Kid Power
Fall 2006
Have you ever watched your child (or children) doing homework
while talking on the phone, playing on the computer or watching TV, and
wondered how they can concentrate and learn with all of those distractions?
Scientists have wondered about this too, and set out to study how our brains learn when people try to do more than one thing at a time. They found that it takes longer to learn, that homework has more mistakes, and doing more than one thing at a time means most things don't get done well. Another study found that information is not memorized when kids try to do two things at a time. Memorizing is an important part of learning and doing well on tests!
Listening to music helps some children block out background noise (traffic, brothers and sisters) and concentrate. For other children it can be a distraction, making them want to sing along to songs and get up and dance, which is not helpful when they should be doing homework.
If you want your child to get the most
out of study time, follow these tips:
• Let kids have a break before they start homework. Give them 30 minutes to be active, then they can start their homework.
• When it's time for homework, turn off the TV.
• Use the computer for homework first. Save the games, email, instant messaging (IM) and other distractions for after homework is done.
• After 45 minutes of studying, have kids take a 15-minute break. This will help them refocus when they return to homework.
• When homework is done, limit TV,
computer time, video games, DVD's and other 'screen time' to less than 2
hours per day.
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The Kid Power Newsletter is published by the NH Dept. of Health & Human Services, Div. of Public Health Services, Nutrition & Health Promotion Section. This newsletter is free & distributed to New Hampshire school at no charge. For more information contact Regina Flynn, Health Promotion Advisor, at 1-800-852-3345, ext. 4632