When it comes to student engagement, the focus very often gets put on bringing students to the learning—getting them excited about a topic, a lesson or an activity. But when the method used to engage students is only superficial, that excitement can fade very quickly, and the deeper learning never happens. For engagement to be meaningful, students have to be motivated through the learning--the motivation must be intrinsic.
In ST MathⓇ, a visual instructional program that builds a deep conceptual understanding of math, students are intrinsically motivated to continue learning for the sake of learning.
When students don’t want to stop playing, and they are actively learning, it’s a good sign of student engagement that is dynamically active.
There is a difference between being engaged in the entertainment side of a piece of edtech software and being engaged in the learning itself.
ST Math does not alternate between being a game and math program; the game is integrated into the math explorations with the puzzle format. This promotes intrinsic motivation.
Brandon showed true grit today. He was the last to sign off because he wanted to pass his level. He is working on symmetry during ST Math! pic.twitter.com/0QKNPKMR60
— Mrs. Mancuso (@mrsmancusopky) May 22, 2018
How do you get students to this point of deeper learning and engagement? Our research suggests the following:
Here are examples of how educators are using these strategies to amplify student engagement and intrinsic motivation in ST Math:
When you give students the opportunities to fail and try again with different strategies and use different tools, you help them actively engage in their own learning
When given the space to productively struggle and think deeply, ST Math educators see that students are determined to succeed.
Determined mathematical modeling @EaglesBes @JiJiMath pic.twitter.com/hSWqmB9GuE
— Nate (@BESMrPotter) March 30, 2018
When educators let students use manipulatives and paper, students can see the puzzle in multiple ways and plan different strategies.
This blog post details many ideas on clever ways to use manipulatives with ST Math.
Unbelievable #FOCUS with @JiJiMath today with #collabfun @StaylorSuzanne @RES_Roadrunners Moving up precentages like crazy! pic.twitter.com/ZymtEBDVZp
— Elizabeth Ferguson (@Ferguson_RES) April 13, 2018
When students set their own goals, they take ownership and have a stake in their own learning. In ST Math, goals can include time on task, number of puzzles, percent progress, explaining your solutions and more. Learn more about goal setting for intrinsic motivation using ST Math.
Student goal setting is one of the top strategies for academic success. Here we have students in Mrs. Michel-Schlitz' class demonstrating how they set goals with Jiji and ST Math. pic.twitter.com/tAdwh4NkYW
— Georgia Brown Tigers (@GB_tigres) November 13, 2017
Student engagement doesn’t always mean a quiet classroom.
ST Math helps students learn math conceptually, based on neuroscience research. Creator of ST Math, Dr. Matthew Peterson, recently shared his findings around the four neural subsystems of learning. One of the neural systems is academic discourse. ST Math educators observe that students are compelled to talk about the puzzles with one another.
Students share their thinking when finding common denominators with visuals on ST Math @JiJiMath @MsRBattle @mresnewton pic.twitter.com/C8RXVrKnec
— Heather Hodge (@Heather_Hodge13) March 1, 2018
When educators praise students for reaching goals, persevering, helping others and trying different strategies, they are rewarding those behaviors. This can reinforce the intrinsic motivation to continue learning!
Fantastic 4! These proud students captured their 4th-grade flags by completing their ST Math programs. #mpslearns Be determined. Be persistent. #BeWES @WoodlandMilford @MilfordSchools @JiJiMath pic.twitter.com/RRHApJmjtt
— Ann Christine (@isntitabouttime) May 9, 2018
ST Math is a personalized learning program, which means students take their own path and pace to mastery of the concepts. But that doesn’t mean the learning has to end when some of your students reach 100%.
In addition to optional objectives and challenge games in the program, ST Math Central houses a list of ideas to extend the learning.
ST Math educators continuously impress us with how they embrace ST Math by incorporating elements into other projects and activities, such as this JiJi robot!
JiJi's exploring Hartman School. #ec_proud with @marshinart @mgchilbert & @ScottSetzenfand using @birdbraintech #hummingbirdkit #stmath #JiJi pic.twitter.com/Cm6ykdjkgU
— Matt Skoczylas (@ecasd_elemtech) May 25, 2018
Interested in learning more about ST Math?
Calli Wright was the Marketing Manager at MIND Research Institute. She loves playing and designing board games, which she often talks about on twitter @CalliWrights.
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