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I am

EPIC

Developing my Thinking Skills

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Topic 1:�Attention &�Inhibition

Lesson Objectives

Understand the importance of Attention and Inhibition for learning

Become aware of things that personally distract you

Learn simple strategies to help you to:
Get a task done
Deal with distractions

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Video �Selective Attention

ACTIVITY/VIDEO.

Note to teacher:

You may wish to start this session using a video based example of 'selective attention'. �If you put this search term 'selective attention' into YouTube, several videos can be found. ��We particularly like this one by National Geographic: A Double Dutch | Brain Games – YouTube �(NB: This video is not endorsed by and is not directly associated with EPIC Think Learn C.I.C. We are not responsible for the content you find at this link and you should view it in full before showing it to your class. National Geographic do not endorse and are in no way associated with EPIC Think Learn C.I.C.)

If you watch the video,

Ask the class – by raising their hands - which changes they noticed in the video.

Discussion Points/Script: This video demonstrates how our attention might help us to focus on the most relevant information in our environment.

To answer the question – how many jumps the girls in green made – you needed to focus your attention and ignore background information that was not important to the task.

If you did notice the changes in the video – this doesn’t necessarily mean that you weren’t paying attention, sometimes it’s important to notice changes in our environment (imagine that you noticed smoke coming from under the door)

Some of us do however find that we are easily distracted by things in our environment, and later we will discuss some strategies which might help you to practice our attentional skills.

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Did you know that our brain is processing a huge amount of information from our environment at any time?

One researcher estimates that your five senses take in about 11 million bits of information every second!

Attention

is our brain’s way of dealing with and focusing on what is the most important information in our environment.

Script:

Did you know that your brain is processing a huge amount of information from your environment at any time?

(if you watched a video on selective attention – you can relate this back to the video).

One researcher estimates that your five senses take in about 11 million bits of information every second!

Let’s do a little experiment. Close your eyes, and let’s focus our mind on the sounds that you can hear around you [you might draw attention to the sound of a ticking clock, a light humming, a lawnmower, children from another class, etc].

Now let’s think about sensations related to our sense of touch. Become aware of the feeling of your clothing on your body, the feeling of the seat you are sitting on or the pressure from the floor under your feet.

[you can work thought other relevant scents such as smells, and then get the children to open their eyes and look around their environment to pay attention to visual information that is available to their senses].

If our brain was paying attention to all of these things all the time – we would never get any school work done!

Attention is our brain’s way of dealing with and focusing on what is the most important information in our environment.

It’s like a spotlight that helps us to focus on specific things

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In class, Attention helps us to…

Sit still
Listen to the teacher
Get started on a task
Stay focussed on and complete a task
Shift our focus when needed
Ignore distractions in our environment

Script:

In class, our attention helps us to sit still and listen to what the teacher says.

It helps us to get started on a task, but also to stay focused on and finish the task.

Attention is also important to shift our focus when needed – for example imagine that you are working through some maths sums. The first 10 sums are multiplication and the next 10 are division. Attention helps us to pay attention to this change and recognise when the instructions are now different.

In school we sometime also need to shift our focus from one lesson to the other. Imagine that you are really enjoying writing a story during English. When the bell rings, the teacher tells you to pack away your English work and get out your maths books. This change can be really challenging for some children, especially if they were really enjoying the previous work they were doing.

Finally, our attention helps us to ignore distractions in our environment – this could be to ignore the sound of a peer tapping their pen on the table, the sound of the class next door rehearsing a song, or even distracting thoughts about what you may be having about what’s for lunch today.

All of us will get distracted from time to time. For instance, have you ever tried reading a book on a bus or while the tv is on?

But some of us might find that we are more easily distracted by things within our environment.

For example, some people will find it difficult to wear certain kinds of clothing because it doesn’t feel nice on their body, or they need to cut the label off clothes before they can wear them.

Some people have very sensitive hearing, and may find the sound of a ticking clock will distract them.

Most of us pay no attention to the sound of the clock, or else, we only become aware of it when someone draws attention to it.

Our ability to pay attention varies from day to day, or even minute to minute. A lot of different things, such as where we are, how tired or hungry we feel, and distractions can affect our ability to pay attention.

It’s important to stop and think about why we are feeling distracted so that we can work to fix those aspects of our environment.

Before we look at some strategies to help us with our attention, let’s do a short activity.

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Quiz

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

ACTIVITY.

Materials:

Booklet & pencil per child

Instructions to class:

Turn to page 6 in your booklet. We are going to be answering a short Quiz.

I’m going to ask you to write down the answer to 5 questions.

I’m only going to ask the question once (I can’t repeat it) and I’m not going to give you very long to think about the answer. The idea is to write down the first thing that comes into your head.

Your question numbers are already on your sheet, so just write your answer down next to the correct number.

Any questions?

Are you ready?

Question 1. How many letters are in the alphabet?

Question 2. If Andy’s rooster lays an egg in Sally’s yard, who owns the egg?

Question 3. You are running in a race and you pass the person in second place just before crossing the finish line. Where did you come in the race?

Question 4. What do you put in a toaster?

Question 5. What do cows drink?

Let’s go through the answers

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Quiz answers

How many letters are in “the alphabet”?

11 (t+h+e+a+l+p+h+a+b+e+t)

If Andy’s rooster lays an egg in Sally’s yard, who owns the egg?

No one. Roosters don’t lay eggs.

You are running in a race and you pass the person in second place just before crossing the finish line. Where did you come in the race?

2^nd place. (if you pass 2^nd place, then you are now in 2^nd place)

What do you put in a toaster?

Bread

What do cows drink?

Water

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Stop + Think

Inhibition

Our inner voice reminding us to slow down and think before we say or do something.

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What would you choose?

2 marshmallows in 10min

1 marshmallow now

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Video �The Marshmallow Test

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The marshmallow test (an example of inhibition)

As we get older, we get better at “Stop & Think”

If we practice “Stop & Think”, we give ourselves time to make good decisions and choices.

What research tells us about inhibition…

Script

In this famous experiment, children are given a marshmallow on a plate and told that they have a choice to either eat the marshmallow now, or if they wait a while, they will be given a second marshmallow.

Although it makes sense to wait for the second marshmallow – it might be so tempting to eat the marshmallow sitting right in front of us.

This is one example of inhibition – our inner voice needs to keep reminding us to wait for the bigger reward.

This task is especially hard for young children, partly because 10minutes feels like “forever” to them. (Also in the actual experiment they aren’t told how long they need to wait for).

As we get older, we get better at waiting for a reward or making good choices (controlling our impulses). This is partly because we have a better understanding of time

If we understand the importance of and practice “stop & think”, we can become better at ignoring temptations or distractions, and making good decisions that help us to reach our goals. For example, by saving our pocket money for a few weeks or months we are able to buy something which is more valuable.

Marshmallow image from Pexels (Arina Krasnikova – 7002960)

Piggybank image from Pixabay

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when we have strong emotions