Return to the John G. Nicholls Trust Page
University of
This study investigates the experience of student engagement in high school classrooms – both the influences on engagement as well as the short-term and long-term educational outcomes resulting from engagement. Student engagement is conceptualized in terms of Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) theory of flow, and is defined as the confluence of concentration, interest, and enjoyment. To pursue this inquiry, I examined the experience of 526 tenth and twelfth grade students enrolled in 13 high schools throughout the country. Data were collected in three waves: 1992-1993, 1994-1995, and 1996-1997. A small subsample was followed into college for the purpose of studying long-term academic outcomes. Data were gathered using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and student interviews. In order to participate in the ESM, students responded to the signals of wrist watches, preprogrammed to sound at random times throughout the day for a period of one week, by completing a brief survey asking them to describe their experience and subjective state at the moment of the beep.
Results showed that high school
students spent the majority of their time listening to their teacher lecture,
doing independent seat work, listening, taking notes, taking tests or quizzes,
or watching TV or a video. Very little time was spent more interactively, as
with group labs or projects. Students
reported higher engagement and were found to be paying attention more frequently
during individual and group work than while listening to the teacher lecture,
watching a video, or taking a test. They also reported greater engagement
during their non-academic classes such as art, computer science and vocational
education than their traditional academic classes. Students reported high moods and motivation
but low intensity (e.g., concentration related to high challenge and
importance) in some activities (e.g., TV or video) and school subjects (e.g.,
art), and high intensity but low moods in other activities (e.g., tests and
quizzes) and school subjects (e.g., math). A multi-level analysis partitioning
the variance of engagement into situational, individual, and school components
revealed that engaging activities and school subjects may be explained by the
very strong influence of phenomenological factors on engagement: in particular,
the experience of challenge, skill, control, relevance, and activity level.
The influence of engagement on
short-term and long-term academic outcomes was also examined. There was only
weak relationship between engagement and short-term performance as well as
career aspirations in high school. However, engagement (particularly enjoyment
and interest) was one of the strongest predictors of long-term academic
performance measured two years later in college, as well as long-term
continuing motivation in a subject (measured by choice of college major) in the
domain of science. Results suggested that activities and classrooms that
combined academic intensity with features that provoke a positive emotional
response are more complex and more likely to engage students the short term and
the long term.
For additional information, please contact David J. Shernoff at: shernoff@facstaff.wisc.edu, or
References
Shernoff, D.J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E.S. (accepted). Student engagement in
high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory. School Psychology Quarterly.
Shernoff, D. J., & Hoogstra,
L. (2001). Continuing motivation beyond the high school
classroom. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development,
93, 73-87.
Shernoff, D. J. (2001). The experience of student engagement
in high school classrooms: A phenomenological perspective.
Shernoff, D.J., Schneider, B.,
& Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2001). Assessing multiple
influences on student engagement in high school classrooms. Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research
Association,
Shernoff, D.J., Knauth, S.,
& Makris, E. (2000). The
quality of classroom experiences. In M. Csikszentmihalyi
& B. Schneider (coauthors), Becoming Adult (pp. 122-145).