Experimental Research on the Influence of Innovative After-Class Activities on Primary Students’ Attention

Nowadays, due to factors such as long teaching time of the teacher, students often show problems of inattention. The purpose of this article is to explore whether innovative after-class activities can significantly improve the attention level of third-grade primary students. Through teaching experiment intervention, the attention levels of boys and girls in the experimental group and the control group were compared. According to the principle of no significant difference in the previous test, four classes of the third grade of Xiangtan Road Primary School in Qingdao, Shandong Province were selected, two as experimental classes (60 students, including 30 boys and 30 girls) and two as control classes (60 students, including 30 boys and 30 girls). Students in the experimental class conducted half-hour innovative after-class activities, including youth boxing competitions, and football, basketball and volleyball competitions etc.; the control class only conducted regular 800-meter running exercises. The D2 attention test tool was used to test the students' attention level before and after the experiment. The intervention lasted 8 months, and in the present study, the appropriate IRB approval has been obtained from East China Normal University. Using SPSS23.0 data analysis software, the independent sample T test was used to analyze the difference in attention levels between the experimental group and the control group before and after the experiment. This article only presents results with significant differences. The experimental group was significantly higher in processing speed (TN) and anti-interference ability (E1 \ E2) than the control group [(TN) T = -1.851 P = 0.003 < 0.01] [(E1 \ E2) T = 2.842 P = 0.005 < 0.01]; the processing speed (TN) of the boys in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (T = -2.490 P = 0.016 < 0.05); the girls in the experimental group were able to resist interference with the distractions (E1 \ E2) higher than the control group (T = 2.842 P = 008 < 0.01). Innovative after-class activities include a wide range of sports events, especially based on competitions can significantly improve the attention level of third-grade students. Boys are more focused on quick tasks, and girls are more focused on noisy tasks. Schools should carry out more innovative after-class activities to enrich the student's learning life and improve students' level of attention.