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How the Time of Day Affects Productivity: Evidence from School Schedules
Abstract
Increasing the efficiency of the school system is a primary focus of policymakers. I analyze how the time of day affects students' productivity and if efficiency gains can be obtained by rearranging the order of tasks they perform throughout the school day. Using a panel data set of nearly 2 million sixth- through eleventh-grade students in Los Angeles County, I perform within-teacher, class type, and student estimation of the time-of-day effect on students' learning as measured by GPA and state test scores. I find that given a school start time, students learn more in the morning than later in the school day. Having a morning instead of afternoon math or English class increases a student's GPA by 0.072 (0.006) and 0.032 (0.006), respectively. A morning math class increases state test scores by an amount equivalent to increasing teacher quality by one-fourth standard deviation or half of the gender gap. Rearranging school schedules can lead to increased academic performance.
... Moreover, most of the students in this study preferred the lectures to be given before the laboratory sessions, as they prefer to be oriented by receiving theoretical knowledge before enhancing practical application and to enable the students to correlate the procedure to the lecture. These results are in line with previous studies which showed that students learn more in the morning than later in the school day [36][37][38] . Analyzing how the time of the day affects students' productivity and efficiency and rearranging the order of performed tasks throughout the school day can be a vital focus of policymakers to increase the efficiency of teaching 38 . ...
... These results are in line with previous studies which showed that students learn more in the morning than later in the school day [36][37][38] . Analyzing how the time of the day affects students' productivity and efficiency and rearranging the order of performed tasks throughout the school day can be a vital focus of policymakers to increase the efficiency of teaching 38 . Accordingly, rearranging school schedules is a critical strategy leading to increased academic performance 36,38 . ...
... Analyzing how the time of the day affects students' productivity and efficiency and rearranging the order of performed tasks throughout the school day can be a vital focus of policymakers to increase the efficiency of teaching 38 . Accordingly, rearranging school schedules is a critical strategy leading to increased academic performance 36,38 . ...
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the opinion of undergraduate students regarding the different taught preclinical and technical steps in complete denture (CD) and removable partial denture (RPD) courses. And to assess the difficulty of the prosthodontic courses in comparison with other preclinical courses such as conservative and endodontic courses. Materials and methods: a questionnaire was distributed to 203 third year dental students. The questions were about the didactic and practical exercises for both CD and RPD.
Results: In CD course, 47.2% reported balanced occlusion as the most difficult theoretical topic and exercise to understand, 50% thought the most difficult step in balanced occlusion was to obtain balance on the non-working side, while 2.5% reported custom tray fabrication to be most difficult step. Morning lectures, afternoon labs, and live demonstrations were favoured by the majority. In RPD course 38.8% reported RPD design as the most difficult exercise and the second most difficult theoretical topic, followed by surveying, primary impression and custom tray construction. Kennedy class IV was the most difficult to design and adjacent occlusal rest seats were the most difficult to
prepare. There was significant correlation between students’ practical marks and their opinion of practical course difficulty (coefficient 0.179, P= 0.035, for RPD) (coefficient 0.348, P= 0.000, for CD). The correlation coefficient between the students’ theoretical and practical marks was 0.132 and P= 0.099 was insignificant. Response rate was 88.6%.
Conclusions: Removable prosthodontics is one of the most difficult preclinical courses which requires a well-established and continuously updated curriculum. Therefore, continuous assessment of teaching methods is of paramount importance.
Keywords: Removable prosthodontic education, Preclinical dental education, Survey, Curriculum, Complete dentures, Partial dentures
... Apart from the evolution of such pedagogical practices, researchers have also focused on other parameters that affect learning, for example the time of day when the course is taught (Pope, 2016;Wile & Shouppe, 2011); the age group (May et al., 1993) and circardian rhythms (Cardinali, 2008;Crowley et al. 2007). Hartley and Nicholls (2008) found that students' performance can depend upon the time of day at which the learning and assessment take place. ...
... This view was also supported by Johnston (2009), who argued that time could be used as an influential parameter to affect learning by using the preferred time of the day for instruction to promote better learning. Lynch (1981) claimed that offering courses at an optimal time of day could help address attendance issues, while Pope (2016) investigated the learning tendencies of around 2 million students and found that they learnt more in the morning than in the afternoon. Specifically, with respect to mathematics, he states that "A morning math class increases state test scores by an amount equivalent to increasing teacher quality by one-fourth standard deviation." ...
... Group 3 had the greatest improvement, at 11%. This can be attributed to the combination of the instruction time of the class (Pope, 2016), the intervention strategies (Authors, 2018), and favourable circardian rhythms (Crowley et al., 2007). ...
p class="Abstract">In this work, we analyze the effect of the instruction time of the day on student learning in a programming course taught to first-year undergraduate students in an engineering program. A total of 174 students were split into three different sections, each having a different class time. All sections were taught the same material and by the same instructor. It was found that students in the morning and early afternoon sections performed better than the students in the late afternoon section. In all three sections, there is evidence of long-term retention of concepts, which is attributed to the intervention based active learning environment that uses the principles of constructivism. Specifically, the techniques of reinforcement and feedback help with long term retention and avoiding learning of wrong concepts with immediate corrective feedback.</p
... Many authors have documented that individual productivity decreases during the day due to stress and fatigue (see e.g. Brachet, David, and Drechsler (2012) and Pope (2016) among others). This explanation does not account for the possibility that productivity may also vary depending on the type of task and the specific time-of-day in which the task is performed. ...
... Specifically related to individuals performing also cognitive tasks, Brachet et al. (2012) compare the performance of paramedics in short and long shifts and find that performance deteriorates significantly toward the end of a long shift. Whereas Pope (2016) studies differences in productivity among students and draws a parallelism with the cognitive skills used in a work setting. This author assesses the effect of class scheduling on test scores of high-schoolers (aged 12-17) and finds that productivity declines for classes scheduled later in the day. ...
... The explanation they provide is in line with the standard theories of the circadian rhythm, namely that peak performance for teenagers occurs later in the morning. Pope (2016) investigates at what time students learn more and finds that, likely due to increase fatigue, students learn more in classes scheduled in the morning (8am -10am) rather than in the afternoon (12:50pm -2:45pm). We differentiate from this literature because we study the effects of time-of-day of an exam (the task itself), rather than the scheduling of classes, school start time or learning, and we focus on older students. ...
... The implications of this factor are hard-hitting, especially taking into account the fact that the majority of secondary educational schedules in the United States start before 8:30 am (Center for Disease Control, 2015), which vehemently disregards the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation that middle schools and high schools should start no earlier than 8:30 am (Owens, 2014.) Contrary to the AAP's rulings, however, productivity and learning have been found to improve earlier in the day, with specific course GPAs improving when they are moved to earlier class times (Pope, 2016). It should be noted that in Pope's (2016) study gender, education of parents, age, and regular performance of the students were taken into account, but that the morningness/eveningness of the student or teachers were not tested for. ...
... Contrary to the AAP's rulings, however, productivity and learning have been found to improve earlier in the day, with specific course GPAs improving when they are moved to earlier class times (Pope, 2016). It should be noted that in Pope's (2016) study gender, education of parents, age, and regular performance of the students were taken into account, but that the morningness/eveningness of the student or teachers were not tested for. Therefore, it has not been cited whether or not the students tested were of morning type, which could have placed them at a higher cognitive functioning level early in the morning due to increased attention and responsiveness, or if the teachers were morning types, which would have theoretically improved their teaching abilities due to their increased cognitive abilities as well. ...
Student motivation in higher education is a popular topic, though there is virtually nothing known about how motivation changes over the week. Based on observations of student behaviour in the classroom and considering popularly used expressions in everyday life (e.g. TGIF, Motivation Monday), we investigated how motivation changed over the week and patterns that repeated weekly. Data were collected from undergraduate students over 56 consecutive days to allow detection of motivation cycles and fit trigonometric functions to the data via spectral analysis. We also examined how mood and motivation covaried over the week. Our results indicated (a) motivation follows a cosine function with a weekly cycle – motivation begins to increase on Sunday and is relatively high early-week, tapers off on Friday, and is lowest on Saturday, (b) weekly cycles of mood, and (c) cyclical covariation between mood and motivation. Implications for research, students, and universities are discussed.
