As an instructor, I’ve always fought to find a balance between making class interesting and making class entertainment. While student interest is a good thing, turning classes into entertainment may encourage them to pay attention in the same uncritical way that they engage with other forms of entertainment. Now there is research to support this contention! As discussed at Sociological Images, research by Poh, Swenson, and Picard finds that students’ “brain patterns during class matched watching TV closer than any other activity on the list.” No wonder they hate it when I make them get out of their seats to form groups for class discussion!
*This post has a soundtrack:
Memoirs of a SLACer 