Concentration: a Central Concept for Educational Technologists

Abstract

This paper examines a concept — that of concentration — which plays a central part in most discussions of learning and teaching, but which tends to be used unsystematically even by educational technologists. The use of the term suggested in this paper, which is the effort required to maintain selective attention’, is consistent with the intuitive way in which the term is typically used but also points the way to greater precision and systematic rigour in its use. The relationship of concentration to selective attention is discussed, as is the concept of distraction and the difficulties involved in tasks which require concentration.