Clark Aldrich recently posted in the Learning Circuits blog about that 20% of most groups of students are mentally dropped out. From my own experience I would say that 20% is a good starting point. I would say that at some point all of the students have mentally dropped out about 20% of the time especially if the session lasts longer than 10 minutes. The information being taught has to compete with the internal conversation that the student has going on in their head. I believe that about 20% of the information leaks through the first time. This is what makes repetition and practice necessary to catch the knowledge that is leaking through the sieve of our attention.
How often have you had to reread or replay something to get a better understanding, much less a full comprehension, of new information?
Aren't we all mental dropouts at some point?
