Let's learn together!
I am continuing my journey to learn about the Science of Learning! I gave you the seven principles last week. This week I dove deeper into the first one, Attention matters.
Here are the four types of attention relevant to the classroom:
Types of Attention Relevant to the Classroom:
- Sustained Attention: The ability to focus on a task over an extended period (e.g., listening to a lecture, reading a book).
- Selective Attention: The ability to focus on relevant information while ignoring distractions (e.g., working on an assignment in a noisy classroom).
- Divided Attention: The ability to multitask effectively (e.g., taking notes while listening to a teacher).
- Alternating Attention: The ability to shift focus between different tasks (e.g., moving from independent work to group discussion).
It made me think..... What about you? What is "making you think" this week?
Rebecca Minerd
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ReplyDeleteI agree! Our students do have to practice sustained attention. It's a skill that I think is practiced less with each new generation.
DeleteI think that sustained attention is so important but I think with today's technology it is easy to multitask without giving full attention to one thing. In my personal life, I have a difficult time only doing one thing. One example is if I am watching TV then I am usually doing something else as well whether it is putting away clothes, working on a home project or working on things for school. Also, I think technology provides us with quick and easy answers which often does not promote the kind of sustained attention people need to complete longer tasks. The students I teach are between 5-7 years old so they do not have much of a sustained attention span. We do practice though and gradually increase the time spent on tasks and with more independence throughout the year.
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DeleteAs a mom, my seven year old doesn't have a long sustained attention span, and I know it comes with maturity and practice, but when it comes to games or his chromebook; I do see the SA. Which supports your point that technology provides us with quick and easy answers, which often does not promote the kind of sustained attention people need to complete longer tasks.
DeleteI think in our face paced world with new technology and ever changing learning modalities, our students will learn to divide and alternate attention . Even we as teacher have grown very accustomed to having multiple tabs open while changing between tasks. I often question if this is a good thing or a bad thing. However, I think it's the world in which we live today!
ReplyDeleteGood Point! Our kids do know how to multitask their attention when necessary (some of them), but with technology it comes as a breeze for many. Think about how many things go on in a video game that kids have to become accustomed to. When you spoke about tabs, I don't know what I would do with 1 or 2 tabs open. I need several open, because I have to shift my attention to many different topics and subjects throughout the day.
DeleteYes, Heather! As I stated below whether we like it or not, much of our lives require CPA!
DeleteI think the key is to multitask well. I do okay and frequently have 3 or more projects/activities going on at the same time. It all comes down to time management and being able to keep a solid list of what is due when and stick to it.
DeleteYes! I was thinking this very same thing! 1 - We've spent SO MANY YEARS teaching students to tune out everything and focus on ONE thing, now we want them (and us) to do the opposite?! 2 - How do WE maintain doing this effectively without harm? 3 - How do we teach our students to do this effectively without harm?
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ReplyDeleteThis week I am learning about Conflict Communication Management Styles. There are five different types with animal names. They are shark (competing), owl (collaborating), turtle (avoiding), teddy bear (accommodating) and fox (compromising). They each have their advantages and disadvantages. My dominant style is teddy bear. The advantage of this style is that they “maintain close relationships to maintain harmony”. The disadvantage is “giving in may not be productive, bear may be taken advantage of by others”. It was very interesting to learn about the different types and situations where one style may be better than another. Also, discovering the advantages and disadvantages of my style will help me in the future with students, parents, and colleagues. Learning the characteristics of each style also gives insight into another person’s perspective which can help in conflict resolution. This is a link to the quiz if you would like to discover your conflict management style.
ReplyDeleteI like this! I wonder what animal I am! Is there a "test" to take? :)
DeleteThat is fascinating. I can see myself as the teddy bear or fox type. I want a solution not just the problem and I like for everyone to be satisfied with the results. I bet this lets you see conflict in a whole different way!
DeleteI like that this is so easy to understand and I can see how it would be beneficial when working with others.
DeleteElizabeth, we need to all take the quiz to see what animal we are!
DeleteSustained Attention comes to mind for me, because I recognized that my kiddos definitely needed this as they navigated and took the benchmarks all week. They had to concentrate, ignore distractions, and complete a long task on their own with no support. I know this was daunting for my kiddos, because they are use to talking a lot and being helped in the classroom. It took SA to complete an exam that shifted questions from one topic to another without teacher support! It takes time and maturity to build their stamina, but with proper research-based strategies; progress will be seen.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a tough one, especially in our digital world. I also think that Selective Attention is a major part of that Sustained Attention. At GaETC, the term that really struck a chord for me is "Continuous Partial Attention", that is "the behavior of dividing one's attention, scanning, and optimizing opportunities in an effort [or need] to not miss anything that is going on".
