As teacher I constantly hear about how short of an attention span our kids have.  The multi-task and play video games.  The text message on a phone.  Fast, fast, fast is what describes their life.

So how does education respond to this need.  (or least all the research I have seen in the last 20 years)?

Extend the school day.
Extend the class times.
Extend the school year.
Spend more time learning.

So, according to educational research, if a kid has an attention span of 15 minutes, I should try to teach him a lesson in 30 minutes, and it that doesn't work, I should try 2 hours.  What is wrong with this?

I teach at a fine arts elementary and my students spend 90 minutes in fine arts everyday.  I have looked to find a faster way to teach them for 6 years.  I have been unable to find any research.  Rush says follow the money, I guess there are no grants for shortening the school day.

cabiv