The effect of various types of distractions in a testing environment on the performance of academic tasks
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
11th Grade
Presentation Topic
Psychology and Sociology
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Written Paper Award
4th Place
Abstract
With the invention of smartphones and mass media, distractions are becoming more prevalent in students’ lives more than ever. Students believe they can multitask between engagement in social media and academics. However, this results in their academics suffering negative repercussions. Findings from this study could emphasize the importance of limiting distractions in work environments and could determine what types of distractions should be avoided depending on the academic work. It was hypothesized that text messaging would have the greatest impact on test scores, especially those in mathematics. Subjects were randomly distributed into one of three academic tasks (SAT Reading, SAT Math, and SAT Vocabulary) and performed their designated task in five types of testing environments: no distraction, music (without lyrics), music (with lyrics), text messaging, and Internet/social media. Responses were scored using the corresponding answer keys and were compared. At α = 0.05, the three ANOVA tests for each academic task indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the scores of each testing environment for any subject, (F(4,45) = 1.2326, p = 0.3106), (F(4,45) = 0.5453, p = 0.7033), and (F(4,45) = 0.3152, p = 0.8663). Therefore, the hypothesis was not supported. In conclusion, the impact of text messaging on academic performance is no greater than the impact of other distractions such as music and social media.
Recommended Citation
Kim, Gloria, "The effect of various types of distractions in a testing environment on the performance of academic tasks" (2017). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 249.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2017/all/249
Location
Wall 308
Start Date
3-25-2017 10:15 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
Group Project
No
The effect of various types of distractions in a testing environment on the performance of academic tasks
Wall 308
With the invention of smartphones and mass media, distractions are becoming more prevalent in students’ lives more than ever. Students believe they can multitask between engagement in social media and academics. However, this results in their academics suffering negative repercussions. Findings from this study could emphasize the importance of limiting distractions in work environments and could determine what types of distractions should be avoided depending on the academic work. It was hypothesized that text messaging would have the greatest impact on test scores, especially those in mathematics. Subjects were randomly distributed into one of three academic tasks (SAT Reading, SAT Math, and SAT Vocabulary) and performed their designated task in five types of testing environments: no distraction, music (without lyrics), music (with lyrics), text messaging, and Internet/social media. Responses were scored using the corresponding answer keys and were compared. At α = 0.05, the three ANOVA tests for each academic task indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the scores of each testing environment for any subject, (F(4,45) = 1.2326, p = 0.3106), (F(4,45) = 0.5453, p = 0.7033), and (F(4,45) = 0.3152, p = 0.8663). Therefore, the hypothesis was not supported. In conclusion, the impact of text messaging on academic performance is no greater than the impact of other distractions such as music and social media.
