How long is an elementary school-age child's attention span?

How long is an elementary school-age child's attention span?

Louis Pugliese (Lecturer in Educational Psychology, CSUN, Certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards) gives expert video advice on: How can I tell if my elementary school-age child is having trouble with intrapersonal skills?; How can I tell if my elementary school-age child is having trouble with interpersonal skills? and more...

It's commonly said that the attention span of an elementary school child is between five and twelve minutes, depending on their age and grade. The intrinsic interest in a task and the challenging nature of the task - how complex it is - also determine how long that child can pay attention. If they're being shown something new and it's highly complex and very hard to process cognitively, they will not be attentive for so long. They'll get overloaded. If, in fact, the task or the new information is not novel enough and not challenging enough, that also can lower attention span.