University of Nevada researchers claim that students learn more between 11 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. than other times of the day. In fact, the school is now offering more evening classes as well as online courses that people could study at home after dinner.
Using first and second-year students as samples, the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) followed a "survey-based empirical model" and a "neuroscience-based theoretical model" to determine the learning patterns of each respondent. Basically, the main goal of the study is to identify the time when one's cognitive performance is at its peak. The University of Nevada partnered with The Open University (UK) to execute and complete the research.
Per Nevada Today, an earlier study already proved that late classes are optimal for most high school students. Thus, the new team hopes to extend the analysis to college freshmen and sophomores. For the record, the group is composed of two sociology professors from UNR and one from The Open University. The first two researchers are Mariah Evans and Jonathan Kelley while the latter is Paul Kelley.
Together, they were able to assess the preferred sleeping times of the respondents. These students also rated their fitness for learning activities in each hour of the day. Eventually, they unveiled that teens start their "natural" days about two hours later than is optimal for "prime age adults." Evans also noted in previous statements that their study is true for college students, but when it comes to optimal performance, "no one time fits all."
Furthermore, IFL Science reported that the new research proves that companies and schools might be putting their young people at a disadvantage as they try to cope up with the adults' body clocks. At the end of the day, it appears that there is not much point in starting lectures around 9 a.m. Instead, universities and colleges should begin regular classes at noon until evening.
