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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Titan on March 12, 2010, 12:11:58 pm

Title: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Titan on March 12, 2010, 12:11:58 pm
OK, for English, we have to write a persuasive essay. Since I was sick yesterday, I didn't get a choice. Now I'm stuck arguing that school should start later in the morning so that students and teachers can go to sleep later/longer

If anyone has any information/suggestions for points I could make, particularly links to studies I could site and stuff, I really have no clue where to start.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Sushi on March 12, 2010, 12:18:21 pm
If you want studies to back things up, your best (easy) shot is Google Scholar. Just plugging "school start time" into Google Scholar yielded several relevant-looking articles. I have no idea what conclusions they draw, but hey, it's your homework. ;)
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Titan on March 12, 2010, 12:26:44 pm
cool, thanks.

I need to convince my class and my devils-advocate teacher that school should start later in the morning. I need to read the final product aloud.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: TESLA on March 12, 2010, 12:41:28 pm
cool, thanks.

I need to convince my class and my devils-advocate teacher that school should start later in the morning. I need to read the final product aloud.


Find some half-baked science report stating about some advantage to students to help study, learn,etc,etc, bull****e, by starting later. Or fuzzy statistics always help.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: McMad on March 12, 2010, 12:46:08 pm
Actually, my school is one of the ones doing this stuff - you can read their reasoning here - http://www.monkseaton.org.uk/Making_Minds/Pages/CircadianRhythms(BodyClock).aspx (http://www.monkseaton.org.uk/Making_Minds/Pages/CircadianRhythms(BodyClock).aspx) (The BBC article linked looks more useful.)

So if you have any specific questions about this stuff  I'll do my best to answer em.

Lets face it, getting up at nine rules :D
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: BloodEagle on March 12, 2010, 12:46:39 pm
Find some statistics based on performance after achieving adequate deep-sleep.  Then find some statistics on when the target age group is most likely to sleep.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on March 12, 2010, 01:06:02 pm
There was a program on either discovery or national geographic channel the other night about the biological clock and how it affects different age groups.  It gave a lot of info on studies that teenagers clocks are geared toward later in the day and do better between in the afternoon on tests by 10% with the only difference being the time the test is given.  There were even schools going to having classes between 11 and 3 and having optional study times for students before and after to fill in the day.  So the info has to be out there for the Googling.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Mongoose on March 12, 2010, 03:15:40 pm
I could be a potential guinea pig, if you can think of a good test.  I'm currently going to sleep after 4AM and waking up after 11AM on a daily basis. :p
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Klaustrophobia on March 12, 2010, 04:35:39 pm
i've been doing that since last summer just about.  i don't know that my performance has directly suffered, but i'm tired ALL the damn time.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: General Battuta on March 12, 2010, 04:44:04 pm
It's generally a bad idea and can contribute to depression.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Mongoose on March 12, 2010, 05:30:32 pm
Well, when you have nothing to get up for anyway, and no motivation to get to bed at a reasonable hour, it tends to happen all by itself.

Also, TVTropes.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: MP-Ryan on March 12, 2010, 06:17:43 pm
I know I read a proposal about this topic a while back; it has been pretty conclusively shown that teenagers require more sleep than they actually get, and that this is primarily due to the fact that teens also tend to have physical difficulty sleeping earlier in the evening.  Ergo, class should start later.

I know there are a few studies on this somewhere, it's just a matter of looking.
Title: Re: If anyone has information on this, I need help...
Post by: Titan on March 15, 2010, 11:59:00 am
Thanks guys. Now I've gotta write a rough draft for this. Then submit it to the school board, which is apperently what we're supposed to do.