Focused Attention, Breathing Awareness and Apps - A Vision of the Future of Learning

The prevailing consensus that was clearly articulated at the conference among the collective expertise, that included Dr. Daniel Goleman, Professor Dan Siegel, Dr. Linda Lantieri, Daniel Rechtschaffen, Gunilla Dobrin and Dr. Shauna Shapiro, was that the increase in attention problems and lack of social and emotional skills among young people can be contributed in a large part to the absence and lack of accessibility of parents that are pressured to work longer hours away from the family unit.  This coupled with the stressful allure to be connected 24/7 and involved constantly with social media further reduces parents’ valuable time as important mentors to teach and nurture their children in crucial interpersonal and social skills.  This in turn creates difficulties and challenges that educators in schools must face.

Current research shows that people in Sweden spend an average of 3.5 minutes per day of quality time with their children 2006 compared to 15 minutes in 1975.  This means that there is less time to act as role models to teach the emotional and social skills necessary to function properly in society.

The panel was also in agreement that society has changed so rapidly and digital technology has created both barriers as well as opened up new possiblities.  The ability to focus attention has generally declined among young people and stress has increased dramatically.  The question, “Is technology in education a deterrent or can it in actual fact be of assistance?”  was a subject of diverse opinions amongst the experts.

Empaticus’ vision was based on indications that much of the knowledge that would be learned in the future could be done through digital media and innovative software that are currently being developed today with a variety of focuses.  The ideas behind this vision can to some extent be linked to the concept, Flipped Learning, that is gaining popularity within school circles.

Khan Academy; Ted talks; Smartboards that can record class lessons; video lectures; social media; and 1-1 makes it possible to imagine the future possibilities for knowledge learning through technology and online collaboration.

Experiments carried out using computers and iPads with children and young people who are unable to read and had never seen a computer before, but still managed to learn on their own through curiosity and collaboration, demonstrates that there is a lot to explore within teaching and learning.

If technology could free up time for teachers to focus on teaching interpersonal and emotional skills then schools and the process of learning will fundamentally and positively change.

Tremendous progress has been made in the area of neurology.  Research has demonstrated that by utilizing relatively simple techniques, it is possible to learn “Focused Attention” through regular exercises in body and breathing awareness.  In recent years, advances made in neuroscience has demonstrated the positive benefits of daily attention exercises to keep the mind and the body focused on the sensations that arise in connection with breathing.

- This kind of internal training generates beneficial advantages for a person in the areas of self-regulation, empathy and resilience.  Through repeatedly bringing back a wandering mind to the physical sensations associated with breathing can the ability to control impulses and emotions increase dramatically, explained Dr. Dan Siegel.

- These new insights need to be applied within the schools to give our children the skills and the support they need, stated Pål Dobrin, CEO of the Gothenburg-based company, Empaticus AB.

Repetition creates stronger links between brain cells that are covered with myelin, which could  increase reaction by 3000 times.  It is like creating a highway between the cells associated with self-regulation.  This in turn will bring with it a succession of positive effects in many areas of life, not the least of which is the ability to assimilate knowledge in schools.

In an ideal world perhaps technology will help to free up time and reduce stress for our currently overburdened teachers and therefore allow them the opportunities to be able to focus more on motivational work, values, cooperation, emotional skills, and social skills.  This would allow teachers to be the positive role models who embody empathy, compassion and demonstrate conflict resolution skills without having to burn themselves out.  We need to provide our teachers with the chance to be proud and satisfied rather than being overloaded.  They are society’s most important players and the children are still our future.

Empaticus is in the process of producing new tools that will support students and teachers in the implementation of these new research findings 

The Empatico app is available at Apple Stores for  iOS devices and we have developed courses in Cultivating Emotional Balance to be available for our winter schedule.

Research on the method has shown that it helps teachers to be more accessible and responsive to the students’ emotional needs which naturally leads to an increase in academic performance and a harmonious classroom environment.

Two additional apps are set to be launched soon:  The app EMOTIVE designed in collaboration with Dr. Eve Ekman which provides emotional reporting and regulation as well as intellectual training.  And the EmoXpress app which deals with the expressions of emotion and will help children and students with neuropsychiatric disorders.