CHAPTER 7
Using Time Samples to Look at Attention Span
“Teaching is not about transferring knowledge.
It is about learning, and the one who learns
the most is the teacher.”
Factors Influencing
Attention Span
• Environment – Stimulating but not too much
• Developmental competency – Cognitive
readiness to focus attention
• Novelty – New things catch attention for a
while
• Peers – Influenced by interests of peers
TIME SAMPLES
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Recording method that:
Tracks children’s choices
Their playmates
The time they spend in one area
Method suitable for children 3 years and older
Infants and toddlers – more appropriate to
use anecdotal or running records
Time Sample
Uses of the Time Sample
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Advantages
Gathers information on the whole group
Indicates each child’s play choice and interests
Shows child’s preferred playmates
Can show adults’ position in the room
LOOKING AT
APPROACHES TO LEARNING
• Born to learn – Innate drive to learn
• Approaches to learning
– Ready (showing interest and enthusiasm for learning)
– Willing (having strategies to respond to new opportunities even
when it’s difficult)
– Able (having the developmental capacity to succeed)
• Piaget & kinds of knowledge
– Physical: nature of objects, rolls, sinks/floats
– Logico-Mathematical: Relationships, cause and effect,
measuring, counting, classifying
– Social Conventional: social customs (manners, rules); skill
learning (reading, writing, facts, dates)
Vygotsky’s Ideas about Learning
• Attention (and learning) are affected by social
interactions
• Approximate success with help from a more
skilled peer or an adult
• Use of private speech to talk through a
difficult process