Concentration training for pupils (ct4p)

If the cause to lack of concentration lies in emotional problems e.g. problems with schoolmates, teachers, family or exams, WinKonz alone cannot solve this. A combination with relaxation e.g. autogenous training is recommended. With relaxation the pupils and students can master problems and difficulties more easily. The ct4p combines WinKonz with a relaxation method.

In the period from 2001 to 2003 more than 70 pupils took part in the ct4p.
The following exercises of WinKonz were carried out:
I practice: T1 (search), T2 (addition), T3 (memorize) and T4 (zeroes). [These four trainings are the basic trainings of WinKonz.]
as: the degree of difficulty depends on the age of the user.
with: T1 (search) and T4 (zeroes) were practiced with 'numbers and letters'; T2 (addition) and T3 (memorize) were practiced with 'numbers'.

The illustration shows which exercices are recommended for training the concentration.

It is necessary to train consistently and repeatedly over the week and for a period of at least 2 months. Every training should take 3 minutes.

1. Which success will the ct4p bring?

All pupils stated at the end of the courses that they had success with the ct4p. Mostly they said: "I can better concentrate my attention." and "My grades have improved."

2. Objective results

The pupils' statements are in accord with the objective results of a test of anxiety (AFS = questionary of anxiety for pupils) and d2 (= test of attention). The pupils had to carry out these tests at the beginning and the end of the training.

A. Small group training.
Until the end of the year 2003 28 pupils underwent training in small groups 8 to 9 times. Here are the results:

Effect sizes of 0.28 are small. Values of 0.51 to 0.66 can be interpreted as in the midway. Values of 0.80 and more are strong. The ct4p leads to an enhancement of concentration.

B. Training in a school

From April to June 2003 the ct4p was carried out in a school similar to a secondary modern school with pupils aged from 10 to 12. 56 pupils of two classes participated. They were divided into 4 groups of 15 pupils. They each took 8 sessions. The pupils could learn the autogenous training but not all of them took this chance. It became apparent that many children performed WinKonz and the autogenous training at home inconstantly or not at all. Nevertheless this results appeared:
In one class the concentration performance (CP) increased from 100.8 to 107.4 (measured with the the test d2). This matches an effect size of 0.77 (= medium to strong).
In the other class the concentration performance (CP) increased from 99.8 to 106.9. This matches an effect size of 0.86 (= strong).
One teacher scored the concentration of the pupils before and after the training according to the german marks from 1 (best) to 6 (worst). Before training the average was 3.1; after training 2.6. This is a significant improvement of 0.5.  

Copyright: Ernst Hartmann, 2005-2008