Attention span

As I’m working with ‘Under 2s’, I have noticed a discrepancy in their attention span. Children of ages 15-30 months attend to activities for 10-15 minutes when highly motivated. The complexity of the task also matters, as a demanding task requires so much concentration that their attention does not continue for more than 5-7 minutes. When exploring in a familiar place with a new toy, a child attends for 15 minutes or more. In a distracting place or when others stressors are interfering (sleep, hunger, thirst, need to use the toilet), a child noticeably appears distracted or less attentive. I cannot really expect them to have very high attention spans and have to be constantly on my toes to engage with them and encourage learning. I have noticed varied levels of attention depending on their interest in the activity. For example, I was with a few children who were jumping on the trampoline at the centre. They were taking turns on it. This activity went on for almost 20 minutes but quickly came to a halt when another teacher opened the sand pit cover for children to play. This happens with a lot of different activities and I have noticed children’s interests dipping at different times of the day. ANALYZE…

How does a person characterize an attention span? People may reckon that someone having a decent attention span is attentive and a person who is inattentive has a short attention span. In “The Attention Span Myth,” the author Virginia Heffernan debates on whether attention spans are real or not. “Heffernan is a national correspondent for Yahoo News [and a] former editor at Harper’s magazine” (Heffernan 113). She uses certain strategies to inform the reader on her information and certain types of…

Technology and Attention Spans The use of technology has been precipitately increasing in recent years. The digital world has a way of including itself in relatively every aspect of life nowadays. The proficiency technology provides in the modern world has created many conveniences in everyday life. "The Digital Revolution started booming in the later 20th century and has been flourishing ever since" (Schoenherr). However, as technology has developed, users seem to be more reliant on it than…

While reading a New York Times article written by David Brooks called, "Building Attention Span", I was reminded of my childhood. David Brooks argues in his article that because of the increase in technology and quick stimulations, our attention spans are growing shorter and our long-term memory is deteriorating. I agree with Brooks view because I have experienced this in my own life. I didn’t have much interaction with technology when I was younger, but the more technology grew the more I was…

A professor from Stanford University, Clifford Nass, stated, "Kids have to learn about emotion, and the way they do that, really, is by paying attention to other people. They have to really look them in the eye." Most kids these days don't even communicate face-to-face. Texting has become the main form of communication, so when kids get home, how can they look at each other in the eye if they just text? Another study has shown that children's social skills are affected negatively when they…

out from the class, which is not the goal of the teacher. They are also missing valuable physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. Recess is valuable to a child because they release their energy and have fun, which means a child is devastated if they miss recess. A child who misbehaves most likely needs to release their energy at recess so they can focus again. This means taking away a child’s entire recess is not beneficial, and potentially detrimental. So, I believe recess can be…

there comes the problem of how humans start having shorter attentions spans due to vast amount of information. Finally discovering that humans have increased dependability on Google, and have shorter attention spans through my research. I chose to write about dependability for my topic. One pivotal moment that lead me to my thesis was during the original free write I did back towards the beginning of class towards my topic of interest. When I choose google I started out with the question “Does…

are not classifying whether the changes are good or bad, they are concerned about what they see. Teachers are claiming that students are struggling in keeping their attention on their learning subject because they are distracted by phones, online games, and thoughts that social media puts into the student’s heads. On the other hand, students are also complaining their teachers are similarly distracted by the use of technology in the classroom. Minutes are wasted as teachers struggle in…

distractions in this book, and yet they are probably one of the most annoying and frustrating things you will come across as a writer. Watch Jack Nicholson in the movie “The Shining” or the movie “As good as it gets.” He gives a dramatic speech in both about how frustrating it is to be a writer and be distracted by somebody. So, why is so little mentioned in this book? The fact is that distraction is so subjective and personal that it is completely up to you to solve the problem. This book…

and becomes a bigger part of our daily life, it becomes a bigger part of school as well. Teachers use technology for notes, videos, and games to prepare for tests. Using technology for these types of reasons can cause students to go off topic and become distracted by their surroundings such as if there is an ad on the screen of the projector can cause them to look at the ad and talk about it amongst their peers instead of listening to what the teacher is trying to teach or show the students.…