A large study has revealed what is probably not too surprising for most college students. Early morning classes seem to be associated with lower academic performance in students taking these classes.
The study aimed to test whether early morning classes had lower attendance and whether classes had an impact on students’ sleep and academic performance.
The team was able to estimate class attendance by looking at 23,391 student login data to university WiFi networks, and found that 8:00 a.m. classes had about 10 percent lower attendance than classes later in the day.
Actigraphy data were collected from 181 students as part of a six-week study. By looking at the data of these students, they were able to find out whether they fell asleep during class or woke up too late to arrive at their class based on their self-reported travel time.
“Students did not wake up on time for about a third of the 8:00 p.m. classes, but rarely fell asleep after the start of classes that started at noon or later,” the research team writes.
Next, the team investigated the impact of early lessons on students’ sleep by examining 39,458 students’ login credentials to the learning management system. Using the data, they were able to estimate wake-up times, which was in good agreement with actigraphy data collected from the smaller group of 181 students.
“Students went to bed at about the same time but got up earlier to attend morning classes,” the team writes. “As a result, nighttime sleep time was shorter on the nights before morning classes.”
Actigraphy data collected from 181 students also showed that students slept more during their first morning lessons.
The relationship between early lessons and academic achievement
The team also found a link between early classes and lower grades, given the sleep and absenteeism shown earlier in the study.
“Analysis of 33,818 students’ grades showed that the number of days they took morning classes was negatively correlated with their grade point average,” the team explained, and concluded that their research showed that universities should consider avoiding mandatory early classes: “Although early classes generally tend to reduce the use of resources (class space and faculty time spent teaching) and minimizing program conflicts for students and faculty, our results demonstrate a trade-off where students are more likely to miss class, sleep less, and achieve lower grade point averages. It shows it can happen.”
The team that conducted the study hopes that given the availability of login data on WiFi and university learning systems, the methods they use can be easily used by other universities so they can evaluate and adjust their own programs for better student performance.
The study was published in Nature Human Behavour.
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