Paying Attention

How to remember and help students remember

Managing attention is what great teachers do.

I have now watched 5 episodes of the new StartTrek series where Pike is the Captain. Pike has a special significance for followers of Star Trek, but never mind that.

A title sequence is shown, and as I was watching the start of episode 5, I wondered if the sequence was the same each time or if it was different. The sequence shows the Enterprise flying across and through various planets, star fields, asteroids etc. It was not until I saw a particular part of the sequence where I had previously noted that the Enterprise was very tiny compared to the background image, a brightly coloured star and dust field, that I realised that the sequence I have watched fairly closely 5 times was the same, repeated sequence.

So what?

I had attended to the sequence each time, but it was only when I noticed something of interest - the size of Enterprise compared to the background image, that I had ‘learned’ something about the sequence.

If we want children to learn, they have to pay attention. That means more than just looking. Some part of the learning needs to be engaged with, and thought about, for the learning to stick.

That is what is meant by engagement. Noticing something of significance.