ATTENTION IN TEACHING AND SCHOOL LEARNING
Abstract
In this paper, we examine the conceptualization of attention in the context of teaching and school learning. We start from the thesis that attention represents the fundamental framework that makes teaching and school learning possible, in general. In the paper, we first examine the exemplary theoretical definitions of attention, primarily in the perspective of pedagogy and psychology and then also from the point of view of contemporary philosophy. Furthermore, we examine the general value of attention in teaching and school learning, considering the key features of the teaching process and the problem of attention in teaching in general. Then, we examine the status of attention in the current Curriculum for grammar schools in the Republic of Serbia. Furthermore, we propose a simple didactic conceptualization of attention in teaching and school learning in four aspects, formed on the basis of characteristic conceptualizations of attention in traditional didactics and contemporary psychology and philosophy. Finally, we examine some of the important implications for teaching, teaching tools, methods, teaching content and school environment. In the paper, we propose the argument that articulating and cultivating attention should be one of the explicit, curricularly marked goals of the teaching process, since modern psychological and pedagogical research shows that attention is both 1) a condition for the teaching process and 2) one of the processes that itself is cultivated in the process. The theoretical framework of the work consists of traditional didactic, psychological and contemporary philosophical definitions of attention. First, the didactic conceptualization of attention in the didactics of Comenius, then the didactic conception of paying attention to exemplary phenomena by Martin Wagenschein, as well as contemporary pedagogical research into teaching and school learning as a process of forming attention - proposed by the author Johannes Rytzler. Second, contemporary psychological research and conceptualizations of attention. And finally, the theoretical framework of the work is made up of philosophical researches of the concept of attention, first of all, by the contemporary philosopher Sebastian Wetzl (Sebastian Watzl) - and his arguments on attention as a constitutive structure of consciousness given in the "center-periphery" model.
References
Allport D. A., Antonis B., Reynolds P. (1971). On the division of attention: A disproof of the
single channel hypothesis. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Volume 24,
Issue 2 (p. 225-235), Thousand Oaks: SAGE Journals.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00335557243000102.
Berlin, I. (2013). Georges Sorel. In: Hardy H. (Ed.), Against the Current (p. 373-420),
Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Brinck, I. (2003). The Objects of Attention. Talk presented at the meeting of the European
Society of Philosophy and Psychology, Turin, July 2003,
https://www.academia.edu/887463/The_objects_of_attention?sm=b, датум приступа: 2. 6. 2024.
Wagenschein, M. (2008). Save the Phenomena. The Primacy of Unmediated Experience.
https://www.natureinstitute.org/article/martin-wagenschein/save-the-phenomena-the-primacy-of-unmediated-experience, датум приступа: 1.6.2024.
Wagenschein, M. (2018). Teaching to Understand. On the Concept of the Exemplary in
Teaching. https://www.natureinstitute.org/article/martin-wagenschein/teaching-to- understand, датум приступа: 1.6.2024.
Watzl, S. (2011). Attention as Structuring the Stream of Consciousness. In: (Eds.) Mole C.
Smithies D., Wu W. Attention – Philosophcial and Psychological Essays (p. 145-173),
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Watzl, S. (2017). Structuring Mind – The Nature of Attention and How It Shapes
Consciousness, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wu, W. (2014). Attention. London and New York: Routledge.
Gardner, H. (1999). The Disciplined Mind: What all students should understand. New York:
Simon and Schuster.
Ginns P., Muscat K., Naylor R. (2023).Rest breaks aid directed attention and learning.
Educational and Development Psychologist, Vol. 40, No 2. (p. 141-150), Melbourne-
Abingdon: Australian Psychological Society-Taylor & Francis Group.
https://doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2023.2225700.
Goleman, D. (2013). Focus – The Hidden Driver of Excellence, New York: Harper Books.
Gvozdenović, V. (2003). Early vision and visual attention. Psihologija, Vol. 36(3) (str. 241-
Beograd: Društvo psihologa Srbije. [In Serbian]
Gvozdenović, V. (2011). Visual attention. Beograd: Filozofski fakultet Univerziteta u
Beogradu. [In Serbian]
Ivić, I. (2019). Printed and digital textbooks. In: (Ed..) Pešikan A., Stevanović J. Textbook –
The old subject before the challenges of modern age (p. 13-29), Beograd: Institut za
pedagoška istraživanja. [In Serbian]
Keller S. A., Davidesco I., Tanner K. D. (2020). Attention Matters. How Orchestrating
Attention May Relate to Classroom Learning. CBE Life Sciences Education, September 1,
:fe5 (p. 1-9), Rockville: American Society for Cell Biology. DOI:10.1187/cbe.20-05-
Comenius, J. A. (1907). The Great Didactic – Part II, London: Adam and Charles Black.
Korsgaard, M. T. (2019). Exploring the role of exemplarity in education: two dimensions of
the teacher’s task. Ethics and Education, 14:3 (p. 271-284), Abingdon: Taylor and Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/17449642.2019.1624466.
