Читать книгу Student Engagement Techniques - Elizabeth F. Barkley - Страница 17

Whether teachers think primarily of the feeling or thinking elements of student engagement, they are quick to point out that both are required. A classroom filled with enthusiastic, motivated students is great, but it is educationally meaningless if it does not result in learning. Conversely, students who are learning but doing so reluctantly and resentfully are not engaged, and they are probably not learning to the extent that they could be.

Student engagement is a mental state that is the product of motivation and active learning. It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either element is missing. It does not result from one or the other alone, but rather is generated in the space that resides at the overlap of motivation and active learning. Motivation and active learning work together synergistically, and as they interact, they contribute incrementally to increase engagement. From this perspective, rather than a Venn diagram that describes engagement as the overlap of active learning and motivation—thereby limiting the influence of each—engagement may be better described as a double helix in which active learning and motivation are spirals working together synergistically, building in intensity, and creating a fluid and dynamic phenomenon that is greater than the sum of their individual effects (see Figure 1.1).

Student engagement, then, is the mental state that results from the synergistic interaction between motivation and active learning. Thus, engagement occurs on a continuum: it starts at the intersection of motivation and active learning, but these two work synergistically and build in intensity. At the far end of the continuum are the transformative peak experiences that constitute the treasured milestones of an education. As attractive and appealing as these experiences are, they are not sustainable on a constant basis – that would be too exhausting for teachers and students. As college teachers, we can strive to increase instances of deep, authentic engagement, reduce the incidence of indifference and apathy that characterize disengagement, and attend to the many ways we can adapt our teaching methods to enhance engaged learning throughout the range in between.

FIGURE 1.1. Double Helix Model of Student Engagement

Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna.html).

It's essential to remember, however, that what is motivating to one student may not be so to another. A fundamental characteristic of active learning is that students must connect what is being learned to what is already known, and what one student already knows is not the same as what is already known by another. Thus, the blend of motivating factors and active learning that promotes student engagement is unique to each individual learner. Acknowledging that engagement is referenced individually, excellent teachers who create engaging classes manage to find ways to challenge and support students at many different cognitive and developmental levels as well as create an affective environment that helps all students feel as though their presence and participation in the course matters, so that they will exert the effort necessary to learn.