... It appears that these teachers tend to use video resources most often in the mornings, with a frequency of 48% compared to afternoon (14%) and midday (39%). This outcome is not surprising, especially, since recent studies have shown that people learn better at different times of the day, particularly in the morning (e.g., Pope, 2016). However, while this is the case, such outcomes are also influenced by factors such as the subject being learned and the teacher's role. ...
... However, while this is the case, such outcomes are also influenced by factors such as the subject being learned and the teacher's role. For example, Pope (2016) found that having a morning Math or English class instead of an afternoon class on either subject increased a student's grade point average (GPA). Hence, in order to increase the efficiency of the school system towards learning, educators should consider the time of the day that most affects teachers' and students' productivity. ...
Teaching pedagogy is constantly shaped by the environment and the socio-demographic background of teachers and students. Continuing technological developments enabled videos to be accessed more easily, faster, and across multiple platforms and devices. There has been a growing use of video technology for teaching in the Middle Eastern region, particularly in Jordan – one of the growing technological hubs in the region. However, there is very limited research on its use by teachers and students in Jordan. To fill this knowledge gap in relation to Jordan, the present study aims to investigate what kinds of devices, and how frequent, instructional videos are used for teaching in secondary school teachers in Amman city, Jordan. To address these questions, a survey was devised and 378 secondary school teachers in Amman participated. An Integrative Mixed Method study was conducted where both qualitative and qualitative methods were used. In the quantitative phase, descriptive statistics were calculated for frequency and percentage on the kinds of devices used by the teachers in relation to their gender, teaching grade and type of schools. Cross-tabulation chi-square statistical tests were then undertaken to assess whether there is a link between the frequency of video technology use and percentage of class time it occupies, time of day it is being used and the number for video titles used per academic year. In the qualitative phase, interviews with teachers were conducted and the data was analysed to see how the experiences of the teachers compliment the experiences of video usage assessed in the quantitative phase. The results of this study were then viewed through the lens of the Technology Acceptance Model framework. It was found that smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers were the most popular devices used in teaching. Most of the teachers who participated in this study, particularly female and Grade 11 and 12 teachers and those in public schools, used these popular devices in their teaching. In relation to the frequency of use, and it was found that the teachers mostly used video technology in the morning classes for teaching and rarely used videos on a daily basis. Cross-tabulation chi-squared tests showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between the number of videos used in an academic year and the frequency of the video usage.
... The selection of this time period is purely arbitrary as we were interested and curious as to the nature of their fitness as this particular period. Pope mentioned this period in his paper where he had studied the performances of students at this selected period [1]. The heartbeat data that we obtained from the workers were from the time range of 11am till 12pm (GMT +8). ...
... We were curious to the nature of the data obtain at this particular time and we had noted the time stamp of each individual in the Results Section. The Peak Productive Time was denoted to be from 11am till 12 noon (GMT +8) [1]. ...
Aviation Personnel play a role as the catalyst of the Aviation Industry. Personnel that are physically fit would contribute in an optimum manner to the alleviation of the industry. Its imperative for these workers to be fit as it involved safety and safety is paramount in aviation. Aviation Personnel consist not only pilots or cabin crews but also maintenance workers, designers, academicians, engineers, suppliers, and others that are involved in aviation as a whole. Our research measured the physical fitness of Aviation Personnel from an aviation company called SAB System where the measurement was actuated via heartbeat analyses. We also went further by comparing the heartbeats of the male and female workers at this particular company.
... Using an associative learning task, older adults were found to have greater intraindividual variability in the evening, but not young adults [14]. An analysis of panel data suggested that students learned more in the morning than later in the school day, which was reflected in higher test scores when classes were held in the morning [15]. Taken together, there is evidence that time of day can influence learning in humans, although the specific mechanisms remain to be understood. ...
Time of day influences a variety of human cognitive processes, including attention, executive functions and memory formation, as well as affective experiences and mood. However, circadian modulations of self-related learning and belief formation, which are highly affected by emotional states, remain poorly understood.
Here, we present results from exploratory post-hoc analyses on data aggregated from five studies assessing the formation of self-related ability beliefs. A total of N =242 healthy participants completed a validated learning task at different times of the day, during which they continuously received feedback on their performance. Computational modeling was applied to quantify participants’ learning behavior during the task.
Results suggest an association between time-of-day and self-belief formation, showing that participants who were tested in the evening (7:00-9:59 p.m.) updated their self-beliefs more strongly in response to the received feedback compared to those tested in the afternoon (1:00-3:59 p.m.). Evidence from additional models indicated that these differences were driven by non-linear, rhythmic changes in self-belief formation across different times of the day.
Future studies should systematically examine within-subject fluctuations in self-belief formation across the day and address the influence of individual factors such as chronotype, age, mood and sleep quality. Understanding circadian modulations of self-related belief formation could contribute to optimized interventions for conditions characterized by maladaptive self-beliefs, such as depression, as well as in academic contexts.
... Time can be perceived as a limited physical and psychological resource that needs to be appropriately allocated for performance (Pope, 2016). An individual's temporal construal levels are mainly directed by their normative daily/weekly working schedule (Trope and Liberman, 2010) without conflicting or competing goals (Schmidt and DeShon, 2007). ...
Purpose
This research used a temporal approach to operationalize employee engagement, capturing subjective/objective time of the day and day of the week to analyze the dynamic patterns of employees’ daily/weekly well-being, basic needs satisfaction, and situational work motivation under the integrated framework of self-determination theory.
Design/methodology/approach
Multi-level data was collected using the survey structure outlined under the day reconstruction methodology (DRM) with samples of Canadian part-time working undergraduate students and full-time US corporate employees (1980 work episodes reported by 321 participants).
Findings
Multi-level confirmatory factorial analysis results supported the measurement invariance for within-person variables in all the working episodes across the US and Canada samples. Structural equation modeling path analysis results, using the within-person variables, captured the daily temporal patterns that employees’ well-being (vitality and positive affect), basic psychological needs (autonomy and relatedness), and situational autonomous motivation started at a high level and decreased with both subjective and objective time of the day. Negative affect showed asymmetric daily and weekly temporal patterns compared to positive affect. A few indirect paths were found, including one from the subjective time of the day to employee well-being (vitality and affect) via situational autonomous motivation and another one from the day of the week to vitality and positive affect via relatedness needs satisfaction and situational autonomous motivation.
Research limitations/implications
The socio-cultural and business impacts of work scheduling practices and implications for theory-driven, evidence-based organizational development practices were discussed together with the research limitations.
Practical implications
Results on how the variations in self-regulation during the performance of different work tasks in a single work event help practitioners to connect repeated situational motivational change patterns to effective supervision. HR business partner can also utilize such findings to shape evidence-based practice to improve employee engagement.
Originality/value
This research is one of the few pioneer studies to look into how temporal factors, such as work scheduling, affect employees' well-being through the dynamic understanding of the mediated path model from time to employee well-being via psychological engagement conditions such as motivation and needs satisfaction.
... This inclusion aimed to determine whether the outcomes were influenced by participants' inherent emotional intelligence or by the effectiveness of our intervention [69]. Additionally, the time of day at which the experiment was conducted was recorded, as performance could vary throughout the day due to factors like fatigue or circadian rhythms [70]. The location of the experiment, whether conducted at MIT, Tecnológico de Monterrey, or the University of Applied Sciences of The Hague, was also considered to account for any site-specific effects. ...
This study investigates the impact of real-time emotional feedback on the quality of teamwork conducted over videoconferencing. We developed a framework that provides real-time feedback through a virtual mirror based on facial and voice emotion recognition. In an experiment with 28 teams (84 participants), teams collaborated over Zoom (version 5.16.6) to set up a virtual Mars station using custom simulation software (Mars Star City, version 4.0). Participants were divided into 14 experimental teams, which were shown the virtual mirror, and 14 control teams without it. Team performance was measured by the improvement in the Mars simulation output quality. Our analysis using correlation, multi-level regression, and machine learning revealed that fewer interruptions but an increasing number over time correlated with higher performance. Higher vocal arousal and happiness also enhanced performance. We confirmed that female presence in teams boosts performance. SHAP values indicated that high variability in happiness, head movement, and positive facial valence—an “emotional rollercoaster”—positively predicted team performance. The experimental group outperformed the control group, suggesting that virtual mirroring improves virtual teamwork and that interrupting each other more while speaking less, leads to better results.
