Hi Colleagues,

Here's a non-threatening question: If you teach a two-hour class (or one hour and 50 minutes, technically), do you give the students a break half way?

Traditionally, or typically, I have not.  The extra minutes add up over the course of 9 weeks (on the quarter system) to three hours of "extra" class time!  That's a lot.  Moreover, the start-up time after a break is never entirely crisp--there are always some stragglers, some shuffling and talking and such.

But I'm thinking about changing my ways.  I wouldn't like to sit in a lecture hall for two hours without a break, probably.  Does the refreshment of a break justify its cost in time and class-room continuity?  Do students have a shorter attention span now than they did 35 years ago?

Thank you,

Dan





Prof. Daniel M. Warner
Dept. of Accounting (Business Legal Studies)
MS 9071, Parks Hall 401
Western Washington University
516 High St.
Bellingham, WA 98225
360 650-3390
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