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New Research Says Starting University Classes at 11am or Later Would Improve Learning (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the science-of-learning dept.

Using a sample of first- and second-year college students at the University of Nevada-Reno in the US and Britain's Open University, a group of researchers analyzed students' cognitive performance throughout the day and found that the best learning happened in classes that began later in the morning. From a report: Since every person's chronotype, or sleep pattern, is slightly different, there isn't one universal start time to benefit everyone -- but according to students' survey responses as well as theoretical data on circadian rhythms parsed by the researchers, starting classes at 11am or later benefits the greatest number of students. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience this week, bolsters prior research indicating that teenagers learn better with late starts; it also extends the studied age group from high school students to college sophomores and freshmen.

28 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Duh by TFlan91 · · Score: 5, Funny

    New research says if you let kids sleep through their hangover, it will improve their learning. News at 11.

    1. Re:Duh by Tharkkun · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Did they study the improvement on early classes if kids went to sleep and woke earlier? Did they study the benefits when kids stay up even later and wake even later?

      I doubt it. Because I would bet if they changed classes to 11AM then students would just stay up for 3 hours later knowing they could sleep in. Once their bodies adjusted it would business as usual. Waking up groggy for 11AM classes instead.

    2. Re:Duh by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2, Informative

      I doubt it. Because I would bet if they changed classes to 11AM then students would just stay up for 3 hours later.

      Wrong. RTFA. It is not just conjecture, but is based on actual data of students that were scheduled for later classes.

    3. Re:Duh by bigdavex · · Score: 3, Funny

      New research says if you let kids sleep through their hangover, it will improve their learning. News at 11.

      I can't watch that; I'll be in class.

      --
      -Dave
    4. Re:Duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exactly. There are two reasons why it is a bad idea:

      1) Then they'll complain that classes start before 12pm. When I've taken polls about what students do and don't like about a class, I get a full 10-15% of students complaining that "10am is too early". I can sort of understand that even if I think it is silly, but when I've also taught the class at 1pm and asked the same question, 5% of the students *still* complain it is "too early". They need to get their acts together and decide to dedicate the whole day to their studies and stop partying until 1am or later in the morning.

      2) if they go through university with no classes before 11, what kind of preparation is that for the real world where many businesses expect you there at 9am or even earlier? Learn to adjust. They'll be fine.

      There are strong biological reasons to remain roughly synchronized with when the Sun is up. Going to bed a quarter of a day after Sun down is the source of the problem. The solution isn't to shift the start of work a quarter day later.

    5. Re:Duh by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      I doubt it. Because I would bet if they changed classes to 11AM then students would just stay up for 3 hours later knowing they could sleep in. Once their bodies adjusted it would business as usual. Waking up groggy for 11AM classes instead.

      You'd think that, but no. For teenagers, their circadian rhythm is offset a few hours so a later start time improves matters, even when you realize they sleep later. There is a lot of truth to the teenager sleeping in beyond noon on a weekend.

      The big reason we don't start high school around 10AM or so is because it would end late for teens who might have a job, sports, etc.

  2. Headline: by SlashGodet · · Score: 2

    "Morning sex improves University Class learning."

  3. Re:One semester by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And this pretty much sums up the value of the modern college degree.

  4. Re:One semester by magarity · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every semester I signed up for 8am classes all week; I worked night shift to pay for school so I showed up awake and ready. It was the classes that started after 11am that killed me.

  5. Re:Survey Responses by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 2

    At a party school 11am is to early and 1pm is too late. The idea is to get the piece of paper, not learn anything.

  6. Unfortunately Will Never Happen by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When I was in university they ran classes from 8:30 am to 10pm, this is partly due to making scheduling easier but also reduces the number of rooms they need.

  7. Re:One semester by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    I had a biology class like that. The night before the final exam, I read the 1,200-page biology textbook in 12 hours. I got a B for that course.

  8. Re:Way to prepare kids for the real world by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 2

    I'm with you! God made us to be corporate slaves! Start in grade school to work toward your corporate servitude! Oscar Muñoz and the CEO league salute you!

  9. Re:New structure for school day by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

    I work at a company. They don't schedule work for my convenience either. My needs are a distance second to the success of the business. Damn them!

  10. Re:One semester by Notabadguy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One semester I had a Monday 8am lecture, only lecture for that class.

    Never made it to a single one. Never met the professor once. Still passed the course, somehow.

    I went to West Point - missing a class resulted in disciplinary action. I had one professor that was so bad at teaching (one of my math classes) that I had to use my infinitely valuable free period to sit in ANOTHER professor's identical class to try learning something so I could pass - because failing a course also results in disciplinary action (and dismissal from school).

    Part of me is jealous that you got to skate by, and part of me is grateful that schools like yours exist to distinguish schools like mine.

  11. Re:One semester by Altus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Professors so shitty that you have to go to a second section just to learn the material... yeah, sounds "distinguished" to me

    --

    "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  12. You'd have better luck with mandatory exercises by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not the time, it's the time awake. In college-aged people especially (late nights, partying, etc) this is a factor. The military has PT every morning to make sure people are awake before work, 30-60 minutes (depending on the exercises done) each morning is enough to wake people up, another 30-60 minutes to shower and eat and you're at 1-2 hours prep time to be fully alert. The issue isn't the time (if you started at 11AM each morning you'd just have 1PM be the new "best time to start" within a month or two.)

