Helps in Teacher-Training

Helps in Teacher-Training Written for the General Church Board of Education, by L. John Nuttali, Brigltam Young University ATTENTION (To accompany Lesson 8. — How We Learn, Teacher-Training Text, 1923) The children were chattering, talking, laughing in little groups. Two boys talked of a marble game. One boy told his sympa- thetic sales-mates of a burn on his hand. A group of little girls were carefully examining a new hat belonging to one of them. Here and there a child sat swing- ing his legs and looking idly around. Suddenly a voice said, "Give me your attention, boys and girls." What did it mean? What were they to give? Who was to receive it? Because of some such habitual way of saying things as this we have come many of us to have a wrong idea of attention. Attention is not a separate part of mind. It is a word used to <le- L. John Nuttali scribe a condition that is always present in conscious life. We all have memories of past experiences, imaginative plans of something, good intentions, and other things which we call knowledge. Besides this we are at any one time receiving in various degrees sensations from all parts of the body. With all this mass of pos- sible activities making up mental life one certain part is always more active than the rest and others are less active or relatively inactive. Of the part which is most active we are most conscious; therefore we say we are paying attention to it. In other words to be attentive means to busy the mind most actively with the things at hand. This is what the children were doing; they were attending to various things. The teacher's problem in calling for attention is to have the children become mentally active with the lesson to be studied. It is needless to say that learning takes place at this point of activity, so that one must be attentive to learn. The reasons for this importance are stated by Pillsbury to be: First,

628 IMPROVEMENT ERA "Certain it is that the object or event attended to becomes in every way more important for consciousness; it stands out above the others at the moment, is also more likely to be remembered and to start new trains of thought."' Second, "Attention also produces an increased clearness of out- line." Third, attention is selective. "In part, selection results in an in- crease in the clearness of the content — an clement obscure at one moment becomes clear at the next; in part, the process selected rises from complete obscurity to a dominating place in consciousness, a possible content is made actual at one stroke. We are concerned with it primarily in its latter form when a stimulus that has been present but ineffective, suddenly rises to a prominent place." With Pillsbury, we too, are interested primarily in being sure that our lessons, as stimuli, shall rise to a prominent place in the minds of the children. When this is done the children are attending. How can it be accomplished? Sense stimuli will attract attention according to their intensity, size, duration, and contrast with surrounding conditions. Loud sounds, bright lights, strong odors, are all attended to involuntarily. In the dark a light of medium brightness seems intense. In the quiet of the church, the preacher's voice is striking. Fully as important as these facts is the effect of change. The stopping of a clock is noticed. In . the excited crowd calm self-control gets a hearing. Children note the changes in their surroundings. Moving things also attract. All of the above factors are conditions of the stimulus or outside object. Our own conditions also determine what we will attend to. We are quite likely to notice things recently experienced. After having learned a little quotation as a memory gem how quickly we attend to it when we read the entire poem. How often in church pupils enjoy finding in their lesson the memory gem recently learned. The expert teacher will see to it that the new lesson thus contains some of the good things of recently learned exercises. Our intention or purpose will determine what we will attend to. We listen to a political speech and remember the parts that agree with the way we intend to vote. Often it takes 'real effort to listen to the rest. If we dislike a person and desire to harm him we see his faults. If we are listening to a lecture because we want the information given, we do not at- tend to the peculiarities of speech. The magician tells us to watch the object he puts on the table and we ignore the movements by which he performs the trick. A student who comes to class to learn a specific thing gets it) by attending while other students will miss the point entirely. To insure attention, therefore, it helps to develop in the learners the purpose of getting the thing to be taught. "One usually sees or hears what one desires to see or hear or what harmonizes with the intention." Sometimes these desires or intentions originate within the learner. He may have inherited some ability or tendency which in expressing itself