... This inclusion aimed to determine whether the outcomes were influenced by participants' inherent emotional intelligence or by the effectiveness of our intervention [60]. Additionally, the time of day at which the experiment was conducted was recorded, as performance could vary throughout the day due to factors like fatigue or circadian rhythms [61]. The location of the experiment, whether conducted at MIT, Tecnológico de Monterrey, or the University of Applied Sciences of The Hague, was also considered to account for any site-specific effects. ...
This study investigates the impact of real-time emotional feedback on the quality of teamwork conducted over videoconferencing. We developed a framework that provides real-time feedback through a virtual mirror based on facial and voice emotion recognition. In an experiment with 28 teams (84 participants), teams collaborated over Zoom to set up a virtual Mars station using custom simulation software. Participants were divided into 14 experimental teams which were shown the virtual mirror, and 14 control teams without it. Team performance was measured by the improvement in the Mars simulation output quality. Our analysis using correlation, multilevel regression, and machine learning revealed that fewer interruptions but an increasing number over time correlated with higher performance. Higher vocal arousal and happiness also enhanced performance. We confirmed that female presence in teams boosts performance. SHAP values indicated that high variability in happiness, head movement, and positive facial valence—an “emotional rollercoaster”—positively predicted team performance. The experimental group outperformed the control group, suggesting that virtual mirroring improves virtual teamwork and that interrupting each other more, while speaking less, leads to better results.
... Biobehavioral rhythms-repeated cycles of biological, behavioral, and psychological events-are indicative of different life and health outcomes [1]. Chronobiology, which examines periodic phenomena in living organisms, has demonstrated the impact of circadian disruptions on people's lives, including physical and mental health as well as safety and work performance in shift workers [2][3][4][5][6]. However, research in chronobiology has primarily been conducted via manual observations and subjective reports often restricted over a small period of time. ...
BACKGROUND
Biobehavioral rhythms are biological, behavioral, and psychosocial processes with repeating cycles. Abnormal rhythms have been linked to various health issues, such as sleep disorders, obesity, and depression.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to identify links between productivity and biobehavioral rhythms modeled from passively collected mobile data streams.
METHODS
In this study, we used a multimodal mobile sensing data set consisting of data collected from smartphones and Fitbits worn by 188 college students over a continuous period of 16 weeks. The participants reported their self-evaluated daily productivity score (ranging from 0 to 4) during weeks 1, 6, and 15. To analyze the data, we modeled cyclic human behavior patterns based on multimodal mobile sensing data gathered during weeks 1, 6, 15, and the adjacent weeks. Our methodology resulted in the creation of a rhythm model for each sensor feature. Additionally, we developed a correlation-based approach to identify connections between rhythm stability and high or low productivity levels.
RESULTS
Differences exist in the biobehavioral rhythms of high- and low-productivity students, with those demonstrating greater rhythm stability also exhibiting higher productivity levels. Notably, a negative correlation (C=–0.16) was observed between productivity and the SE of the phase for the 24-hour period during week 1, with a higher SE indicative of lower rhythm stability.
CONCLUSIONS
Modeling biobehavioral rhythms has the potential to quantify and forecast productivity. The findings have implications for building novel cyber-human systems that align with human beings’ biobehavioral rhythms to improve health, well-being, and work performance.
CLINICALTRIAL
... Biobehavioral rhythms-repeated cycles of biological, behavioral, and psychological events-are indicative of different life and health outcomes [1]. Chronobiology, which examines periodic phenomena in living organisms, has demonstrated the impact of circadian disruptions on people's lives, including physical and mental health as well as safety and work performance in shift workers [2][3][4][5][6]. However, research in chronobiology has primarily been conducted via manual observations and subjective reports often restricted over a small period of time. ...
Background
Biobehavioral rhythms are biological, behavioral, and psychosocial processes with repeating cycles. Abnormal rhythms have been linked to various health issues, such as sleep disorders, obesity, and depression.
Objective
This study aims to identify links between productivity and biobehavioral rhythms modeled from passively collected mobile data streams.
Methods
In this study, we used a multimodal mobile sensing data set consisting of data collected from smartphones and Fitbits worn by 188 college students over a continuous period of 16 weeks. The participants reported their self-evaluated daily productivity score (ranging from 0 to 4) during weeks 1, 6, and 15. To analyze the data, we modeled cyclic human behavior patterns based on multimodal mobile sensing data gathered during weeks 1, 6, 15, and the adjacent weeks. Our methodology resulted in the creation of a rhythm model for each sensor feature. Additionally, we developed a correlation-based approach to identify connections between rhythm stability and high or low productivity levels.
Results
Differences exist in the biobehavioral rhythms of high- and low-productivity students, with those demonstrating greater rhythm stability also exhibiting higher productivity levels. Notably, a negative correlation (C=–0.16) was observed between productivity and the SE of the phase for the 24-hour period during week 1, with a higher SE indicative of lower rhythm stability.
Conclusions
Modeling biobehavioral rhythms has the potential to quantify and forecast productivity. The findings have implications for building novel cyber-human systems that align with human beings’ biobehavioral rhythms to improve health, well-being, and work performance.
... For example, Sievertsen, Gino, and Piovesan (2016) found that test performance on the Danish Government National Tests steadily decreased during the school day and concluded that the effect was due to increasing cognitive fatigue. Similarly, Pope (2016) found student productivity to diminish during the afternoon. Note: An odds ratio was classified as significant if it was greater than 1.10 or less than 0.91 (the reciprocal of 1.10). ...
... The first two, three, or all four blocks of time may be devoted for core academic subjects, while the remaining few blocks or time-in class after lunch may be reserved for elective subjects; enrichment programs; coding and technology; recreational activitiespainting, arts, or crafting; literacy activities-theatre, drama; or for homework and assignment. This corresponds to most of the theoretical assumptions, neuroscience developments, and empirical evidence (e.g., Dimitrova, 2016;Peaton & Ordway, 2016;Pope, 2016;Sjosten-Bell, 2005) that substantiates that learning occurs at the max often during the morning sessions or the sessions just before the afternoon. ...
The primary objective of the study is to determine the perception of teachers on the impact of walk-in classroom observation practiced by principals and vice principals as a part of instructional leadership roles. The walk-in classroom observation system was implemented in 2022 by the Ministry of Education and Skill Development (MoESD), Bhutan. This research utilized a mixed-methods approach, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative studies. The quantitative study was conducted using 5-point Likert scale survey questionnaires for walk-in classroom leadership practice and its impact on instruction and pedagogy. The qualitative study was conducted using a semi-structured interview. The study used 90 teacher participants purposively selected from 10 schools under Trashiyangtse Dzongkhag, Bhutan responds to the questionnaires and 10 teachers selected randomly for interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation while deductive coding and thematic analysis were used to analyze interview data. The findings of the study revealed that teachers generally had a positive perception of the impact of walk-in classroom observation on classroom instruction and pedagogy with an overall mean score of 3.47 and SD=1.110, as indicated by their agreement with the survey questionnaires. Further, the results from the interview indicated that walk-in classroom observation had a positive effect on lesson planning, delivery, and professional development for teachers. However, teachers are of the view that instructional leaders need to be professionally competent in subject content and pedagogical knowledge for effective walk-in classroom observation. Therefore, the findings contribute to the enhancement of knowledge and pedagogical skills and informed the leaders to bring forth the strengths and weaknesses in the common forum for deliberation and necessary changes.
... There is a positive impact on the learning outcomes of students who study long enough [15]. There is a significant effect between study time on learning outcomes, with an increase in learning outcomes when students study in the morning [16]. Productivity is higher in the morning than in the afternoon and this variation in productivity can increase the efficiency of the learning process. ...
... Contrariwise, Pope (2016) finds that, with school start time constant, Los Angeles County elementary and middle school students learn more in the morning than at the end of the school day, as they experience diminishing returns in learning throughout the day. Taking Math or English classes in the morning, instead of in the afternoon, increases a student's GPA by 0.072 and 0.032, respectively. ...
