Boredom
Overview
- Influence: Boredom
- Domain: Student
- Sub-Domain: Beliefs, attitudes, and dispositions
- Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have a negative impact
- Influence Definition: While earlier researchers cited under-stimulation as the cause of boredom in students, the more recent “attentional theory” of boredom postulates that boredom results from a deficit in attention—often the result of a student’s belief in the irrelevance of the subject at hand. When surveyed, however, students often cite proximate causes of boredom (such as an over-use of PowerPoint slides; tasks of low challenge; or when asked to remain passive and listen to others, especially, the talk and talk). Students often cope with boredom by daydreaming, texting, or turning to social media.
Evidence
- Number of meta-analyses: 3
- Number of studies: 81
- Number of students: 30,205
- Number of effects: 84
- Effect size: -0.33
Meta-Analyses
| Journal Title | Author | First Author's Country | Article Name | Year Published | Variable | Number of Studies | Number of Students | Number of Effects | Effect Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Educational Psychology Review | Tze, Daniels, & Klassen | Canada | Evaluating the relationship between boredom and academic outcomes: a meta-analysis | 2015 | Boredom on achievement | 29 | 19,052 | 29 | -0.49 |
| Participant Evaluation | Trimble, Patall, & Steingut | Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: participant evaluation at 11-12 years. | 2015 | Boredom on achievement | 27 | 0 | 30 | -0.45 | |
| Doctoral dissertation | Camacho-Morles | Australia | Collaborative problem solving and academic performance of adolescents: The role of activity achievement emotions | 2019 | Frustration | 25 | 11,153 | 25 | -0.04 |
| TOTAL/AVERAGE | 81 | 30,205 | 84 | -0.33 | |||||
Confidence
The Confidence is the average of these four measures, each divided into five approximately equal groups and assigned a value from 1 to 5 based on the following criteria:
-
Number of Meta-analyses
- 1 = 1
- 2 = 2–3
- 3 = 4–6
- 4 = 7–9
- 5 = 10+
-
Number of Studies
- 1 = 1–10
- 2 = 11–50
- 3 = 51–200
- 4 = 201–400
- 5 = 400+
-
Number of Students
- 1 = 1–2,500
- 2 = 2,501–10,000
- 3 = 10,000–20,000
- 4 = 20,000–100,000
- 5 = 100,001+
-
Number of Effects
- 1 = 1–100
- 2 = 101–300
- 3 = 301–600
- 4 = 601–1,200
- 5 = 1,200+
| Number of Meta-Analyses | Number of Studies | Number of Students | Number of Effects | Overall Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confidence Factor | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 |