Classroom Time-Block Attention Simulator

Build the class schedule

Activity type

Block length 8 min

Playback

Simulation speed 6 min/s

Live readouts

Elapsed / total

0:00 / 0:00

Class avg. attention

—

Effective learning

0.0 min-eq

Attention lapses

How it works

Each of the 30 students carries a live attention level A(t) ∈ [0,100], driven by the vigilance-decrement model from time-on-task research: attention peaks at the start of an activity (a novelty response) and decays toward a floor the longer the same activity continues, exactly as observed in lecture-attention studies (dips recurring roughly every 10–18 minutes of unbroken passive listening).

Within a block, elapsed time t (min):
  A(t) = floor + (A0 − floor) · e^(−t / τ)

τ (decay time-constant, minutes):
  lecture 5   discussion 11   activity 16   break → recovers, no decay

A0 (reset level at block start):
  A0 = 100 · (1 − 0.35 · fatigue) · per-student noise

fatigue accumulates during lecture/discussion/activity blocks
and drains back down during break blocks — modelling real
cumulative classroom fatigue across a period.

Schedule — stack lecture / discussion / activity / break blocks to model a real class period; each type has its own decay constant τ.
Effective learning — the time-integral of attention weighted by activity type, in minute-equivalents: ∫ (A(t)/100) · weight(type) dt. It is what the schedule is actually "worth", not just its clock length.
Attention lapses — counted whenever a student's attention crosses below 40%, summed across the class. Frequent short blocks and breaks measurably reduce this number versus one long unbroken lecture of the same total length.
This is the quantitative case for chunking a lesson into varied, time-boxed blocks rather than one long stretch — the core skill this simulation is named for.

High attention Drifting Lapsed

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