This paper investigates the influence of the school shift change on the academic performance of 6th and 7th graders (lower secondary education) of public schools in the city of Recife, Brazil. The empirical analyses use educational data from a panel of the Brazilian Ministry of Education, with a sample of 4,500 students, 3,468 parents or guardians, 85 principals, and 137 teachers working in 87 public schools that were spatially distributed. The identification strategy explores a quasi-experiment in which some classes of the investigated sample had their school shifts changed between the two years, which occurred exclusively due to the school logistics and regardless of the parents’ preferences. Difference-in-differences models combined with propensity score matching demonstrate that students who shifted from morning to afternoon between the two years analyzed improved their Portuguese test scores, and that those who experienced the opposite change, from afternoon to morning, had a drop in the performance. Estimations in intermediary outcomes also reveal that the changes in the students’ sleeping habits are an important mechanism that explains the relation between the scores and the school shift.
... The first two, three, or all four blocks of time may be devoted for core academic subjects, while the remaining few blocks or time-in class after lunch may be reserved for elective subjects; enrichment programs; coding and technology; recreational activitiespainting, arts, or crafting; literacy activities-theatre, drama; or for homework and assignment. This corresponds to most of the theoretical assumptions, neuroscience developments, and empirical evidence (e.g., Dimitrova, 2016;Peaton & Ordway, 2016;Pope, 2016;Sjosten-Bell, 2005) that substantiates that learning occurs at the max often during the morning sessions or the sessions just before the afternoon. ...
The class schedule is one of the most important determinants of students' academic achievement. In the face of a rising tide of competency-based curricula, there are calls that urge schools to reschedule class structure from a traditional mode to systems that can lend larger blocks of time. As Bhutan recently implemented competency-based curricula, it appeared quite reasonable that there should be a system that allows larger blocks of time in each class. This narrative overview was, thus, carried out to examine the trends of class schedules worldwide and provide insights, if any, to contextualize into Bhutanese setting. The study searched literature from Scopus, ERIC, and Google Scholar supplemented by random search from search engines and citations of the articles retrieved. 81 articles met the criteria for review and analysis after screening out using a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The practices, including traditional schedule, 4×4 block schedule, A/B block schedule, hybrid block schedule, trimester plan, Copernican schedule, interdisciplinary block schedule, and one-subject-a-day schedule appeared in most of the articles reviewed. It emerged that 4×4 and A/B block schedules are far more popular than other class schedules practiced effectively with supporting empirical evidence. Findings from this review have implications to the way the class schedules are organized in Bhutanese educational settings. The implications that need urgent attention by relevant agencies are discussed.
... In a study (Beşoluk, Önder, & Deveci, 2011) on Turkey's University students, it was reported that students who attended the morning sessions (08:00-14:50) achieved higher scores than those with later sessions (15:00-21:50). Pope (2016) also found that having a morning instead of afternoon Maths or English class increased a student's GPA by 0.072 and 0.032 respectively. It was found in a study (Onyper, Thacher, Gilbert, & Gradess, 2012) that grades were somewhat lower for students with predominantly late class schedules. ...
This study aims to explore “when would online learners prefer to interact with multimedia microlearning” in higher education context. Although microlearning is an emerging topic, most of the previous studies were focus on reporting the application results of microlearning, only very few of previous works were specifically conducted on discussing when would online learners prefer to interact with multimedia microlearning. An online questionnaire was used to collect learners’ preference on video-based multimedia microlearning. In total, 77 respondents attempted the survey, the response rate is 32.6%. The findings from this study indicate that more learners prefer to study during morning or afternoon rather than evening or midnight time (H2) (p<0.05). On the other hand, there is no significant difference on when to attempt assessment (H1) and on gender issue (H3, H4). To conclude, assessment for microlearning video can be arranged during the video or after the video, learners prefer learning during daytime and gender does not make significance difference on such preferences. The findings from this study generates knowledge to fill the research gap in the field of microlearning. According to the researcher’s best knowledge, this is the first time that a study like this had been conducted to review and discuss the online learners’ preferences on interacting multimedia microlearning. Hopefully, this study could shed some lights on future directions of the development of microlearning.
... Specifically, individuals may desire and attain varied levels of family colocation at different times-of-the-day and daysof-the-week because of circadian rhythm and societal rhythm. Prior studies on circadian rhythm show that humans perform at the lowest level at night [37], thus experiencing more negative emotions and potentially desiring more family colocation at night. The social norm of working during daytime and weekdays also makes family colocation during nighttime and weekends more feasible. ...
Disasters, from hurricanes to pandemics, tremendously impact human lives and behaviors. Physical closeness to family post-disaster plays a critical role in mental healing and societal sustainability. Nonetheless, little is known about whether and how family colocation alters after a disaster, a topic of immense importance to a post-disaster society. We analyze 1 billion records of population-scale, granular, individual-level mobile location data to quantify family colocation, and examine the magnitude, dynamics, and socioeconomic heterogeneity of the shift in family colocation from the pre- to post-disaster period. Leveraging Hurricane Florence as a natural experiment, and Geographic Information System (GIS), machine learning, and statistical methods to investigate the shift across the landfall (treated) city of Wilmington, three partially treated cites on the hurricane’s path, and two control cities off the path, we uncover dramatic (18.9%), widespread (even among the partially treated cities), and enduring (over at least 3 months) escalations in family colocation. These findings reveal the powerful psychological and behavioral impacts of the disaster upon the broader populations, and simultaneously remarkable human resilience via behavioral adaptations during disastrous times. Importantly, the disaster created a gap across socioeconomic groups non-existent beforehand, with the disadvantaged displaying weaker lifts in family colocation. This sheds important lights on policy making and policy communication to promote sustainable family colocation, healthy coping strategies against traumatic experiences, social parity, and societal recovery.
... We also found that the existing literature discussing the impact of course start times on student academic performance, particularly regarding mathematics, portrays conflicting results. For example, Pope (2016) found that their "results tend to show that students are more productive earlier in the school day, especially in math" (p. 10), as it pertains to middle and high school students. ...
... There are studies that look at academic performance and school time, for example, empirical evidence of delaying the start time of the school day documented a positive impact on students' academic performance [20]. [21] Evaluated performance as a function of time of day using standardised tests and competencies, based on almost 2 million US students aged 11-16, and found that students learn more in the morning, especially in subjects such as Mathematics and Language. ...
The large variety of students in a class makes the teaching task complex, making it difficult for the teacher to personalise learning to each student. Since students should be at the centre of the educational process, it is necessary to know them better, so this study aims to explore the possibilities of using a camera for emotion recognition (ER) with a view to the potential use of this information to improve the teaching-learning process. To accomplish the aim it is previously necessary to develop and apply code capable of detecting faces, ER and transfer this data into a database for further analysis, which consists of establishing the first approximations to the relationship between students' emotions and other conditions (subject, time of day, academic performance). By monitoring the emotional state of students, if used properly, can improve educational processes, such as the teacher's decision-making in the classroom, as well as optimise attention to students, adjusting their methodology or focusing on a specific student.
... In the study of Pope (2016), findings reveal that learners who had English subjects during the first or second period in the morning had slightly higher grades in the subject than students who had English class later in the afternoon. He remarked that learners are more productive in the morning than in the afternoon classes by pointing out three contributing factors, changes in the quality of instruction over the school day, changes in students' learning ability during the school day, and differences in student attendance at the start and end of the school day. ...
This study was conducted to examine the challenges of the learners on the instructional approaches employed by their English teachers in teaching literary texts. It also sought the impressions of the learners towards these instructional approaches and practices. The study employed qualitative realistic phenomenology as design and utilized researcher-made probing questions to elicit responses from the participants. Using In-Depth Interviews (IDI) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) among the learners with Framework Method as the unit of analysis on the responses, the researcher foundseveral themes that emerged and were categorically charted respectively. The challenges hindered learners from learning and appreciating literary texts. It also revealed the favorable impressions of the learners on the instructional approaches and practices of the teachers upon evaluating the teachers' approaches. With the study's limitations, it was recommended to investigate other lived realities of the learners to bank new knowledge and practices in literature education
... Often the school schedule is determined not by the teacher but at the district and administrative level. How time is allocated across the day, week, and year is a powerful force in the school's productivity and effectiveness (Pope, 2016). A school's schedule is "far more important than the simple mechanical assignment of students to teachers, spaces, and time periods. ...
