Students Snoozing In Class May Cause

Students Snoozing in Class May Cause Teachers to Lose Sleep

Teachers have many factors to consider when teaching the students in their classrooms. "No Child Left Behind" has increased the pressure to make sure students perform on a certain level. Students have differing learning styles and temperaments. Teachers have to balance learning time with fire drills, faculty meetings, school assemblies, bad weather, field trips, and power failures. All of which makes educating a challenge. One challenge that makes teachers scratch their heads is keeping students awake. Students who snooze are not getting the education that their non-sleeping peers are receiving. It is a problem that has caused school to make some adjustments.

Research shows that sleep deprivation affects students in several capacities. Students who are asleep do not participate in class lectures or discussions. Sleep deprivation affects understanding of new concepts, time on task, as well as memory. Students who do not get enough sleep also are reported to score lower grades, and battle depression. In the worst cases, sleepy students are prone to at-risk behaviors and even drop out of high school (Wahlstrom, 2003).

Reasons for students sleeping vary and research has been conducted to uncover those reasons. Quantitative research can be used to help discover the sleeping habits of teenagers who fall asleep in class. Researchers have found that teenagers need 9-1/4 hours of sleep each night (Black, 2000). Statistics can be collected documenting how many hours of sleep students are getting. Student schedules could be collected. How many of sleepy students are athletes who have away games and tournaments that keep them from home until late? How many hours of homework do students get each night? How many have jobs that prevent them from going to bed in time to get the required sleep that they need? Quantitative research can collect the data to help school and teachers make decisions to help keep student performance from slipping due to lack of sleep.

Quantitative research can gather data on the number of incidents of sleeping in the classroom. This data can they be compared to what time school starts. Does earlier start times encourage the problem, or is it late nights imposed by homework and extra-curricular activities? Quantitative research would gather data on which days students seem to fall asleep. Do they happen during certain weather patterns? What type of lesson was being taught? Data can be collected to see if it is certain class periods or even certain teachers that experience sleepy students.

Some students seem to sleep in class on a regular basis. Quantitative research can help point out if the students sleep just in certain classes. What are their sleeping habits? Do they go to bed early enough to get the needed hours of sleep for