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Week 4- Flow

What classroom strategies can contribute to or detract from "flow"?

According to Martin Sillaots, "flow is a state of mind in which a person is concentrated so deeply on a certain task that she is loosing her sense of time and stops worrying about other things" (pg 2).  

In order to achieve a state of flow the following conditions should be present: 
1. Balance between challenge, the uses skills, and more challenging levels to correlate with growth of skills. 
2. No distractions to support concentration
3.  spontaneous and effortless tasks that are rewarding with in the game. They don't need external rewards outside the game. 
 
Contribute to flow
1. tasks students can succeed at
2. clear goals
3. provide feedback after completing task
4. Autonomy
5. Immersion

  •  As I read this weeks materials I realized I didn't know there was official term used when you are so emerged in what you are doing that you are completely unaware of time. As a teacher this seems a good goal to always work towards. The hope would always be to have students engaged in the activity or lesson that they don't want to stop and transition to the next lesson. 
    Sillaots, M. (n.d.). Achieving Flow through Gamification: A study on Re-designing Research Methods Courses[Scholarly project]. In Tallinn University. Retrieved September 21, 2018.

Comments

  1. GalinaSeptember 22, 2018 at 3:44 PM

    I struggle with the providing a distraction-free environment for students to experience flow. On Fridays, my math students get to use the "game minutes" that they earned and one of my students was in an intense part of the game when I told him it was time for him to log off because the bell was about to ring. There are always pull-outs and bell schedules to follow, and these certainly don't contribute to flow.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 23, 2018 at 10:34 PM

    I agree with Amanda. I remember the times I achieved "flow" in school and it was excited that there was a term for it. I have not seen "flow" in my classroom as much as I'd like to, but it is a goal to work towards. Erika, you wrote, "The hope would always be to have students engaged in the activity or lesson that they don't want to stop and transition to the next lesson." This is something that I'm getting from my students when they are on the computer playing Spelling City or Smarty Ants. Most get really into the programs, but not all my students. It is difficult to get all students to "flow" at the same time. Has anyone experienced all their students in "flow" at the same time?

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  3. breiflycleverdesignerSeptember 23, 2018 at 11:17 PM

    Reading the above comments on "Flow" reminded me that if a group of students/learners are familiar with each other achievement of the "flow" state may look much different that if the group is meeting for the first time. The latter is the case with my current role as a facilitator in that I often will give an learning activity out after small groups are formed and specify a time usually 5 or 10 min. I will hang around to see everyone is on the right track and then slip out (haha usually to send a few quick emails) but when I return most often everyone is engaged in "flow state" conversation. Generally no one is looking at the clock. Often I will let it run a bit overtime as I will bring it back round to debriefing the exercise but harnessing the small boost of "flow" conversation engagement.

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