In-service teachers of science work with unique content and pedagogical experiences. Understanding teacher agency in these circumstances will help researchers understand the actions that these teachers take, actions that are consequential for shaping teaching patterns and supporting the development of students’ scientific practices. The purpose of this study was to understand how the agency of six elementary (K–5) in-service teachers was expressed discursively during a global pandemic. The teachers’ agency was qualitatively analyzed using a case study approach (Yin, 2012, 2017) that applied discourse analysis to identify the ways in which science teacher agency is conceptualized, afforded, and constrained through consequential saying, being, and doing (Gee, 2010) within elementary classrooms. I found that elementary science teachers conceptualize and operationalize their agency in service to the student, thus, deprioritizing their own needs as teaching professionals. The teachers have a clear sense of agency, primarily framed by a structure-agency dialectic, the scale of expression is their classroom. I also found that centering the teacher voice during the research process increased teachers’ reflexivity about their professional agency. Recommendations are addressed including future considerations of in-service K-5 teacher agency in science education research.
... Finally, class settings related factors effect students' grades. Larger class size is shown to affect the students' grades negatively (Gaggero and Haile, 2020;Arias and Walker, 2004) and classes that are held earlier during the day result in higher grades (Pope, 2016). Skinner (1985), on the other hand, finds class GPAs are higher for afternoon and evening classes compared to morning classes. ...
Agriculture may not be a field that young people perceive as “fashionable” and find attractive as a future specialization. The importance of supplying world economies with
food production specialists, however, cannot be overstated. In an era of intense competition by universities for high school graduates, the quality of the agricultural education becomes as important as ever before. One indicator for assessing the quality of graduates widely used by the labor market is the university GPA. Grades serve as a tool for differentiating student knowledge and ability; however, there are debates whether the grades really measure knowledge and ability. One reason that gives rise to this concern is the increase in university grades during the last few decades. Is this a grade improvement or a grade inflation and what are the implication of that for graduates, universities and employers? Based on data from Texas A&M University for over 30 years, we show that there are distinct differences in grading patterns between different departments. STEM-related disciplines do not show any grade inflation, while social sciences do. There are differences and similarities between the departments. In all departments, student-related variables had the same positive or negative effects on class GPA. Significant instructor effects are found indicating, as expected, there are differences in how instructors grade.
Under the assumption GPA is an indicator of the quality of education, several policy recommendations arise. First consistent with the literature, decreasing the number of students in a class, is a good strategy for improved student learning. Departments should examine the time of day and meeting length for classes. This may improve quality of learning, which may be especially important for basic building block classes if they are held at the most advantageous time for learning. Finally, imposing stricter standards (GPA thresholds) for incoming transfer students could improve quality of department graduates.
Besides formal admission policies, grading can be used as an informal tool used for controlling student’s admissions to the specific department, or even to specific majors within the department.
... This is because everyone can refresh his memory from what he wrote down earlier in the event of forgetfulness, which is a likely consequence of memorization. Furthermore, mathematics is probably better grasped when it is taught in the morning than in the afternoon depending on other factors (Asy'ari, 1930;Klein, 2001;Pope, 2016;Wile & Shouppe, 2011). However, people pick a language faster when they begin to learn it when they are young, preferably before the age of puberty (Asy'ari, 1930;Johnstone, 2002). ...
This article examines the requirements for quality learning, that is based exclusively on the nadzom “alālā” that wrote by Burhān al-Dīn al-Nu’mān ibn Ibrōhīm al-Zarnūjī in his treatise entitled “Ta’līm al-Muta’allim Ṭorīq al-Ta’allum”. The quantitative research descriptive studies category used in this article and the results are described based on content analysis technique. It reveals that quality learning has six things dependency: ingenious acumen, fervent desire, resilience, sufficent sustenance, guidance of a teacher, and length of time. The best way to test of any educational factors, of course, is develop instruments to measure quantitatively. The development of instruments is yet to do.
... .10 Conditioning on classroom FE has additional benefits in the secondary school setting because they account for otherwise unobserved differences between classrooms such as regular versus block schedules(Rice et al., 2002), ''tracking"-based differences in rigor(Jackson, 2014), and the physical location and time that classes meet(Carrell et al., 2011;Heissel and Norris, 2018;Pope, 2016). ...
... .10 Conditioning on classroom FE has additional benefits in the secondary school setting because they account for otherwise unobserved differences between classrooms such as regular versus block schedules(Rice et al., 2002), ''tracking"-based differences in rigor(Jackson, 2014), and the physical location and time that classes meet(Carrell et al., 2011;Heissel and Norris, 2018;Pope, 2016). ...
We provide novel evidence on the causal impacts of student absences in middle and high school on state test scores, course grades, and educational attainment using a rich administrative dataset that tracks the date and class period of each absence. We use two similar but distinct identification strategies that address potential endogeneity due to time-varying student-level shocks by exploiting within-student, between-subject variation in class-specific absences. We also leverage information on the timing of absences to show that absences that occur after the annual window for state standardized testing do not affect test scores, providing a further check of our identification strategy. Both approaches yield similar results. We find that absences in middle and high school harm contemporaneous student achievement and longer-term educational attainment: On average, missing 10 classes reduces math or English Language Arts test scores by 3–4% of a standard deviation and course grades by 17–18% of a standard deviation. 10 total absences across all subjects in 9th grade reduce both the probability of on-time graduation and ever enrolling in college by 2%. Learning loss due to school absences can have profound economic and social consequences.
... This is because everyone can refresh his memory from what he wrote down earlier in the event of forgetfulness, which is a likely consequence of memorization. Furthermore, mathematics is probably better grasped when it is taught in the morning than in the afternoon depending on other factors (Asy'ari, 1930;Klein, 2001;Pope, 2016;Wile & Shouppe, 2011). However, people pick a language faster when they begin to learn it when they are young, preferably before the age of puberty (Asy'ari, 1930;Johnstone, 2002). ...
This article examines the requirements for quality learning, that is based exclusively on the nadzom “alālā” that wrote by Burhān al-Dīn al-Nu’mān ibn Ibrōhīm al-Zarnūjī in his treatise entitled “Ta’līm al-Muta’allim Ṭorīq al-Ta’allum”. The quantitative research descriptive studies category used in this article and the results are described based on content analysis technique. It reveals that quality learning has six things dependency: ingenious acumen, fervent desire, resilience, sufficent sustenance, guidance of a teacher, and length of time. The best way to test of any educational factors, of course, is develop instruments to measure quantitatively. The development of instruments is yet to do.
... The educational productivity could be seen in aspects of psychology (Walberg, 1980), financing (Annabi, 2017), characteristics of school, teachers, and class (Goldhader et al., 1999), test value of students (Young et al., 1996). Whereas, school productivity is form of efficiency (McMillan, 2004;Levin, 1997;Pope, 2015), related with school accountability (Kim, 2018), and school independency (Banda et al., 2017). ...
We examine the fundamental and complex role that time plays in the learning process. We begin by developing a conceptual framework to elucidate the multiple obstacles schools face in converting total time in school into active learning time. We then synthesize the causal research and document a clear positive effect of additional time on student achievement typically of small to medium magnitude depending on dosage, use, and context. Further descriptive analyses reveal how large differences in the length of the school day and year across public schools are an underappreciated dimension of educational inequality in the United States. Finally, our case study of time loss in one urban district demonstrates the potential to substantially increase instructional time within existing constraints.
In this study, I examine the impact of caloric and macronutrient intake on personal productivity metrics, encapsulated by MacOS application engagement, iPhone application engagement, and frequency of unproductive application switches, during the three-hour period after a meal. As the quest for improved personal productivity intensifies in our modern society, understanding the link between dietary choices and cognitive performance takes on increasing relevance. Over a 26-day period, I systematically accumulated data on my food intake and productivity using self-tracking nutrition and productivity applications, such as MyFitnessPal and Timing App, respectively. I utilized statistical models to uncover the subtle interrelationships between food consumption and productivity. I found that a balanced macronutrient intake, particularly moderate to high protein and lower simple carbohydrate meals, was linked to greater productivity, while high caloric intake appeared to correlate negatively with productivity. However, my macronutrient intake did not necessarily impact my productivity, as did my meal timing and time of day. The time of day and my routine had a substantial edge on my productivity. These results suggest that dietary choices as well as one’s own time-based routine can significantly affect personal productivity, paving the way for further investigation into optimized nutrition and influencing broader dietary and productivity strategies in various professional and personal settings.
