Sousa says that in a 40-minute period students' attention is strongest for the first 20 minutes, then the brain needs down time for approximately 10 minutes. The last 10 minutes is the next best teaching time. In secondary schools, with an 80-minute class, the prime time for teaching is the first 30 minutes of the class with a down time of 30 minutes followed by excellent teaching time for the last 20 minutes. Pulse learning theory tells teachers that learners need a diffusion time after a focused session. The best lesson with the most retention is focused, diffused, focused.
Students retain more material when their lessons are shorter and they have more breaks.
Learners, no matter what age, will go into downtime throughout a lesson. The water bottles are on each student's desk in Jones-Twomey's classroom because of another finding of research on the brain and education. Water assists learning and thought. Neurophysiologist and educator Carla Hannaford has studied for many years how water and certain movement exercises can improve our learning potential. In Smart Moves, Hannaford writes that water increases the ability of the blood to carry oxygen to the brain by 100 to 1,000 per cent.