Flow and Middle School Maker Spaces

The challenge becomes being able to observe how this range manifests itself in the Maker Space learning environment of a middle school. The figure below illustrates the concept of range of engagement and flow as it would lead to learning in a middle school Maker Space learning environment (see Figure 7). The illustration suggests a model similar to previous flow models that employ a foundation of a balance of perceived skills and challenges. The flow model design shows an increase of flow intensity dependent on the level of skill and challenge. It also shows that where there is an imbalance between perceived skills and challenges the participant is likely to fall out of flow due to anxiety from too high of a challenge or due to boredom from too low of a challenge. The model below is contextualized to suggest a range from non-engagement to full engagement. The opportunity for flow to occur and the opportunity to learn due to greater engagement in a middle school maker space increase parallel to the increase in the balance of skills and challenges. Furthermore, disengagement would occur if the skills-challenge dynamic is out of balance where too great of a challenge would manifest in disengaging behaviors related to anxiety and too little of a challenge would manifest in disengaging behaviors related to boredom:

Figure 7: Flow theory illustration in terms of engagement in a learning environment

3.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Whether student engagement occurs in a structured or unstructured learning environment, there exists a clear distinction between the terms “learning” and “schooling”. Halverson and Sheridan (2014) cautioned to not conflate learning with schooling and suggested tensions emerge when this type of learning experience crosses the boundary between informal and formal learning environments. They further suggested “changing the conversation from being about the design of schooling as informing learning to, instead, the design for learning as informing schooling” (p.503). Therefore, the relationship between engagement and a “learning” environment does not necessarily equate to the relationship between engagement and a “schooling” environment.

An essential component to learning is engagement in the learning process. If the previously mentioned proposal to change the conversation from one that informs learning based on school design to a conversation that designs learning to inform schooling, engagement needs to be an integral part of that design. The challenge becomes the ability to recognize engagement that leads

to learning in a variety of learning contexts and contents, both in informal learning environments and formal learning environments. Stripping away the traditional conventions of what it means to be engaged, a new perspective can be developed that sees engagement that leads to learning as a fundamental process of growth. A person who possesses a skill set, when challenged at his/her potential and who has the capacity for intent focus and setting goals should exhibit characteristics of engagement that lead to a potential flow experience. This study explored the components of flow as engagement in the unconventional learning environment of a Maker Space.

3.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The purpose of this study was to explore engagement as it occurs in the sample of middle school aged students situated in a learning environment of a Western Pennsylvania public school with and integrated Maker Space. 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 understanding in how middle school 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 middle school student perspective as observed through the lens of flow theory. The research questions that follow were filtered through the lens of Flow Theory. Evidence gathered included the presence of the nine components of Flow Theory (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) with an emphasis on balance of challenges and skills and concentration on task as principle indicators of the potential for flow to occur. The researcher

tailored the protocol to gather evidence from the middle school students in a way that supported the following research questions respectful of the capabilities and understanding of the participants:

1. How do middle school students describe their experiences in the DREAM Factory?

a. How do these students describe this experience as being similar to or different than their experience in other classes?

b. How do these students describe experience in the DREAM Factory compared to their experience in other similar activities in which s/he participates during her/his time away from school?

2. Do middle school students’ self-reported experiences in the DREAM Factory, in other classes, or during an outside-of-school activity evidence engagement that align with elements of flow theory?

The preferred method of research for this investigation is a qualitative exploratory method. Stake (1995) recommends qualitative research over other methods of research when the investigator is searching for ‘happenings’ rather than ‘causes’. Qualitative research presses for an understanding of the complex relationships that exist among all of the components of a phenomenon. This approach contrasts with more quantitative approaches to research that presses for explanation and control of a phenomenon (p. 37). Nevertheless, previous research in Flow Theory provides a foundation of evidence based in quantitative methods to define the flow components to consider when looking for evidence of flow through qualitative means. The study design that follows expands on how this exploratory inquiry addressed the research questions.