DeleteLooking at the list above, sustained attention and divided attention jumped out at me. With my students taking numerous benchmarks this week and with these benchmarks having so many questions, I have seen how many students struggle with sustained attention. Some students start strong, but then start to fade as time goes on and there are still a lot of questions to answer. Divided attention is also something I’m constantly aware of as we are completing notes and assignments in class, but it really jumped out at me this week as my students are experiencing a change with how their math class is set up, as Mrs. Stewart is out on maternity leave. My team can already see which students are struggling to divide their attention between the video and taking their own notes, and we are trying to remind them that they need to watch & pause the video so that they can take their notes.
ReplyDeleteI have to say the watch & pause has become such a necessary strategy for ME! I really struggle to take notes fast enough and be sure that I get the main idea and important details.
DeleteDue to many circumstances over the past several months...I HAVE been paying closer attention to how I and others pay attention.
ReplyDeleteI love how this divides and labels our attentiveness...in order to focus on working on areas of need. I wonder if the book provides exercises or ideas for building weaker areas...I could use them in certain areas as much as many of our students do!
I put Claude to the task and here are some ideas he came up with for Divided Attention:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BR04KYsusrIXB6TUSTjORfLdbMmvVe7U4Pmz7RTMdqs/edit?usp=sharing
This was appropriate as I watched a video in Instagram addressing this very issue. Students are so used to getting the quick dopamine fix from 60 sec videos and gamification of everything that sustained attention is difficult. Its really a dopamine issue more so than just straight attention- students want the quick reward and struggle to wait on that reward while doing work. This is a major problem with encoding knowledge from working memory to long term memory. ANYONE needs to hear, then repeat within 30 seconds then hear again and repeat several times to acquire new knowledge. Without the sustained attention, event the simple recall process is strained making the learning process feel more difficult on their end. Which leads me to possible solutions. Shorter gamification: I am all for booklet, kahoot, quizizz, and the like- but make the games short. Play the content review in teacher paced mode to discuss test taking strategies and immediately address misconceptions. Teach note taking: show the textbook page or slide and model how to find key terms, how to summarize, have students practice being active notetakers. Use more diagrams and mind maps to show connecting ideas and help students see learning as interconnected rather than stagnant (learn for this test then forget).
ReplyDeleteI love using Kahoot becuase it is teacher paced! That allows me to make sure we are really looking at the questions and what it is asking, as well as looking at each answer choice & its wording and why some answers are "distractors" or incorrect.
DeleteI think my middle school students struggle with alternating attention. Many of them want to finish the assignments from one class before they come to their next class or they focus on assignments for one class to the detriment of assignments in their other classes. Finding a balance with their time and being able to go from one task to another is a challenge. I also see this within my class as many have a hard time going from their ELA Journal to vocabulary journal.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we need to pay special attention to our transitions-clear expectations, visual and verbal cues, well established routines, signals/countdowns, reinforcement and rehearsals of all of these items? The 4 types of attention above can be correlated to learning styles. In other words, I think we need to be really solid on our transitions so that the students can anticipate what they will be expected to do.
ReplyDeleteAttention is definitely a challenge for younger students, but I hadn’t previously considered the different types of attention and how they impact learning. Teaching virtually has its advantages, such as fewer traditional classroom disruptions, but we’ve learned that distractions still exist at home—they’re just different in nature.
ReplyDeleteTo support my students in managing these distractions, I have had to model and explicitly teach them how to find a workspace that is conducive to learning. This directly relates to developing selective attention, as students must learn to filter out background noise and focus on the task at hand. Additionally, I have worked on fostering sustained attention by guiding students to stay engaged with tasks for longer periods. I’ve found that breaking lessons into manageable chunks and incorporating movement breaks helps maintain their focus.
One area I now realize deserves more emphasis is note-taking. While I have modeled note-taking strategies, I am not sure I made it clear that students were actively engaging in the process rather than just passively observing. Moving forward, I plan to be more intentional in teaching explicit strategies for effective note-taking and providing structured opportunities for practice. By reinforcing these attention skills, I hope to help students develop stronger focus, organization, and retention of information, ultimately setting them up for greater academic success.