What is it about?
The authors extend the research on student behavioral engagement to emphasize a continuum of disengagement, passive engagement, and active engagement. They find students are not necessarily more engaged while working with peers but students are more likely to be engaged, specifically actively engaged, while working with peers and the teacher or interacting with the teacher alone. This research suggests that a more fine grain scale of behavioral engagement has important research and conceptual implications, and how the teacher is involved during group work and classroom instruction matters for student engagement in the classroom.
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Why is it important?
By using longitudinal engagement data with the use of student observational log that differentiated behavioral engagement, this work overcomes the issue of using survey data to measure engagement and extend our understanding of behavioral engagement and the need for more specificity in how we conceptualize behavioral engagement. Moreover, with the additional classroom variables of track, subject, and student interaction, this research is able to pinpoint how students’ behavioral engagement varies across different contexts.
Perspectives
I like how this work has both research and practical implications. On one hand, it matters that we extend our thinking beyond students being either engaged or disengaged into whether they are actively or passively engaged during class. On the other, it also matters whether students are more likely to be engaged and how they are engaged across various contexts.
Mr. Tuan D Nguyen
Vanderbilt University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding student behavioral engagement: Importance of student interaction with peers and teachers, The Journal of Educational Research, October 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2016.1220359.
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