Question about Khan Academy's new stats on student attention spans

I was reading through the latest Khan Academy impact report (you know, the one they put out every year) and saw a stat that surprised me. They claim students lose focus after just 6 minutes of video instruction, even with interactive exercises. Their data from 2023 shows a 40% drop in completion rates for lessons longer than 8 minutes. But then I found another study from EdWeek that says 10-12 minute video segments are fine for high schoolers. So which is it? Are shorter lessons actually better, or is this just Khan trying to push their micro-lesson format? I'm a homeschool mom in Ohio trying to plan my daughter's curriculum, and this has me second-guessing my whole approach. Has anyone else seen conflicting numbers like this from different sources?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_moore13d ago

@wilson.jana my kid's max is exactly 4 minutes before she starts drawing on the table.

wilson.jana14d ago

Oh man, that's such a frustrating spot to be in. I mean, I spent like two hours last week trying to figure out if my kid's 7-minute math videos were too long or too short, and I just ended up staring at my own coffee cup thinking "idk maybe I'm the one with the attention span problem here." It's probably just me, but I've noticed my daughter zones out at exactly 5 minutes and 47 seconds into any video, regardless of the subject, so maybe Khan Academy's stat is just some weird average that doesn't account for kids who are super into dinosaurs or whatever. The EdWeek study might be looking at high schoolers who are older and more used to sitting through class, while your homeschooler might be younger and bouncing off the walls like mine does. Honestly, I'd just try a few 6-minute videos and see if she actually finishes them before switching to a workbook or a game.