Elementary school students spend as much as 29 percent of their time “off-task” during the school day, according to new research published in Cognitive Science. The researchers found that the amount of time varies depending on the type of instructional activity in which students are engaged.

Researchers Karrie E. Godwin, Megan Petroccia and Anna V. Fisher from Carnegie Mellon University and Victoria Almeda and Ryan S. Baker from Teachers College of Columbia University observed 500 students in 22 classrooms at five elementary schools to determine what factors influence children’s off-task behavior in the classroom. Children were considered off-task if they were not directing their eyes at the instructor or the activity. The children were observed during individual work, small-group work and whole-group instruction when they were seated at their desks or on the floor surrounding the teacher.

The researchers found a strong correlation between the type of instructional format the teacher used and whether or not the student stayed on task. Individual work as well as whole-group instruction when children were seated at their desks were more likely to lead to off-task behavior, while doing small-group work or whole-group instruction when students sit on the floor around the teacher were the instructional formats least likely to produce off-task behavior. Surprisingly, the student’s gender and grade were not factors in the amount of time a student spent off-task once instructional format was taken into account.

Peer distractions, in which the child interacted with or looked at another student, accounted for 45 percent of all off-task behavior in elementary school students. Self-distractions, such as playing with a personal possession, accounted for 18 percent of all off-task behavior. Environmental distractions, including looking at objects in the classroom not related to the instructional activity, accounted for 16 percent. And 11 percent of off-task behavior involved the children making inappropriate use of an object that was part of the instructional activity.