@TeacherToolkit
Ross Morrison McGill founded @TeacherToolkit in 2007, and today, he is one of the ‘most followed educators’on social media in the world. In 2015, he was nominated as one of the ‘500 Most Influential People in Britain’ by The Sunday Times as a result of…
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What could we learn from monitoring student attention in the classroom?
Imagine if we could track student brains and measured their electrical activity during classroom lessons? Think, small pads stuck across the head; this research measured brain-to-brain activity, which could help teachers identify when students are attentive – or not.
How do teachers truly know if students are attentive?
This new scoping review, Exploring Neural Evidence of Attention in Classroom Environments (Zeng et al., 2025), explores how teachers might one day use neuroscience tools to monitor classroom attention.
The review collates data (n = 255) across 16 studies used EEG to measure real-time attention in classroom settings, exploring real-time attention in live teaching environments using electroencephalogram (EEG) data.
This review identifies attentional patterns using EEG brainwave tracking.
Can teachers measure attention?
Tracking attention in real time may sound futuristic, but it’s already within experimental reach. Traditional attention markers like eye contact or note-taking can be misleading. Students might look engaged but mentally drift. Neural data can detect attention lapses that go unnoticed by teachers.
Teachers could eventually receive real-time indicators of which students are genuinely focused.
Brain-to-brain synchrony predicted stronger engagement and improved recall – as also seen in research that suggests how student vs. teacher-initiated activities influence attention (Grammer et al., 2021). But issues like small samples, tech variation, and privacy concerns still need resolving before broader classroom use.
Why does timing matter in the school day?
How schools construct and design their timetables matters more than ever.
While headsets aren’t needed yet, several practical takeaways emerge.
Schools might timetable cognitively demanding tasks for mid-morning when attentiveness is higher. Primary schools often frontload maths, English and science in the morning, leaving creative subjects for later. In contrast, complex secondary timetables often scatter challenging topics across less optimal times.
The research recommendations suggest:
- Simplifying visual environments to reduce distractions;
- understand cognitive load and how memory works
- Promote self-regulated learning,
- Consider leading CPD trials and,
- Teacher-led action research into attention patterns during different classroom activities.
Past studies include four high schools and two primary schools …
Credit: Table 6, Zeng et al., 2025
Reflection questions for teachers:
- How do teachers currently monitor and evaluate student attention?
- What non-verbal cues might mislead teachers about attention?
- Would a real-time attention tracker be welcomed—or resisted—by teachers?
- How might brain-to-brain activity change from varying learning activities?
- Why are mid-morning lessons more suited to high-attention tasks?
- How could teachers simplify classroom environments to reduce distraction?
- What are the ethical implications of tracking student brain activity?
- Could this technology help identify disengagement before behaviour issues emerge?
- How might SEND students benefit from more objective attention tracking?
- Should schools pilot low-cost EEG tools for CPD or classroom research?
The research concludes:
Teachers should remain cautious but curious. With the right ethical guidance and training, future classrooms might benefit from these tools—helping students and teachers work smarter, not harder.
Download the full paper to explore the full research.