The proceedings series Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
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Economics, Econometrics, Finance, Business, Management, Accounting, International
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This study examines the attitudes of secondary education students towards the use of literature, film, and feminist pedagogy as tools for EFL before and after the implementation of a teaching unit. The opinions of 22 students were explored quantitatively and qualitatively to determine whether they considered that conducting EFL from this perspective could be beneficial in enhancing their linguistic competence, motivation, and awareness of gender-related issues. The results showed that, in the pre-test, students' attitudes towards the three dimensions surveyed were generally more positive, and that film was preferred over literature. In the post-test, the agreement rate decreased, but students still valued the usefulness of the teaching unit and showed interest in the teaching approach employed. This decrease towards the post-test may indicate a need for literature-, cinema- and feminism-based EFL to be studied in further detail. The present study also outlines aspects to take into account when conducting EFL with the use of filmic and/or literary texts, or from a feminist perspective.
A variety of external conditions may affect individual performances in high stakes cognitive assessments, with potentially lasting consequences on earnings and career. We provide the first causal evidence that the time of the day is an important condition affecting the performance at the moment of an evaluation. Exploiting a setting in which cognitive assessments are quasi-randomly assigned at a different time of day, we find that peak performance occurs in the early afternoon. The estimated time of day effects follow specific patterns consistent with the circadian rhythm, which suggests that biological factors are important determinants of performances even in economically meaningful settings.
A descriptive-exploratory study which aims to explore the different factors that affects students’ interest in Physical Education. The respondents of the study are 1st and 2nd year students taking minor Physical Education 2 and 4 enrolled in the academic year 2019-2020 at City College of Angeles. Simple random sampling was used to gather data from the respondents. A 35-item questionnaire was adapted to be used on the survey. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) was utilized to identify the factors that affects students’ interest towards PE. Based on the results, the following factors were identified: (1) Love for Physical Education, (2) Teacher, (3) Dance Activities, (4) Sports and Physical Fitness, (5) Teacher’s Consideration, (6) Climate and Facilities and (7) Teacher as an Instructional Material as factors which can affect the interest of students towards PE. From the results, recommendations were provided to teachers and for future research directions. Limitations of this study is acknowledged.
This paper uses exogenous variation in sleep induced by sunset time to present the first human capital estimates of (i) the effects of child sleep from the developing world and (ii) the long-run effects of child sleep in any context. Later sunset reduces children's sleep: when the sun sets later, children go to bed later, but fail to compensate by waking-up later. Sleep-deprived children study less, and increase naptime and indoor leisure activities. Short-run sleep loss decreases children's test scores. Chronic sleep deficits translate into fewer years of education and lower primary and middle school completion rates among school-age children.
As a consequence of these, EFL educators should use an out-of-class flipped classroom model for writing, if they give priority to their EFL students’ attitudes towards the writing models on account of having an effective writing course.
Using administrative data, we study the role of attribution bias in a high-stakes, consequential decision: the choice of a college major. Specifically, we examine the influence of fatigue experienced during exposure to a general education course on whether students choose the major corresponding to that course. To do so, we exploit the conditional random assignment of student course schedules at the United States Military Academy. We find that students who are assigned to an early morning (7:30 AM) section of a general education course are roughly 10% less likely to major in that subject, relative to students assigned to a later time slot for the course. We find similar effects for fatigue generated by having one or more back-to-back courses immediately prior to a general education course that starts later in the day. Finally, we demonstrate that the pattern of results is consistent with attribution bias and difficult to reconcile with competing explanations.
Online learning and assessments have become an integral part of education systems around the world. Online education and learning stand out as one of the important applications of cognitive computing where artificial intelligence - based models can be built by taking into account cognitive abilities of the students such as working memory, retention power, reasoning skills etc. The systems used for online assessment can be better designed considering some factors effecting learning environments and cognitive abilities of the learners. These factors such as sleep hours, time of the day, noise level, environment settings and mood etc. are closely linked with his/ her cognitive skills and affective state which in turn may effect performance in online assessment. This paper attempts to identify the effect of mood, sleep hours, time of the day and energy level on the performance of engineering students in an online assessment in India. The students have attempted the test on Moodle (2.9.0) in three sessions in a day viz. morning, afternoon and late afternoon. Sleep hours and energy level have been captured using a set of questions embedded within the online test items. Mood has been captured by the pictorial representation of various moods using robotic characters during the test. One -way ANOVA has been used as statistical measure to test various hypotheses. The study reported that sleep hours and perceived energy level during various times of the day had no significant effect on the performance of students. However, mood and time of the day had an impact on the students’ performance. Higher number of students performed the best in the morning hours of the day. Also, students with positive moods performed better than students who reported negative mood. The findings from this study can be used for designing a framework of an adaptive tutor based on cognitive skills for teaching different subjects to students. .
A delayed school start time (DSST), achieved by removing zero period, could change students’ other time use during school as well as other forms of human capital accumulation. Using difference-in-differences, we find evidence that a DSST in South Korea reduced the time students spent in gym class without worsening students’ health status. Combined with previous studies that provided evidence that DSSTs increased students’ test scores, our results imply that a DSST can increase students’ academic achievement without reducing other forms of human capital accumulation, although schools might change students’ other time use.
En Colombia se ha incluido un dominio masivo del inglés entre las metas estratégicas, dando pie al programa Colombia Bilingüe y la inclusión de una prueba estandarizada de inglés en el examen de Estado. Este estudio buscó determinar el efecto de diferentes variables institucionales sobre los resultados de esta prueba, a través del método cuantitativo de diseño ex post facto. Se analizaron los resultados en el examen de inglés de 87 instituciones educativas de una de las ciudades más importantes del país. Las variables independientes incluyeron la participación en programas de fortalecimiento del bilingüismo, características institucionales y
el desempeño en lectura crítica, mientras el resultado en el componente de inglés fue la variable dependiente. Para el análisis de los datos se utilizaron el ANOVA de una vía y la regresión lineal multivariada. Los resultados muestran que no hay diferencia estadísticamente significativa en el desempeño entre las escuelas beneficiadas por el plan Colombia Bilingüe y aquellas no beneficiadas. Solo la jornada de estudios arrojó resultados significativos. El modelo de regresión demostró que el desempeño en lectura crítica es el mejor predictor de la variable dependiente, lo que sugiere una relación entre las habilidades en la lengua materna y la lengua extranjera.
When judging the value of a good, people may be overly influenced by the state in which they previously consumed it. For example, someone who tries out a new restaurant while very hungry may subsequently rate it as high quality, even if the food is mediocre. We produce a simple framework for this form of attribution bias that embeds a standard model of decision making as a special case. We test for attribution bias across two consumer decisions. First, we conduct an experiment in which we randomly manipulate the thirst of participants prior to consuming a new drink. Second, using data from thousands of amusement park visitors, we explore how pleasant weather during their most recent trip affects their stated and actual likelihood of returning. In both of these domains, we find evidence that people misattribute the influence of a temporary state to a stable quality of the consumption good. We provide evidence against several alternative accounts for our findings and discuss the broader implications of attribution bias in economic decision making.
This paper describes one child voice enabling strategy that allowed children in sixth class in an urban primary school in Ireland to have a say in the organisation of their learning. The lack of involvement that children have in the organisation of their school week was questioned and this prompted an investigation into a new approach to enabling child voice in the classroom. Action research is an iterative process that develops through a self-reflective spiral of planning, acting and observing, re-planning and further implementation. Each cycle followed a similar approach, of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. This research found that child voice can be effectively incorporated into the organisation of their learning when neither the teacher nor the children take total control but work together as equal individuals. In this enquiry the children design, implement and adhere to their own weekly timetable while adhering to the regulations set out by the Ireland’s Department of Education and Skills (DES). This research which aims to consider child voice when determining a timetable can be seen as a first step to integrate child-centred approaches into the classroom.
Sleep impacts academic performance. Past studies focused on the negative influence of shorter sleep duration and poor sleep quality on GPA. New novel sleep measures have emerged. Sleep consistency measures how likely a student is to be awake or asleep at the same time each day. Students with greater sleep consistency have better academic performance. A morning circadian preference and earlier classes are associated with higher grades. Later high school start times may increase sleep duration, but do not consistently increase GPA, but improve mood and well-being. If a student is struggling academically, screening for a sleep disorder is vital. Devices are under development which may allow students to better monitor their sleep habits, sleep consistency, chronotype and sleep behaviors. For the proactive student, these devices may enhance sleep behaviors and academic performance. Schools need to develop sleep friendly policies and interventions to promote healthy sleep for their students.
