How does attention span factor into learning?

How does attention span factor into learning?

Louis Pugliese (Lecturer in Educational Psychology, CSUN, Certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards) gives expert video advice on: What conditions stimulate learning?; How can I help my child be more motivated in the classroom? and more...

In school, much of what is presented to the children, is presented in terms of direct instruction. That often involves the teacher modeling some sort of behavior, or some sort of procedure for children, such as writing a friendly letter and the like. In order for children to learn, they then have to do this on their own. They have to try it themselves and they have to construct the knowledge piece by piece. They need to be able to focus on the presentation until the presentation is finished. They need to see it from the beginning to the end, or they need to participate in some way from the beginning to the end of the demonstration part or the lesson, so that they can then try doing the steps of the procedure or taking a test of some sort to show that they have mastered the material. So attention is very important -- that students are able to see all of the components of the task before they begin to try it themselves.