The Benefits of Music and
Stretching in Maintaining Student Attention
June-July, 2007
By Christopher H. Kodani and Michael Wood, Clayton State University,
Georgia
Given how students fidget during lectures and the
popularity of personal music devices, it sometimes seems that students
would much rather hear music and move around than listen to a professor.
Our solution is simple and direct—we encourage them to do both!
To help students fight off lecture fatigue in the science classes that
Christopher teaches, we have implemented a “seventh inning stretch”
during which students get up out of their seats and perform some basic
stretches while music is playing. In fact, the idea is not so crazy, as
the importance of a break during lectures has been noted by other
college professors in various pedagogical publications, including this
newsletter. Both we and these colleagues have found that giving students
a break from taking notes increases the chances that students will stay
mentally productive throughout the class.
Some faculty who give students breaks use this time to show videos or
engage students in discussions or other content-related activities. Our
approach is a bit different. We believe that there may be benefits to
having a break that is simply that—a break from the material, a break
from lecture, a break from sitting. Here’s how the seventh inning
stretch works in Christopher’s biology course. Halfway through every
lecture, students get the chance to stand up and do a series of easy,
yoga-style stretches while popular music plays over the classroom’s
audio system. Stretch breaks typically last two to three minutes. All
the music is chosen by the professor and is popular music, most of it
relatively current, the 1970s to the 2000s, and includes a wide variety
of artists and formats, so as to appeal to our diverse student body.
Near the end of the semester, we administered a survey through WebCT
Vista, a Web-based teaching platform, that allowed us to easily record
and tabulate student responses. Most of the students responded favorably
to the seventh inning stretch. The majority agreed or strongly agreed
that it enhanced their learning. Furthermore, 38 out of the 49 stated
that they would like other instructors to adopt the seventh inning
stretch, and none strongly agreed with discontinuing breaks altogether.
The class was almost evenly divided upon whether or not stretch breaks
affected student retention within the class. Most did not want to do
other activities during the break and recommended that its format not be
changed.
We also invited students to provided written feedback describing how
they felt about the stretch. Their answers helped to explain responses
on the survey. One student wrote, “I really enjoyed the seventh inning
stretch. I feel that it breaks up the class a little. By breaking up the
class you can clear your head for just a second. By being able to clear
your head you can make more room for more information.” Similarly, a
classmate wrote “The stretch helps you refocus and continue to learn for
the entire class.”
A few students did want the break activity to be content focused. One
wrote, “I enjoyed the stretch, but I believe it would be more beneficial
if it was mixed up by having a discussion, a short video, a
demonstration, or a little review of what was just taught.” Taken in the
context of the overwhelming popularity of the stretch, this student’s
comment and these data tell us that although a break is necessary for
most students, it cannot take the place of good teaching methods, active
learning, and variety. We are not arguing against the use of multiple
teaching strategies—in fact, a change in teaching technique during
lecture is universally accepted as important for maintaining student
attention as well as for addressing all students’ learning styles. Even
when a variety of active learning strategies is used, we believe there
is still a need to take a short rest from learning. The seventh inning
stretch is a unique, quick, and fun way to increase student attention
during the second half of class.
Contact Christopher Kodani at
ChristopherKodani@mail.clayton.edu.
Copyright © 2007 Magna Publications. Reproduction in whole or in part
without permission is prohibited.
