- Title: Classroom disruptions: Impact on teachers’ gaze patterns
- Authors: Sylvia Gabel et al.
- Access the original paper here
- Watch a video overview:
Paper summary
Researchers in Germany used eye tracking to compare how 15 experienced teachers and 18 trainee teachers watched an 80-second video of a maths lesson. The clip contained several minor disruptions and one major one, where a student talked loudly and mimicked a classmate. The researchers looked at the order in which each teacher’s eyes moved from student to student, and measured how predictable and settled that pattern was before and after the major disruption. The experts’ looking was more predictable throughout. When the disruption happened, their attention narrowed onto the disruptive student and his neighbours, then settled back into a steady routine more quickly than the trainees’. The trainees’ looking stayed more scattered. The experts also spotted the future troublemaker sooner. However, the one statistical test reported found no significant group differences, so these are trends.
If teachers remember one thing from this study, it should be…
Expert teachers looked straight at the disruption, then quickly returned to a steady scan of the whole class. Trainees’ eyes kept wandering unpredictably before, during and after. Good monitoring includes getting back to your normal scanning routine once a disruption has been dealt with.
*** PAPER DEEP DIVE ***
What are the key technical terms used in the paper?
- Eye tracking: recording exactly where someone looks, and when.
- Monitoring: scanning the room to spot what needs your attention.
- Gaze entropy: how unpredictable someone’s pattern of looking is. Lower scores mean steadier looking.
- Expert and novice teachers: experienced mentors compared with trainees still on their course.
What are the characteristics of the participants in the study?
33 teachers from urban Germany. The 15 experts were secondary teachers averaging 17 years’ experience, with mentoring roles. The 18 novices were trainee secondary teachers in the third semester of a master’s programme, each with a four-week placement. Only those who noticed the disruption (33 of 40) were analysed.
What does this paper add to the current field of research?
We have long known that experienced teachers notice more than novices, but most eye-tracking studies simply count where and how long teachers look. This study follows the order of their glances over time, showing how one disruption changes their looking and how quickly each group settles back into routine.
What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?
- Once you’ve dealt with a disruption, sweep the whole room before carrying on. In the study, the expert teachers’ eyes went straight to the disruptive student and then quickly settled back into a regular pattern of scanning the class. The trainees’ looking stayed scattered for longer. While your attention is on one student, others can drift. After you’ve had the quiet word or given the warning, make a deliberate pass of your eyes across every table, including the back corners, before you pick up the explanation again.
- Check the students sitting around the disruptive student as well. After the disruption, the experts’ eyes moved repeatedly between the disruptive student and the classmates sitting near him. The authors suggest experts are checking whether the behaviour is spreading to the people nearby. When something kicks off, glance at the two or three students closest to it. If they’ve turned round to watch or join in, you may need to step in more firmly than if they’re still getting on with the task.
- Build the quieter, less engaged students into your scan. Before the disruption, the trainees’ eyes were drawn mostly to students with their hands up and to those in the front row, which the authors put down to these students being more eye-catching. The experts noticed early on a disengaged student who later became the main source of disruption. When you scan the room, make a point of checking on students who have stopped contributing or keep looking around, since they may be the ones to watch.
- Settle on a regular route for scanning the room. The experts’ looking followed a more predictable path from one student to the next, which the authors link to experience and well-practised habits. Newer teachers can borrow this by choosing a route, such as a sweep from the front of the room to the back that always takes in the back corners, and using it at set moments, like after giving an instruction or while a student is answering. Repeated often enough, it should start to take less thought, which leaves more attention free for the teaching itself.
- If you train or mentor teachers, show trainees where you look. The authors suggest this kind of looking can be taught, for example by showing trainees recordings of where experienced teachers look, or by giving them prompts while they watch lesson videos. You don’t need an eye tracker to do a version of this. Watch a short lesson clip with a trainee, pause just after a disruption, and ask where they would look next. Then explain where you would look and why. A few rounds of this with different clips gives them something to practise before they meet the same moment in front of a class.
Why might teachers exercise caution before applying these findings in their classroom?
Only 33 teachers took part, watching a single 80-second clip of a class they didn’t know, from a screen. The one statistical test reported found no significant group differences, so the patterns are trends. We also don’t know whether teaching novices to look this way improves their classroom management.
What is a single quote that summarises the key findings from the paper?
“The findings of our study emphasize that visual expertise is reflected by a rapid return to routine and stable patterns of gaze behavior after a classroom disruption.”