    1. Re:You'd have better luck with mandatory exercises by PPH · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This would seem to be the best solution. Play reveille on the dorm's PA system every morning at 6:00AM. Breakfast will be served promptly at 6:30 AM at the mess hall a two mile jog from the dorms. A jog back to the dorm and hot water will be available for showers from 7:30 to 8:00 AM. Then its off to class.

      We'll just call this an intro course: Life Responsibility 101.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:You'd have better luck with mandatory exercises by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 2

      From a fitness standpoint it's best to alternate jogging and muscle training each day so your respective muscles can recover properly. Also, you don't typically want to eat before working out - some people might, but if you have everyone eat then jog for an hour chances are someone will actually shit themselves, and most people will cramp up. The best process is immediately after waking everyone goes out to stretch and do whatever the workout for the day is, then stretch again, then shit/shower/shave and get food. It's a tried-and-true process.

  13. Some of us are morning people by sensei+moreh · · Score: 2

    My first quarter in college:
    8 AM E&M
    9 AM Linear Algebra
    10 AM Russian
    11 AM English
    Except for the physics lab one afternoon a week, I was done by noon, and could get my homework completed before the noisy masses returned to the dorm mid-afternoon

    --
    Geology - it's not rocket science; it's rock science
  14. Re:New structure for school day by PPH · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We are talking about learning in a college environment.

    Learning includes things like responsibility, good study/work habits and prioritizing your time. It's not about the success of a business. It's about your success or failure later on in life.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Re: One semester by Defakto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hate when people have this view on the military. We are not mindless robots, nor are we trained to be. Sure, initial training seems like it, but it's only because at that level you don't necessarily have the whole picture of what needs to happen, what's happening, and how to complete the mission. There are times where you need to follow orders and times where you can question the current plan.

    I rank this right there with all military are conservative, racist, violent, or arrogant.

  16. Re:One semester by computational+super · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You probably got bonus points for being the only student who showed up. I once showed up for an optional final exam - I needed (I think) a B or better on the final to bump my grade from a B to an A. I was the only one who showed up, so when the professor walked in, hands full of exam papers, he looked at me and said, "what the hell, you get an A. Go home."

    --
    Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
  17. Lots of reasons it won't work by timholman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A few comments from my perspective as a faculty member:

    (1) Faculty and staff want to arrive and go home at a reasonable hour. Setting class start times to 11 a.m. will effectively push back the entire academic day by two hours. People don't want to be leaving their offices at 7 p.m. every day.

    (2) You can't "compress" the academic day. In other words, you cannot just say "We'll only hold classes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., instead of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m." You'd need more classrooms (since more classes would be held during the same time slots) and there will be more class conflicts between required courses during the same time slots. Scheduling would be a nightmare.

    (3) 9 a.m. really isn't that early. Most students have the luxury of rolling out of bed after 8:30 a.m. and heading to class without a shower, a meal, dealing with family members, or tackling a 30-minute commute. Your average faculty member is probably waking up at 6:30 a.m. to get started on the day. A two hour "sleep-in" period is already built in for college students.

    (4) 9 a.m. is actually late by post-graduation standards. Most jobs in the real world start at least an hour earlier. Students might as well get used to it now.

    1. Re:Lots of reasons it won't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      1. In universities, faculty typically use off hours to work on research, so having time in the morning to do so is hardly going to be a problem for them. Staff wouldn't really need to change their hours since they don't manage classes.

      2. You could, but you'd have to compromise on course load, course planning, whatever.

      3. 9 a.m. is pretty damned early in my opinion. I know other people think 9 a.m. is ridiculously late. But, frankly, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. The question is how being up and doing cognitive work affects people at various hours of the day. This study seems to provide a not unreasonable answer.

      4. This is also a good argument for not necessarily starting work at early hours in the day. I know back when I had a job where I didn't set my own hours, getting in at 8 meant I was basically useless until about 11. At worst, I was barely working at all, and at best I was doing fiddly busywork until my brain was ready for something meaningful.

    2. Re:Lots of reasons it won't work by laddiebuck · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Fiirst of all, it's not true for everywhere in the real world. Most businesses that care about their workers' productivity - arts, engineering, sciences - you already go in late or pretty much at whatever schedule suits you, the same is true of most professions. It's mostly customer-facing (everything from retail to stockbroking) low-level (i.e. not management) jobs that operate on early schedules.

      But that misses the broader point. If we decided as a society to change working hours to reduce accidents or improve public health, academia could be trend-setters. When those grads eventually become CEOs and businesses starts clamoring for regulatory change, regulation could change the picture for everybody just like past labor reforms (like maximum hour, night shift, or overtime laws) or regulations on commercial time (like Daylight Savings Time).

      "This is how things are done" is not a good reason not to explore this.

  18. Re:Screw that by EzInKy · · Score: 2

    That's right. Get robbed at night? Too bad! Police only work 9-5. Get sick at night? Too bad! Doctors and Nurses only work 9-5. Only special "snowflakes" are awake and alert after the sun goes down.

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  19. Re:Way to prepare kids for the real world by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

    The real world doesn't work this way.
    The real world works the way you make it work.

    Cows need to be milked every 12h.

    It does not matter to them if you milk them
    either: 6:00 and 18:00
    or: 9:00 and 21:00

    The problem are not people sleeping long but a world that is going wrong.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.