Pravilnik o programu nastave i učenja za gimnaziju (2020), Prosvetni glasnik, Godina LXIX
– Broj 4, 2. jun 2020., Beograd: Službeni glasnik Republike Srbije. [In Serbian]
Lamme, V.A.F. (2003). Why visual awareness and attention are different. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, Volume 7, Issue 1 (p. 12-18), Cambridge MA: Cell Press,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)00013-X.
Lazarević, E. (2013). Recognizing and understanding attention deficit and hyperactivity fo
children in the primary school. Pedagogija, LXVII, 2, 2013 (str. 267-281), Beograd: Savez
pedagoških društava Jugoslavije-Forum pedagoga. [In Serbian]
Lucas S. G., Bernstein D. A. (2005). Teaching Psychology. A Step by Step Guide, Mahwah New
Jersey, London: Lawrence Erlebaum Associates, Publishers
Marković O., Taranović N., Vasić V., Tomić K., Marković M. (2012). The frequency of
attention and behavior disorder in children with mild intellectual disability. PONS –
medicinski časopis, 9(2) (str. 48-53), Kruševac-Ćuprija-Kragujevac: Akademija vaspitačko-
medicinskih strukovnih studija-Zavod za javno zdravlje-Srpsko lekarsko društvo
Podružnica Ćuprija-Društvo za neuronauke “Sozercanje”, DOI: 10.5937/pons1202048M.
[In Serbian]
Marković, B. (2020). Conscious attention - mindfulness as a factor in improving the learning
context in 21. century. Norma, XXV, 2/2020 (str. 131-139), Sombor: Univerzitet u Novom
Sadu-Pedagoški fakultet, DOI: 10.5937/norma2002132M. [In Serbian]
Meyer, H. (2002). Türklinkendidaktik. Aufsätze zur Didaktik, Methodik und
Schulentwicklung, Zagreb: Educa. [In Croatian]
Milojević Apostolović B., Jovanović N. (2021). Psychology – A Textbook for the 2nd Grade
of Grammar School, Beograd: Novi Logos. [In Serbian]
Milovanović, R. (2001). Learning and attention. Beograd: Centar za primenjenu psihologiju.
[In Serbian]
Milovanović, R. B. (2017). Attention as a Factor in the School Performance of Adolescents.
Collection of Papers of the Faculty of Philosophy-Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta u
Prištini, XLVII (3)/2017 (p. 275-301), Kosovska Mitrovica: Univerzitet u Prištini-
Filozofski fakultet. DOI: 10.5937/ZRFFP47-14869.
Mole, C. (2011). The Metaphysics of Attention. In: (Eds.) Mole C. Smithies D., Wu W.
Attention – Philosophcial and Psychological Essays (p. 60-77), Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Mulligan, N. W., Brown, A. S. (2003). Attention and implicit memory. In L. Jiménez
(Ed.), Attention and implicit learning (p. 297–334), Amsterdam:John Benjamins
Publishing Company, https://doi.org/10.1075/aicr.48.16mul.
Nešić M., Kostić J., Čičević S., Nešić V. (2011). Neurophisiology of Attention. Godišnjak za
Psihologiju, Vol. 8, No. 10. (str. 7-25), Niš: Univerzitet u Nišu. [In Serbian]
Pešikan A. (2019). The function of pictures in textbook. In: (Eds.) Pešikan A., Stevanović J.
Textbook – The old subject before the challenges of modern age (p. 67-101), Beograd:
Institut za pedagoška istraživanja. [In Serbian]
Popović M., Zdravković S. (2009). Can deployment of attention be strategically controlled?
Psihologija, Vol. 42(1) (p. 61-78), Beograd: Društvo psihologa Srbije.
Rytzler, J. (2017). Teaching as Attention Formation – A Relational Approach to Teaching and
Attention. Doctoral Dissertaion, School od Education, Culture and Communication,
Mälardalen University Press Dissertations, Västerås: Mälardalen University,
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1066806/FULLTEXT02, datum pristupa:
3.2024.
Selaković, K. I. (2023). Work of art as initiator of metacognitive learning strategies. Uzdanica,
XX/1 (str. 229-240), Jagodina: Fakultet pedagoških nauka. [In Serbian]
Trebješanin Ž., Lalović Z. (2007). Psychology – A Manual for Teachers in the 2nd Grade of
General Grammar School, Podgorica: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva. [In
Montenegrin-Serbo-Croatian]
Fankhauser R., Kaspar A. (2022). Gestures in the Classroom. The Palgrave Handbook of
Embodiment and Learning, Kraus Anja, Wulf Christoph (Eds.) (p. 145-162), Cham:
Palgrave Macmillan-Springer Nature Switzerland.
Hetfield, G. (2017). Attention in the work of Descartes: Mental and physiological aspects.
Les Études philosophiques, Volume 120, Issue 1 (p. 7-28), Paris: Presses Universitaires de
France.
James W. (1950). The Principles of Psychology – Vol. 1, New York: Dover Publications.
