When

LearningLeadingStrategic LeadershipCurriculum and Instruction

Apr 29

Written By Socrates - Head of School Team

Think you might want to read this book?

Daniel Pink’s When showcases extensive research and enlightening case studies to explain how and why timing is so important to human flourishing and productivity. While there are portions of the book that do not apply to schools and education, much of the ideas provide insights and examples regarding the science of timing and how influential it is for student learning and well being. The best example of this centers around Pink’s claims that incorporating regular breaks and naps into one’s schedule leads to research-proven increases in afternoon productivity, energy levels, and mood--something that could revolutionize post-lunch teaching and learning. Simple tweaks of school schedules would boost test scores, lower depression, increase student cognition, and even improve decision-making among faculty and administration. For this reason and many others, all educators would benefit from a deeper exploration of this enjoyable read.

What Would Socrates Ask?

How can schools incorporate a culture of breaks, outdoor walks, and even naps to improve learning and well being for both students and faculty?
To what extent would assessment results improve (or at least be more accurate) if schools scheduled testing to take place when it was actually best for learners?
How might your school change if schedules were created based upon what is best for students instead of what is best for adults?
How can we build schools that take into account the invisible power of timing, and therefore, maximize deep learning?
How might school leaders maximize their efficacy and morality by making important decisions in the morning as opposed to in the afternoon?

Research

Cornell sociologists studied more than 500 million tweets that 2.4 million users in 84 countries posted over a two-year period, using a program called LIWC that evaluated each word for the emotion it conveyed. Their findings published in Science showed that language revealing that tweeters felt active, engaged, and hopeful generally rose in the morning, plummeted in the afternoon, and climbed back up again in the early evening. This was the same regardless of race, ethnicity, geographic location, or culture.
In a 1983 study Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky asked participants questions that tested their cognitive abilities. The researchers found that “performance was generally strong in the beginning of the day, then worsened as the hours ticked by.” Also, “mental keenness, as shown by rationally evaluating evidence, was greater earlier in the day.”
Years of research show that recess benefits schoolchildren in just about every realm of their young lives. Kids who have recess work harder, fidget less, and focus more intently. They often earn better grades than those with fewer recesses. They develop better social skills, show greater empathy, and cause fewer disruptions. They even eat healthier food.
“Adolescents who get less sleep than they need are at a higher risk for depression, suicide, substance abuse and car crashes… evidence also links short sleep duration with obsesity and a weakened immune system.”
Naps, research shows, confer two key benefits: They improve cognitive performance and they boost mental and physical health.
A study from McGill University and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute found that the amount and quality of sleep explained a sizable portion of the difference in student performance.
In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement calling for middle schools and high schools to begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Concepts

Morning vs. Afternoon Meetings
- Multiple studies show that making important decisions in the morning holds myriad benefits to making important decisions in the afternoon.
Naps in Schools?
- To avoid sleep inertia (the sluggish feeling after taking a long nap), naps should be 20 minutes or less.
“Nappuccino”: the combination of drinking a cup of coffee and then taking a twenty-minute nap. The result is a double boost of energy and improved mood upon waking.
Recess is one of the most important types of breaks for younger children. It maximizes all of the essential ingredients of an optimal break. We need to be adding recesses instead of removing them (something that, unfortunately, is a national trend right now).
Students, teachers, and administrators can use temporal landmarks (beginnings and endings of weeks, months, units, trimesters, quarters, semesters, school years, holidays, etc.) to boost motivation, efficacy, and goal setting.
- “Temporal landmarks interrupt day-to-day minutiae, causing people to take a big picture view of their lives and thus focus on achieving their goals.”
The Zeigarnik Effect - Our tendency to remember unfinished tasks better than finished ones.

Quotes from the author

“Afternoons are the Bermuda Triangles of our days. Across many domains, the trough [between lunch and dinner] represents a danger zone for productivity, ethics, and health.”

Quotes from others

“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” - Robert Frost LL

Implement tomorrow?

If you teach long, block periods, consider incorporating a break for your students. If possible, go as a class on a brief, five-minute walk outside before returning to class. The five minutes of class time lost might very well yield much more than five minutes worth of deep learning and focus when you return.