It’s clear why this ability is important in the classroom, not least because of its relationship to memory – if we don’t pay attention, we probably won’t remember very clearly.īut it’s not just about selection, it’s also about switching from one information stream to another, often quite rapidly. Attention is therefore concerned with selecting what is necessary at a particular moment and filtering out the competition. There are several definitions of attention but all highlight the process of selecting task-relevant information and minimising irrelevant information (Hanania & Smith, 2010). To get a clearer picture of what’s going on, we first need to investigate the concept of attention from the perspective of cognitive psychology where, like memory, many years have been spent testing, studying and formulating models to explain how it occurs and how important it is.
But what is going on when people ‘pay attention’ and how can teachers encourage pupils to remain focussed? However, the invisible nature of attention places teachers in a difficult position as they can never be certain of the extent to which their pupils are focussing on what they need to, even if their outward behaviour suggests they are. Attention and learning.Īttention is important for successful learning because it plays a key role in memory and the mechanisms than ensure successful retention. What is it to pay attention? Why is it that sometimes I can be engaged in a conversation when suddenly my focus of attention is drawn away from it, only to return when I realise I’m expected to offer a response to a comment I didn’t catch? And what was it that disrupted by attention in the first place? Was it the ping of a notification on my phone, or did I simply became engulfed by my inner musings? With the world seemingly littered with innumerable distractions, it’s a wonder we manage to keep our minds focussed on anything at all.
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