Standardized tests in the U.S. indicate that girls now score just as well as boys in math.
This paper examines the relationship between course scheduling and student achievement, controlling for student and course characteristics. The literature in psychology recognizes that performance varies by time of day and that spacing learning out over time may foster greater long-term memory of items. We use student grades as a measure of performance and find a small, positive time of day effect partly driven by student selection into preferred course times. In addition, we find that students earn higher grades in classes that meet more often.
Experimental shift work studios have typically found body temperature and performance efficiency to show very similar circadian rhythms. However, the performance tasks used have placed little, if any, reliance on short term memory. Studies of the variation in performance during the normal waking day have found performance on most tasks to improve over the day but that on short term memory tasks to decrease. The present paper reports an experimental study of the performance of two subjects on a rapidly rotating (-2-2) shift system. Three versions of a now performance test, each with a different memory load, wore administered four times per shift. With the low memory load version, performance showed a high positive correlation with body temperature and was poor during the night shift. However, with the high memory load version, performance was negatively correlated with temperature and was best during the night shift. It is concluded that future shift work studies must take into account the memory load of the task under investigation.
Subjects performed two tests of logical reasoning at each of six different times of day. In terms of speed, preformance on both tests was found to improve markedly from 08.00 to 14.00 and then to fall off fairly rapidly. Accuracy was found to decrease fairly linearly over the day. The results are interpreted as indicating that the different functions relating performance efficiency to time of day found by previous workers are due to differences in task demands rather than to individual differences. It is suggested that the larger the short-term memory component of a task the earlier in the day performance peaks.
Concern over safety has resulted in legislation by, for example, the Commission of the European Union, to limit the number of hours worked at night. There is, however, no direct evidence that injuries are more frequent at night. We analysed all 4645 injury incidents reported for a year on a rotating three-shift system in a large engineering company where the a-priori accident risk appeared to be constant. The relative risk of sustaining an injury was 1.23 (95% CI 1.14-1.31) higher on the night shift than on the morning shift, which showed the lowest incidence. The type of work (machine versus self-paced) affected the pattern and nature of injuries; for self-paced work the relative risk of more serious injury on the night shift compared with the morning shift was 1.82 (1.30-2.34).
Reduced sleep time is commonplace for many interns and residents. Recent studies, however, suggest that sleep loss and fatigue result in significant neurobehavioral impairments in healthy young adults. We reviewed studies addressing the effects of sleep loss on cognition, performance, and health in surgical and nonsurgical residents. We describe the effectiveness of countermeasures for sleepiness, including recent work-hour restrictions. A more complete understanding of the issues of sleep loss during residency training can inform innovative strategies to minimize the effects of sleepiness and fatigue on patient care and resident safety.
The arguments in favour of introducing shift work clearly depend on productivity and safety being maintained at an acceptable level. However, the evidence reviewed in this paper clearly indicates that both productivity and safety may be compromised at night. More specifically, safety declines over successive night shifts, with increasing hours on duty and between successive rest breaks. The only known way to minimize these problems is to improve shift systems with respect to these factors. However, these factors need to be considered in combination with one another since, for example, a long night shift that includes frequent rest breaks might well prove safer than a shorter night shift with less frequent breaks.
Common pain conditions appear to have an adverse effect on work, but no comprehensive estimates exist on the amount of productive time lost in the US workforce due to pain.
To measure lost productive time (absence and reduced performance due to common pain conditions) during a 2-week period.
Cross-sectional study using survey data from the American Productivity Audit (a telephone survey that uses the Work and Health Interview) of working adults between August 1, 2001, and July 30, 2002.
Random sample of 28 902 working adults in the United States.
Lost productive time due to common pain conditions (arthritis, back, headache, and other musculoskeletal) expressed in hours per worker per week and calculated in US dollars.
Thirteen percent of the total workforce experienced a loss in productive time during a 2-week period due to a common pain condition. Headache was the most common (5.4%) pain condition resulting in lost productive time. It was followed by back pain (3.2%), arthritis pain (2.0%), and other musculoskeletal pain (2.0%). Workers who experienced lost productive time from a pain condition lost a mean (SE) of 4.6 (0.09) h/wk. Workers who had a headache had a mean (SE) loss in productive time of 3.5 (0.1) h/wk. Workers who reported arthritis or back pain had mean (SE) lost productive times of 5.2 (0.25) h/wk. Other common pain conditions resulted in a mean (SE) loss in productive time of 5.5 (0.22) h/wk. Lost productive time from common pain conditions among active workers costs an estimated 61.2 billion dollars per year. The majority (76.6%) of the lost productive time was explained by reduced performance while at work and not work absence.
Pain is an inordinately common and disabling condition in the US workforce. Most of the pain-related lost productive time occurs while employees are at work and is in the form of reduced performance.
To explore the effect of sleep loss on cognitive function, memory, and vigilance in resident physicians and nonphysicians and on residents' clinical performance.
Meta-analysis of 60 studies on the effect of sleep deprivation, with a total sample of 959 physicians and 1,028 nonphysicians and 5,295 individual effect indexes.
Cognitive performance and performance on clinical tasks under acute and partial chronic sleep deprivation. Additional analyses stratified the data by physician/nonphysician, type of performance, and length and type of sleep loss and assessed the combined effect of several of these factors.
Sleep loss of less than 30 hours reduced physicians' overall performance by nearly 1 standard deviation and clinical performance by more than 1.5 standard deviations. The effect of sleep deprivation was larger in nonphysicians than in physicians (corrected d value -.995 vs -.880), with these smaller effects likely resulting from "study factors," primarily variation in the hours without sleep prior and chronically reduced sleep in the "rested" controls in physician studies.
The weekly hours and continuous wakefulness permitted under the current national minimum standards for residents may not completely guard against the negative effect of sleep loss on cognitive and clinical performance. Research is needed to explore the effect of continuous duty periods and chronic partial sleep loss in residents and to assess the clinical and educational consequences of sleep loss. The goal should be to combine scientifically based duty-hour limits with broader efforts to enhance patient safety and resident learning.
We administered measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence to Morning- and Evening-type adolescents who were tested either during a morning session or an afternoon session, at times chosen to reflect the limits of the average school day schedule. For the fluid intelligence measures, there was a synchrony effect, with better performance at times that matched individuals' preferences. A composite measure of the subtests used (block design, digit span, and vocabulary) computed to a 6 point difference in IQ estimates. We also assessed the behavioral adjustment of these participants and found heightened levels of maladaptive behavior for Evening-type adolescents. Adolescents tested at their nonoptimal times of day and adolescents who are Evening-types appear to be at risk for poor academic performance and Evening-types appear to be at risk for behavioral adjustment problems.
Much of the theory in personnel economics relates to effects of monetary incentives on output, but the theory was untested because appropriate data were unavailable. A new data set for the Safelite Glass Corporation tests the predictions that average productivity will rise, the firm will attract a more able workforce, and variance in output across individuals at the firm will rise when it shifts to piece rates. In Safelite, productivity effects amount to a 44-percent increase in output per worker. This firm apparently had selected a suboptimal compensation system, as profits also increased with the change.
Are teachers' impacts on students' test scores (value-added) a good measure of their quality? This question has sparked debate partly because of a lack of evidence on whether high value-added (VA) teachers improve students' long-term outcomes. Using school district and tax records for more than one million children, we find that students assigned to high-VA teachers are more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, and are less likely to have children as teenagers. Replacing a teacher whose VA is in the bottom 5 percent with an average teacher would increase the present value of students' lifetime income by approximately $250,000 per classroom.
