I had never heard of the term Flow Theory before however it makes complete sense that we would try to achieve “Flow” in education. The intrinsic motivation aspect of flow is pretty crucial to foster lifelong learning, curiosity, and optimal experiences. Csikszentmihalyi and his colleagues, Rathude, Whalen, and Nakamura defined optimal experiences as those accompanied by a merging of action and awareness, strong concentration to the task at hand, and the loss of awareness of time (Bjornestad et. Schweinle 2009). It is the feeling one achieves when thoroughly engrossed in an activity. Challenge must be appropriate to skill level or one risks producing factors such anxiety, apathy, or boredom.
The idea of optimal challenge is not new to education and can be related to Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and concept of scaffolding. It can also be linked to Jean Piaget’s Child Development theories, where learners add new concepts to prior knowledge and education is learner-centered and constructivist-based. The difference with flow theory is that it accounts for the fact that motivation, cognition, and affect are situational whereas most other theories on motivation presume decontextualized individual psychological processes.
Teachers can help create flow by fostering positive learning environments and research indicates benefits of the following strategies:
- Immediate Constructive Feedback
- Student encouragement to persist
- Focus on cooperation versus competition
- Support for student autonomy
- Matched challenge and skill level
- Emphasis on importance of material
Encouragement of students to remember principles and not algorithms
It is important to recognize that flow is not something strictly constructed from within but that we can help to trigger the process in our students.
Karen Deol 