The Stream of Consciousness

In his second talk, James discusses the concept of consciousness and how it applies to teaching. James describes the stream of consciousness as consisting of two parts, the focal object and the marginal object (p. 8). Human beings change the focus of their attention, seemingly unconsciously, to the most important matter of the moment. The most important matter becomes the focal object, and all others become marginal. These objects are in a constant state of flux. “In most of our concrete states of consciousness all these different classes of ingredients are found simultaneously present to some degree, though the relative proportion they bear to one another is very shifting” (p. 8).

Stream of consciousness is that constant internal dialogue in our heads. The thoughts that we have, whether they are related to the task at hand or not, are what make up this stream of consciousness. At times, we are very much in control of our thoughts, while other times it is difficult to focus on something for more than a few minutes at a time. As we mature, we get better at automatically bringing ourselves back to the most important focal object. I think that this has become an increasingly important problem to education in the age of technology and multitasking. Students and adults alike are so used to having to devote their attention to many “stimuli” at once that our stream of consciousness is often disjointed and transitioning back and forth between several focal objects at once.

The student’s focus comes and goes in waves; making teachers aware of this fact can help them to devise ways to keep the students on task. In later chapters, James brings up the idea of connecting material as a means of helping with memory as well as increasing the meaningfulness of the learning experience. For educators, the stream of consciousness presents a unique challenge. How can teachers tap into student’s stream of consciousness and help them to maintain focus on their learning? What is the best way to address the changing waves of focus and marginal objects in the learning process?