PERFORMANCE ON 8 TASKS RANGING FROM NOVEL LABORATORY TESTS TO HIGHLY PRACTICED FAMILIAR SKILLS WAS MEASURED AT 5 TIMES OF DAY BETWEEN 8 AM AND 9 PM. 5 TASKS SHOWED A CONSISTENT TENDENCY FOR IMPROVEMENT IN EFFICIENCY; IN 1 TASK THERE WAS DETERIORATION; AND IN THE REMAINING 2 THE EFFECTS WERE NOT SIGNIFICANT. RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE OBSERVED TRENDS ARE RELATED TO THE UNDERLYING STATE OF AROUSAL AS INDICATED BY BODY TEMPERATURE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The alleged rhythmical fluctuations of physiological and psychological processes--seasonal, daily, and hourly--has occupied the attention of some workers in these fields for many years. Altogether a great deal of experimental work has been done in investigations that, when critically considered, are far from decisive. It would be of much practical and theoretical value to know in detail about these fluctuations in performance that appear to be conditioned--remotely, perhaps--by chronological and meteorological factors. Tests of speed of reading for understanding, grasping of important points from selections read, retention of important items from reading after a few minutes and for forty minutes, were given to 112 college students according to a schedule that made it possible to compare their performance on these tests either for the days of the week or for the hours of the day. It has been found that the performance was at its peak on Wednesday, that it gradually approached the high point on this day and abruptly declined on the day following to a very low level. In general all of the individual tests followed this curve of rise and fall. From 8 A.M. until the period from 4 to 5 P.M. there was found a steady decline at the hours studied. From 8 P.M. until 10 P.M. there is a rise, which, however, scarcely comes up to the average of the day. From 10 to 11 P.M. there is a loss. These conclusions apply, not necessarily to every individual student, but represent accurately the average performance of a large group, or the 'typical student.' It may perhaps be that there are individual exceptions to these findings as the result of habits of study and work. It is doubtful if there are variations as a result of one student being intrinsically and apart from habits of work different from others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Theoretical considerations and empirical data suggest that existing technologies and procedures can improve indoor environments in a manner that signifi-cantly increases productivity and health. The existing literature contains moderate to strong evidence that characteristics of buildings and indoor environments significantly influence rates of communicable respiratory illness, allergy and asthma symptoms, sick building symptoms, and worker performance. Whereas there is considerable un-certainty in the estimates of the magnitudes of productivity gains that may be obtained by providing better indoor environments, the projected gains are very large. For the United States, the estimated potential annual savings and productivity gains are 14 billion from reduced respiratory disease, 4 billion from reduced allergies and asthma, 30 billion from reduced sick building syndrome symptoms, and 160 billion from direct improvements in worker performance that are unre-lated to health. Productivity gains that are quantified and demonstrated could serve as a strong stimulus for energy efficiency measures that simultaneously improve the indoor environment.
SUMMARY Studies of overtime have pointed to fatigue as a potential factor producing, for example, a three-fold increase in accident rate after 16 h of work, increases in back injuries, hospital outbreaks of bacterial infection, or nuclear-power plant safety compromises. Fatigue has been measured more directly in studies of scheduled long workshifts, where performance decrements in both work-related tasks and laboratory-type behavioural tests have been observed, and significant loss of sleep and increases in subjective sleepiness have been reported. Analyses of accidents or injuries during scheduled extended workshifts, however, have produced equivocal results. Factors which could compound the fatiguing effects of extended workshifts, such as workload, noise, chemical exposure, or duties and responsibilities outside of the workplace, rarely have been studied systematically. It is concluded that extended workshift schedules should be instituted cautiously and evaluated carefully, with appropriate attention given to staffing levels, workload, job rotation, environmental exposures, emergency contingencies, rest breaks, commuting time, and social or domestic responsibilities.
Recent sleep research finds that many adolescents are sleep-deprived because of both early school start times and changing sleep patterns during the teen years. This study identifies the causal effect of school start time on academic achievement by using two policy changes in the daily schedule at the US Air Force Academy along with the randomized placement of freshman students to courses and instructors. Results show that starting the school day 50 minutes later has a significant positive effect on student achievement, which is roughly equivalent to raising teacher quality by one standard deviation. (JEL I23, J13)
Reports of work accidents and increased absence due to sickness among shift workers have suggested that their work performance and health are adversely affected by interference with the body's normal circadian or biological rhythm. Since the rotating shift is the most disruptive of the work regimens, an investigation was undertaken of the reportable occupational injuries of 1700 paint production and associated employees of one company working only on rotating shift. Their annual accident incidence rates averaged over 10 years were compared to the average annual rate reported by the Department of Labor for the entire United States paint manufacturing industry representing predominately day and non-rotating shift workers. The significance of the hour of the accident incidence rates was tested by chi-square statistics using loglinear models appropriate for null hypotheses that assume no effect due to shift work. The incidence rates of the company studied were lower than those of the U.S. paint industry, suggesting work safety practices uniquely related to the company studied may have predominated. Within the company, however, some time-of-day and circadian effects were indicated by an increased rate of accidents on the night shift, particularly during the last 3 h of the shift.
Many teenagers go to bed and wake up significantly later than younger children, a developmental progression thought to reflect adolescent psychosocial processes. To determine whether biological processes may underlie a delay of phase preference in adolescents, 183 sixth-grade boys and 275 sixth-grade girls completed questionnaires for morningness/eveningness (M/E) and pubertal status. School environment and birth order were also evaluated. A significant relationship of pubertal status to M/E was found in girls, with a similar though nonsignificant trend in boys. No relationship between M/E and psychosocial factors was found. These data support involvement of a biological factor in the adolescent phase preference delay and indicate that our current understanding of adolescent sleep patterns may need revision.
Sleep and waking behaviors change significantly during the adolescent years. The objective of this study was to describe the relation between adolescents' sleep/wake habits, characteristics of students (age, sex, school), and daytime functioning (mood, school performance, and behavior). A Sleep Habits Survey was administered in homeroom classes to 3,120 high school students at 4 public high schools from 3 Rhode Island school districts. Self-reported total sleep times (school and weekend nights) decreased by 40-50 min across ages 13-19, ps < .001. The sleep loss was due to increasingly later bedtimes, whereas rise times were more consistent across ages. Students who described themselves as struggling or failing school (C's, D's/F's) reported that on school nights they obtain about 25 min less sleep and go to bed an average of 40 min later than A and B students, ps < .001. In addition, students with worse grades reported greater weekend delays of sleep schedule than did those with better grades. Furthermore, this study examined a priori defined adequate sleep habit groups versus less than adequate sleep habit groups on their daytime functioning. Students in the short school-night total sleep group (< 6 hr 45 min) and/or large weekend bedtime delay group (> 120 min) reported increased daytime sleepiness, depressive mood, and sleep/wake behavior problems, ps < .05, versus those sleeping longer than 8 hr 15 min with less than 60 min weekend delay. Altogether, most of the adolescents surveyed do not get enough sleep, and their sleep loss interferes with daytime functioning.
Physicians' ability to provide high-quality care can be adversely affected
by many factors,1 including sleep deprivation.
Concerns about the danger of physicians who are sleep deprived and providing
care have led state legislatures and academic institutions to try to constrain
the work hours of physicians in training (house staff).2
Unlike commercial aviation, for example, medicine is an industry in which
public safety is directly at risk but does not have mandatory restrictions
on work hours. Legislation before the US Congress3
calls for limiting resident work hours to 80 hours per week and no more than
24 hours of continuous work. Shifts of residents working in the emergency
department would be limited to 12 hours. The proposed legislation, which includes
public disclosure and civil penalties for hospitals that violate the work
hour restrictions, does not address extended duty shifts of attending or private
practice physicians.
Sleep/wake timing shifts later in young humans during the second decade of life. In this review we describe sleep/wake patterns, changes in these patterns across adolescence, and evidence for the role of environmental, psychosocial, and biological factors underlying these changes. A two-process model incorporating circadian (Process C) and sleep/wake homeostatic (Process S) components is outlined. This model may help us to understand how developmental changes translate to shifted sleep/wake patterns. Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), which has a typical onset during the second decade of life, may be an extreme manifestation of homeostatic and circadian changes in adolescence. We describe symptoms, prevalence, and possible etiology of DSPS, as well as treatment approaches in adolescents.
Teacher quality is widely believed to be important for education, despite little evidence that teachers' credentials matter for student achievement. To accurately measure variation in achievement due to teachers' characteristics-both observable and unobservable-it is essential to identify teacher fixed effects. Unlike previous studies, I use panel data to estimate teacher fixed effects while controlling for fixed student characteristics and classroom specific variables. I find large and statistically significant differences among teachers: a one standard deviation increase in teacher quality raises reading and math test scores by approximately .20 and .24 standard deviations, respectively, on a nationally standardized scale. In addition, teaching experience has statistically significant positive effects on reading test scores, controlling for fixed teacher quality.