One of the biggest challenges I face in the classroom as a teacher is divided attention. How can coordinating conjunctions and same-side interior angles compete with GamePigeon and season six of “Young Sheldon”?

Research shows critical learning goals in K-12 — such as retention, problem solving and skill development — suffer when students constantly and consistently switch their focus between multiple media. We can boost tech-enabled keiki learning by teaching students to single-task.

In his 1890 “Principles of Psychology,” psychologist William James defined attention as “withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others” and described its opposite state as “confused, dazed, scatterbrained.” The importance of sustained attention is not a modern concept, but the myriad distractions of modern life make it harder to master. Students today battle a boundless supply of visual and auditory stimuli: laptops with chat, email and multitab web browsing, phones with social media and gaming apps, and Bluetooth-enabled headphones and iPods.

I see students listening and singing along to music while trying to synthesize ideas from multiple texts, saying that “it helps me think.” I have watched them switch between YouTube and Google Docs 20 times a period, saying that “I need a mental break sometimes.” I have caught them streaming movies on their iPads while attempting to read assigned pages in “The Great Gatsby,” saying “it’s so hard to focus.”

Over 100 years of psychology research suggest that divided attention and task switching impacts one’s memory most often and most pervasively. In 2008, Helene Hembrooke and Geri Gay at Cornell University showed that students switching between multiple media had poor memory performance, and they suggested limiting classroom tech.

I tell my students that learning how to focus intensely on a single task is a skill that takes practice to master. And they need to master it. Whether you work on a construction site, in an operating room or court room, an office or classroom — not being able to focus on a single task for an extended period of time is a liability.

Research on media multitasking in 2009 by Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass and Anthony D. Wagner show deficits in not only memory but learning and cognitive functioning. More alarming, results indicate that the more often one does it, the worse cognitive functioning gets.

But don’t we all (pretend to) media multitask? The habit has become pervasive. Workplaces, like classrooms, are full of people dividing attention between separate tasks on multiple media devices, never fully attending to a single one.

And we aren’t just multitasking at work — we are doing it when out with friends, at home with loved ones, and surrounded by nature. Our instant connectivity is inhibiting our ability to be present and dive richly and deeply into a single moment. Our virtual connectivity is making all of us more disconnected and less resilient.

It’s especially insidious, however, to developing brains, which are constantly creating, strengthening or pruning the neural pathways necessary for critical growth.

Justin McDaniels, a University of Pennsylvania professor, has a solution: One of the requirements for his Living Deliberately class is to disconnect completely and take a vow of silence for 30 days.

But you don’t need to become a monk to increase productivity, mindfulness and resilience. Students can start by committing to single-tasking in the classroom. Whatever you are tasked with, do your best; the work you create is a representation of you.

And if you’re a parent, you can help your keiki by single-tasking yourself, especially when they’re talking to you.

Brooke Nasser is a teacher at Kapolei High School.