Week 4

Essential Question: What classroom strategies can contribute to or detract from “flow”?

“Flow is a state of mind in which a person is concentrated so deeply on a certain task that she is losing her sense of time and stops worrying about other things” (Sillaots, 2014). According to Michael Matera (2015, p. 13), flow is defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as “the creative moment when a person is completely involved in an activity for its own sake.” 

(Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)

“In general the core aspects of the flow model are: balance, concentration, goals, feedback, autonomy and immersion” (Sillaots, 2014). Matera (2015, p.14) simplifies this further by saying that by “grounding our intention in Csikszentmihalyi’s ideas, we can produce the right results for our gamified classroom by fusing together the ideal amount of content, choice, and challenge.” Which, not surprisingly, brought me back to the week two essential question: What common characteristics do engaging games have?

In order to achieve flow conditions the following characteristics should be met while using gamification in the classroom (Sillaots, 2014):

• Achievable tasks – difficult but achievable through great effort.
• Ability to concentrate on task. 
• Clear goals – it should be clear what is needed. How to achieve that, is open. 
• Tasks provide instant and rich feedback.
• Autonomy – user is controlling her actions. 
• Deep but effortless involvement – concern of everyday life disappears - Immersion.
• Concern of self disappears – Immersion. 
• Losing the sense of time – Immersion.

Many of these same characteristics can translate into a classroom (with or without gamification) which fosters flow as well. Jill Suttie (2012), says that teachers can encourage flow in their classrooms with the following eight tips: 

1. Challenge kids—but not too much.
2. Make assignments feel relevant to students’ lives.
3. Encourage choice. 
4. Set clear goals (and give feedback along the way). 
5. Build positive relationships. 
6. Foster deep concentration. 
7. Offer hands-on exercises. 
8. Make ‘em laugh [use humor to engage students]. 

The largest factor that contributes to lack of flow in the classroom is simply distraction. The relatively short class periods make it difficult for a student to have time to get lost in learning. Another source of distraction is student cell phones. Getting constant notifications from snapchat and other social media leads to distractions for those students as well as for their peers. Students walking down the hallway, noises front the next classroom, etc. all can make it difficult for our students to find their flow. With that being said, I think that if as teachers we can create an environment in which all the other characteristics are met, then our students will still be able to inject more flow in their education. 

Resources:
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2004, February). Flow, the secret to happiness [Video file]. Retrieved June 02, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness?language=en

Matera, M. (2015). Explore Like A Pirate: Gamification and Game-Inspired Course Design to Engage, Enrich, and Elevate Your Learners. San Diego, CA, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting.

Sillaots, Martin. (2014). Achieving Flow through Gamification: A study on Re-designing Research Methods Courses. Proceedings of the European Conference on Games-based Learning.

Suttie, J. (2012, April 17). Eight Tips for Fostering Flow in the Classroom. Retrieved June 02, 2020, from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_tips_for_fostering_flow_in_the_classroom