Can a Fidget Spinner Target Academic Tasks?
If you’ve spent any time at all in the classroom, you know how hard it is to get kids back on task when they’re distracted by fidget toys.fidget spinner target And while experts agree that the handheld devices can relieve stress, improve focus and even reduce symptoms of attention disorders like ADHD, many schools have banned them.
But there may be a better solution than banning the popular toys altogether: using them for certain academic tasks during class.fidget spinner target A recent study found that students who were allowed to use a spinner while completing a math worksheet showed significantly improved on-task behavior.
The study, published in the journal Toys and Education, compared student performance before and after they were given a spinner to work with for 20 minutes at a time during an instructional period.fidget spinner target The study also examined whether the spinner’s ability to help students stay focused was due to a “habituation effect,” whereby students who used the device repeatedly started to forget its reinforcing value and began to fall off-task more and more quickly.
According to the study’s authors, it is possible that the positive results seen in the study could be replicated with other academic tasks and with different groups of children. They suggest that future research investigate whether students are able to stay on-task with a fidget spinner during the same types of academic tasks and under the same conditions as described in the study, as well as what specific academic tasks are most effective at increasing active on-task behavior while students use their spinners.
The research on this topic is still fairly limited. The authors also suggest that other methods for evaluating students’ on-task behavior should be explored, such as using a behavioral observation system to measure the amount of work completed and accuracy of answers, rather than just measuring active on-task behavior.
In the meantime, schools across the country are continuing to ban fidget spinners from their classrooms, including those in Massachusetts, Brooklyn, New York City and Florida, as well as across the pond in Manchester, England. But one expert says she’s disappointed at the bans and would love to see the little gadgets be used as an educational tool in the classroom instead of just being prohibited from all academic activities.
But she also warns that parents should be vigilant and make sure kids are following the age label on fidget spinners (and avoid light-up versions that contain batteries) and shopping at reputable stores where they’ll only find toys that have passed U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tests. And she cautions that small pieces of the spinners can break off and pose a choking hazard, as well as that the light-up spinners should never be left in reach of young children, who could swallow them. She also recommends a simple way to keep them safe: put them in a sandwich bag when they’re not being used at school or play. Click for more fidget spinner stories and videos.
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