2014 National Outdoor Education Conference - AdelaideLearning Engagement, Flow and Facilitation

Tony RobinsonDavid Low

2014 National Outdoor Education Conference

Tony RobinsonGilson College (13 years)

32 years secondary school teaching primarily with young adolescents

Year 9 L4L Program

2014 National Outdoor Education Conference

David LowAvondale College

from at the dedication stone in memory of an 18 year old taken by a shark at West Beach in 2004

“We possess the potential to unite like mighty rivers that flow and mingle in our

great oceans. The best of men can be likened to water for water benefits all living

things.”

(Cavanagh, 2012)

(Cavanagh, 2012)

❖ I propose a third dimension to these schema: motivation

❖ The key to engagement, whether it be learning or any other kind, is motivation: “Motivation is literally the desire to do things.” (2014, Psychology Today)

Skills/capabilitiesIntrinsicCognitive

Challenge/expectations/conditionsExtrinsic

Behavioural

Motivation/need/desireHolistic

Self-determination

❖ Much has been written about the experience fluctuation model and, to a lesser extent, the expectations capabilities model

❖ Much has been written separately about theories of motivation from the early behavioural theories (Instinct: Bernard, 1924; Drive: Hull, 1943; and Deficiency/Growth needs: Maslow, 1943.) to the more recent cognitive theories (Attribution: Weiner, 1986; and Self-efficacy: Bandura, 1977, 1982; Schunk, 1991) and the meta-theory of Self-determination (Deci, et al, 1991)

❖ Consideration of these may provide a richer framework within which to organise and facilitate OE programs - particularly for adolescent participants

❖ Scaffold mooted by Belland, et al (2013), for motivation for improved learning engagement which may be helpful in structuring facilitation in OE programs

Establish task value

Promote mastery goals

Promote belonging

Promote emotion regulation

Promote expectancy of success

Promote autonomy

1/. Establish task value

Facilitation approach

Choice on aspects of the program

Focus on fostering interest

Attainment value

Expert modelling

Expectation of perceived outcomes

2/. Promote mastery goals

Encourage short-term goals

Provide and promote informational feedback

Promote cooperation rather than competition

Emphasise rational goals

3/. Promote belonging

Encourage shared goals

Accommodate social goals

Allow students to co-construct standards

4/. Promote emotion regulation

Highlight controllability of actions

Promote reappraisal

5/. Promote expectancy of success

Promote perception of optimal challenge

Support productive attribution

Enable identification of reliable processes

6/. Promote autonomy

Lack of autonomy: Compulsory school attendance and program participation

Use non controlling language

Provide meaningful cognitive choice

Help students direct their own learning

❖ Thinking about competence from an intrinsic perspective Hattie found that the self-report grades had the highest effect size (1,44).

❖ Unpacking this relates to the grade (What they think they will get/can do) they believe they will achieve

❖ Improvement is found when the student is asked about/shown ways they are able to improve on this

❖ L4L program has about an 80% participation rate for the OE component

❖ Most of the incentives are extrinsic: L4L Badge; academic disadvantage;

❖ moving the motivation from outside to inside - extrinsic to intrinsic may improve participation and learning outcomes

❖ Conclusion, comments and questions:❖ we've looked at flow, learning engagement

and motivation ❖ self-determination theory❖ scaffold to assist facilitate improved

motivation to learn/engage in OE contexts❖ ways this might work in an OE program