Factors affecting student teachers' capacity for flow experience

• Main Author: Chang, Pei-Fen
• Other Authors: Education
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: flow; student teachers; teacher education; teacher preparation; LD5655.V856 1996.C436
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/39168; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-08142006-110128/

The purpose of this study was to describe factors giving rise to flow in the context of the student teaching experience, utilizing Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory as a model. Over a two- week period, twenty participants each twice completed a rating scale revealing perceived levels of challenge and of skill in respect to eight teaching activities. Five of these participants volunteered to be interviewed a week later. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for analyzing the data generated in the course of this study. Quantitative techniques were used to categorize participants according to the four quadrants of Csikszentmihalyi’s flow model, as well as to distribute eight teaching tasks within these four quadrants. Qualitative methods were employed to guide interpretation of patterns observed in the quantitative data. The information generated by the rating scale indicated that the perceived challenge levels of task demand were slightly higher than the perceived skill levels of participants. In terms of percentage of participants’ responses grouped within each of Csikszentmihalyi’s quadrants, more responses fell into the flow quadrant than into non-flow quadrants. Both of these results indicated promising potential for achieving flow on the part of the student teachers who participated in this study. The information generated by the rating scale gives rise to a variety of possible interpretations, some of which seem to be corroborated by information gained through the interviews. It is especially noteworthy that according to the quantitative data, the high anxiety-producing activity of managing students was rated among activities highly associated with flow experience. An interpretation of these findings supported by the qualitative data is that even though the task of managing students was perceived to be very challenging, the process of interacting with students and sharing students’ success led these student teachers to feel that they were adequately dealing with the demands of the task. Thus, the potential to experience flow under such an anxiety-producing activity was correspondingly increased. The results of the content analysis supported Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory model in that five interrelated elements of that model were identified by the participants as affecting their capacity to experience flow. This study revealed that the single element most conducive to cultivation of flow was receiving focused feedback in the course of work toward a clearly defined goal. Furthermore, the strategies of flexibility and positive thinking emerged from this study as flow-conducive elements, since all three flow-quadrant participants reported that restructuring their attitudes and perceptions towards these ends enabled them to achieve flow, albeit the conditions under which they experienced flow varied. Four distinctly different behavior patterns distinguished flow-quadrant from non-flow-quadrant student teachers: a) metacognitive awareness; b) willingness to seek help; c) cultivation of a sense of challenge; and d) development of effective stress-management strategies. Each of these four dimensions can be viewed as dichotomous, in that a positively perceived experience in each dimension facilitated a flow experience, while a negatively perceived experience in this same dimension tended to thwart achievement of flow. Finally, this inquiry revealed the individual character of the circumstances under which these student teachers experienced flow, pointed to the crucial role of the cooperating teacher role in facilitating flow, and provided insights into creating an optimal context for cultivating of flow during the student teaching experience. === Ph. D.