HELPS IN TEACHER-TRAINING 629 develops desire for certain things. In the instincts children are generally alike. If a man, dressed in the costume of the Fiji Islander comes in all attend to him. If a teacher brings something strange, all become spec- ulative about it and it becomes the point of attention. If a fight begins, we are all attracted. We all note the arrival of a stranger. These things attract attention by stimulating an instinct. Some of us have attraction for music, some for art, some for mechanics, some for human peculiarities, some for natural objects. Under such conditions we attend involuntarily or by what we call native involuntary attention. But perhaps we have been questioned by others about something. We are ashamed of our lack of knowledge and determine to appear better next time. Whenever any information along this particular line is presented, we attend because of this acquired interest. Our intention to learn causes us to enjoy busying our mind with the facts, problems, and theories of this subject. This means we are attending to it. From the above we can more easily understand the forms of attention. When the stimulus is attractive because it appeals to an instinct or a very clearly felt desire we attend without effort and this is involuntary attention. When there is no such controlling association but we force ourselves to become mentally active in some line we feel the exertion of effort and call it voluntary attention. This form of attention can last only a very short time, for just an instant at any one time to the same stimulus. We can attend to a large object as long as new facts or new relationships act as new stimuli. But learning is slow and not effective when the attention is forced. The subject matter must create interest so that the attention can change over to the secondary passive or non- voluntary form. It is for this reason that we ended our former lesson by saying that the expression of interest was attention. Turning again for suggestions to Dr. Pillsbury, we are told that at- tention expresses itself in various ways. The sense organs adjust in the most advantageous way. Pupils turn in their seat, focus the eye, bend forward when they listen attentively or watch a performance of some kind. The voluntary muscles tend to mimic the thing to which we are at- tending. We jump with the athlete, we get tired in the throat listening to singing, we lean and sway slightly with the orator, we are startled to note our posture at the theatre. Not only these special acts but all of the muscles tend to contract when we are attending. In attention there are random rustling movements, wandering eyes, varied positions of sitting, or consciousness of discomfort. These facts help to diagnose the situation before us when we teach. As teachers we need to know that practically a person can attend to only one thing at a time. A small group of four or five closely related objects or words can be noted at once but even then, he really attends to one at a time and studies them from memory. Permit pupils to think or read or see or hear in such a way that you do not crowd one fact as a

630 IMPROVEMENT ERA distraction for the last one. Not only this but the attention focuses on any one point_ for only a second or so. Teaching must move from part to part so that new phases are seen and then provide review and mastery: , Especially , do we need to think of these two points in dealing with children. We ask a child to see the color and form of an object. He will attend to either color or form. The knowledge of the other may be lost unless specifically called for. We ask a child to listen and learn how a little boy was rewarded for a good deed. Often he will not know what the deed was. We make the child think of partaking of the sacrament with his right hand and in remembrance of the Savior. He is conscious either of the form or the meaning. Perhaps he uses the form correctly one Sun- day, but not the next. It becomes necessary for effective teaching to keep in mind this idea of one thing at a time. An adult hears a story and it calls up associations until he can attend a long time. A child does not have the experience to produce these associations so he listens only a short time. To hold ,his attention the teacher must supply with rich concrete detail the various phases to hold a constantly shifting attention. Attention is necessary for learning. Attention means having the mind most active on the desired material. It is secured best when these condi- tions are understood, for threats, punishment or artificial devices become the center of attention and the lesson is more or less m me margin. A knowing, sympathetic teacher realizes that the truly attentive class of children is the happy class. We are Two In ev'ry man there are always two: one is It and one is 7. There is war between them day by day, and will be until they die. When It and I cannot agree, and the shadows fall into night, Or when the It shall assault the I, the battle is on; they fight. It represents the fellow that fails and gives his brain to ride — I, more sure of a brave himself, relies on the Will to guide. It, lets the emotions lead him down where passions hold full sway, But I, contained, alert and cool — is a Knight of the King's highway. In the mirror of Life, It and I are forever face to face, If It may sin, and I shall win, then neither has lost the race. Appetite is the god of It, but Control is the God of I, But if flesh and wine call It to dine, then I asks the reason why. If It shall repent, then I shall relent, and side by side they vie — And, true to the end — the two shall blend, and It shall be one with I. Idaho Falls, Idaho. Douglas Hix.