Engaged Class Without Cell Phones? It's Easier Than You Think

In this research article, “A Happy and Engaged Class Without Cell Phones? It’s Easier Than You Think” by Louise Katz and Warren Lambert, the researcher determines the link between the use of cell phones and distractions that take place in classrooms. In order to gather this information, the researcher had her students turn in their cell phones voluntarily. With this, as a reward and incentive, the researcher used extra credit to motivate her students to turn in their cell phones to the desk. When the role was called, the students that placed their cell phones on the table verbally acknowledged their participation. As she did the research, the researcher noted that she had a smaller classes of students in a community college that all had other jobs and commitments. Alongside the research, there was a survey given to the student that allowed the researcher to have insight into what the subjects thought of the results of the study of which they were a part. With this research, this researcher was able to understand
When the student uses their phone in class and forgoes selective attention, there is a gap in the amount of information that is encoded. When the information is encoded improperly, the student has a more difficult time retrieving the information that they had tempted to remember. If the student takes their attention away from their cell phone, there can be a deeper level of processing if the student places selective attention on the material that they are receiving in class. Alongside selective attention, the student can rehearse and chunk the material to make it last longer in the short term memory to allow there to be better retrieval. Overall, the lack of cell phone in a classroom setting would allow for less divided attention and better retrieval and