Summary
Can you really do two things at once? The SciGirls run a cognitive experiment on their friends, timing tasks with and without distractions and letting the data settle the argument.
Viewer safety
Ages 7+
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Full episode (28 min) from SciGirls, season 2.
- What did the data say about doing two tasks at once?
- Why did the girls test lots of people instead of just themselves?
- When does multitasking cost you the most?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: multitask, distraction, data, brain.
Try it: Time yourself reading a paragraph in silence, then with music. Record both times and write what the numbers suggest.