The Secret to Student Engagement

For decades, research has shown that student engagement is far from something that’s just “nice to have,” but is instead highly correlated with improved learning across a wide range of instruction levels and subject matter.

In the latest white paper from the National Inventors Hall of Fame^®, “How Can Invention Education Boost Students’ Engagement and Agency,” we explore how engagement develops over time and discuss strategies educators can use to create learning environments that spark students’ natural curiosity.

We invite you to read an excerpt from this white paper below.

Understanding How Engagement Relies on Interest

For both new and seasoned educators, these findings likely reaffirm what they already know to be true: Engagement leads to lasting and meaningful learning. For this to occur, however, students first must develop an interest in the subjects they are exploring.

While seemingly self-explanatory, the term “interest” is quite nuanced and is perhaps best described by influential researcher and psychologist Carroll E. Izard. In a paper published in the Annual Review of Psychology, Izard categorizes interest as an emotion that is at the foundation of engagement and contributes greatly to our overall well-being:
 

The emotion of interest is continually present in the normal mind under normal conditions, and it is the central motivation for engagement in creative and constructive endeavors and for the sense of well-being. Interest and its interaction with other emotions account for selective attention, which in turn influences all other mental processes.
 

The connection between interest and well-being is one not commonly discussed. Yet, because interest has the potential to develop into passions – and even a sense of purpose – it represents an emotion that deserves to be nurtured and cultivated.

Unfortunately, students’ relationship with and feelings toward school are not always positive. In a 2020 survey of more than 21,000 American high school students published by the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, for example, nearly 80% reported feeling stressed, and almost 70% said they felt bored. Though the students did express positive emotions including cheerfulness and pride, nearly 75% of those who took part in the survey also self-reported negative feelings related to their school experience.

In his book “Why Don’t Students Like School,” Daniel T. Willingham, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, attempts to address some of the reasons for students’ dislike of school. A primary reason is just how difficult it is for educators to present “the sweet spot between to-be-learned content being too hard and too easy.” While students are naturally curious, Willingham argues that educators inadvertently can overwhelm their classes if the information being presented lacks context or personal meaning.

Read the Full White Paper Today

To learn more about how you can create a more engaging learning environment in your school, we invite you to read “How Can Invention Education Boost Students’ Engagement and Agency” for free today!