5% Biracial/Multiracial, and 7.5 % African American, participated. Data were collected in a lab, during which children engaged in learning individually with a trained researcher who taught scripted science lessons. To examine children’s behavior, we developed a novel coding system (Student Attention Tracking) for use in Datavyu, adapted from approaches used across clinical, educational, and developmental research (Farley et al., 2013; Rapport et al., 2009; Shapiro, 2004). Attentional behaviors were categorized as either actively engaged (e.g., answering teacher’s questions) or passively engaged (e.g., listening to the video). Behaviors associated with inattention included head movement, appendage movement, body movement, micro fidgeting (small and repetitive movements), off-task verbal (e.g., humming), and off-task passive (e.g., turning gaze away from the learning materials).

Preliminary analysis revealed extensive variability in children’s attention- and inattention-related behaviors in each learning situation (Table 1). One-way ANOVA revealed that children’s attention differed significantly as a function of learning situations, F(3,36)= 9.611, p<.001. Pairwise comparison using Tukey’s HSD showed that only hands-on crafting was significantly different from in-person and online learning (both p adjusted <.01). However, with the subsample of typically developing children, we identified a trend toward significantly longer attention in in-person than Zoom online learning (Figure 1), which we will continue to examine with more data coded in the next months.

Other initial findings indicated that girls engaged in more attentional behavior than did boys, especially during online learning, video watching, and hands-on activity (p<.10 for all the planned contrasts). Welch’s t-test showed an approximately significant difference in attention between children with ADHD (N=4) and those without ADHD (N=6), especially during in-person learning, t(7.45)=2.23, p=.058.

Authors

• Xinyi Zoe Mao, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Presenting Author

• Jennie K Grammer, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Agatha Lenartowicz, University of California, Los Angeles