Returning to the Information Processing Model, another characteristic of attention is that it is developmental in nature. The younger we are, the less attention we are able to give to something. This also has implications for teachers. Teachers should be aware of the general attention span for the ages that they are teaching. Knowing how long your class can focus and keeping lessons within that length of time can be extremely helpful in keeping their attention, reducing boredom, acting up, and learning what you want them to.
Students are more attentive if they are actively involved in a task or interested.
When students are so interested in and attentive to what they are doing or learning about that time just seems to fly by is the concept of flow. The challenge and knowing we can solve it soon given enough effort is what keep the flow or our attention going. Another characteristic is automasticity. Automasticity frees up attention for focusing on other things while writing or doing something else automatically. The next step in the Information Processing Model involves our perception.