Jo jo Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Hi All, I am hoping some of you can be of assitance to me. I am undertaking a research project for my foundation degree in which I am looking at children's concentration skills. I am struggling to find any literature to support what concentration is or how to tell when a child is concentrating. Can anyone sugget any authors, web sites articles etc that could help me. The searches I have undertaken lead to lots of writings about concentration camps. I think it is Lillian Katz who writes about levels of engagment but I am struggling to find any books or identify which of her books may be of use to me. Any help much appriciated Thank you p.s good to be back not been on here for a while hope everyone is well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 did a GOOGLE, found these: science daily (usa) how attention is measured. science daily attention and brain neurons another forum discussion which seems quite informative During my browse I found lots of reference to things that reduce / improve attention ie: diet, sleep, stimulus, meditation and even an article about testing preschool children in terms of how distracted developmentally children are at this age. Maybe a look at ADD ( attention deficit disorder) sites will give more discussions on how attention is measures, albeit from a suspected deficit rather than testing within 'the norms' so to speak. Good luck, certainly an interesting subject to study. I have always quoted to parents attention span is equivalent to age ie: one minute per year. As adults we can bearly sustain a 20 minute lecture yet expect children to sit and concentrate for half this time. I find the consideration of external stimuli interesting, plus emotional effects on attention for example my son has global delay and possible dispraxia. I've had problems with him doing homework, he has developmental issues plus also emotional ones. I observed him doing some homework, ( 20 minutes) his attention was distracted for time lapses between 30 secs to 45 secs ( yes he didn't maintain one minutes 'pure' attention. The way I measured loss of attention was through facial expression, body language, eye contact to the task. The causes for his short attention span I believe are: short term memory, forgets the beginning of a sentence before getting to the end, thus written or verbal instructions need to be very short. anxiety - of doing it right, needs constant assurance so will do a little then stop to show, ask (I've done this / is this right) Physical ability to sit still /keep limbs still - needs to fidget, which thus distracts the brains focus. Is always concerned about what others are doing, even if not in the room distracting him - external distractor linked to curiosity. The longer the task took the more frequency of loss of concentration until after 20 minutes ( with many, many lapses of concentration) he had lost the ability to concentrate at all. Thanks for the question, I've enjoyed thinking this through and discussing it, aren't children fascinating Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmajess Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Pen Green have a lot of stuff on wellbeing and involvement - I think some of their criteria for involvement would help you think about concentration. Emma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Was it ferre leuven who had involvement scale??? and a well being scale too?? Essc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo jo Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 Thank you so much every one Peggy it has been very interesting looking into concentration and how much time we expect young children to concentrate for thanks for your comments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 and of course it goes without saying....(but I will ). It's easier to concentrate, maintain attention on subjects / experiences which interest and inspire you. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Hi Jo Jo Going back to the comment by Essc... I know I have read some interesting stuff about Ferre Laevers too! The only problem is remembering where I read it - must be my age! I have a feeling it might be the Marion Dowling book - Young Children's Personal social and emotional development Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I know I have read some interesting stuff about Ferre Laevers too! The EEL Project makes a lot of reference to him and his views - might be worth doing a google on Profs Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram (I think its Tony but I'm not sure without checking). Marion Dowling has also done some work around sustained shared thinking - might be worth a look... Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 Your post made me think of Laevers too, the Eel involvement scale includes the levels of involvement, maybe you could include the observation format in your research to gauge the concentration, engagement and 'purposeful' play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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