The Role of Attention in Learning
Nina Warner, Fine Arts, raised an important question about the role of attention in learning at the CTL meeting Dec. 9, 2002. She expressed eloquently what a few fellow CTL members listed during our first meeting in Sept. '02 as an ongoing question they consider. How does a professor keep students' attention while teaching, and engage them fully in the lesson? Or is the society becoming one in which a difficulty of focusing and sustaining attention is more prevalent? Asking fundamental questions encourages us to challenge the boundaries of our own knowledge and practice. This is a huge subject and the few thoughts shared below are just a beginning point.
In their seminal work, Driven to Distraction, Drs. John Ratey and Edward Hallowell explain the increase of "culturally-induced ADD", psuedo-ADD, and how it differs from the real attention deficit disorder which has a neurochemical basis, and consequently is accommodated as a disability (if properly diagnosed). The disability occurs in 3-7.5% of school-aged children and about 2/3rds of those continue to experience effects as adults.
Drs. Ratey and Hallowell believe "American society tends to create ADD-like symptoms in us all... What are some of the hallmarks of American culture that are also typical of ADD? The fast pace. The sound bite. The bottom line. Short takes, quick cuts. The TV remote-control clicker. High stimulation. Restlessness. Violence. Anxiety. Ingenuity. Creativity. Speed. Present-centered, no future, no past. Disorganization. Mavericks. A mistrust of authority. Video. Going for the gusto. Making it on the run. The fast track. Whatever works. Hollywood. The stock exchange. Fads. High stim... What differentiates pseudo-ADD from true ADD, what differentiates the people who can only identify with it from those who actually have it, is a matter of duration and intensity of the symptoms." (191-193)
Attentional problems are evident when individuals have significant difficulty sustaining attention and guiding their thoughts. Since gaining an increasing ability to choose and direct thoughts and feelings is part of an ongoing process of growth, one might ask how we can assist in developing these abilities.
What
is the possible range of attention of which human beings are capable? Philosophers
from the East, such as Patanjali and Tsong-Kha-Pa, among many other thinkers,
have outlined in specific detail the steps to concentration, beginning with
careful listening. Tsong-Ka-Pah wrote that one focuses the mind on an object
of thought, (i.e. seed idea, a symbol, or chosen subject), and uses will power
to sustain attention, bringing it back again when it wanders. This awareness
of having left the chosen subject of thought is called "metacognition"
in modern cognitive and reading literature. Continued practice, with a positive
intention, strengthens concentration over time. Encouraging students to engage
in reflection daily supports their unfoldment of these potentials.
In terms of classroom teaching, the field of active learning addresses engaging students in multiple modalities of perceiving, processing, and conceptualizing, and covers a wide range of activities and types of lesson plans. One place to begin looking at what others have developed is to surf the resources on the CTL Weblinks page. For example, No. Seattle CC's Tom Drummond offers "A Brief Summary of the Best Practices in College Teaching", which includes interesting approaches and activities for engaging students.
For a few methods of holding students attention when teaching, please see Joe White's presentation to the CTL from Fall '01. Information about understanding and teaching students who have attention deficit disorder is available from DSPS.
In How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice, clarification about engagement is made in the context of describing a knowledge, learner, and assessment-centered environment wherein creating community is important. "Knowledge-centered environments also look beyond engagement as the primary index of successful teaching. Students' interest or engagement in a task is clearly important. Nevertheless, it does not guarantee that students will acquire the kinds of knowledge that will support new learning. There are important differences between tasks and projects that encourage hands-on doing and those that encourage doing with understanding; the knowledge-centered environment emphasizes the latter." (21)
Please send the CTL your perspective about the role of attention in learning, or tips about how to help students develop this inherent ability to the fullest. Probably everyone can learn from these perspectives because lifelong learning involves continuing to unfold as self-reliant, self-actualized human beings. Responses or requests for further information can be fulfilled by sending an email to us.
Photo credit: Mark Woodson
Works Cited
Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice. Donovan, M. Suzanne, John D, Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino, eds. How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 3rd ed. 2000.
Hallowell, Edward M. and John J. Ratey. Driven to Distraction. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994. 191-193.
Tsong-Kha-Pa. "One-Pointedness." The Jewel in the Lotus. Ed. Raghavan Iyer. Santa Barbara: Concord Grove Press. 1983. 60-61.