Flow Theory and Engagement: Observing Engagement through the Lens of Flow in a Middle School Integrated Maker Space

[摘要] The purpose of this study was to explore engagement as it occurred in the sample of middle school aged students situated in a learning environment of a Western Pennsylvania public school with an integrated Maker Space. This study was embedded within a larger two-year NSF study Making Success: Researching a School District’s Integration of the Maker Movement into its Middle and High School conducted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity (CEAC). Flow theory, also called optimal experience theory first introduced in 1975 by Mikhail Csikszentmihalyi, played a critical role in this study. The importance of this study can be framed in the context of increasing the understanding of how students are engaged in learning within a Maker Space that is situated within a traditionally structured educational setting. This research explored student engagement from the student perspective as observed through the lens of flow theory. Flow Theory also informed the development of the research questions Evidence included data gathered to observe for presence of the nine components of flow (balance of challenges and skills, merging of action and awareness, clear goals, clear feedback, intense focus, paradox of control, loss of self-consciousness, autotelic experience, and loss of time).

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh