Flow Theory
I attended a very interesting course named: "Communicating and acting with care in educational contexts" and I came across a term I had never heard before. Having understood its meaning, I realized that I had experienced it so many times either in first person or during groups of work at school, or the “Flow” that I wanted to talk more about it.
The”flow” represents a psychophysical condition of total involvement that one experiences when he is on a task, and it is defined by the state of consciousness in which the person is completely immersed when in that activity.
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi formulated the Flow Theory or Theory of Optimal Experience in 1975, it is that moment in which you are not aware that time goes by because you are so immersed in a task and enjoying the situation to the fullest that you are not able to think of anything else.
I often experience this moment of total involvement when I find myself carrying out a task or activity that I like very much. The same thing happens when children at school carry out activities or group work in which they are particularly absorbed and concentrated by not being aware by the time that goes by.
In particular, I remember an episode when my students had the task of creating a lapbook on Leonardo da Vinci completely in Italian. Since they are bilingual children, I initially thought it would be difficult for them and that maybe I should have given them a slightly less demanding task.
Surprisingly, they were enthusiastic about it because the idea of creating it completely on their own and experimenting with this new activity made them feel capable, confident, and motivated. Giving them this task, I passed them my confidence and potential.
The work was a success, they created a beautiful lapbook full of thoughts, drawings, and enriched in every detail.
They have always been concentrated and involved in the execution of the various steps so they focused on the work and they forgot that it had to be done in Italian. Breaking down the obstacle of the fear of the language, of making mistakes or not being up to it.
Result?
Excellent job done! The children experienced the pleasure of carrying out and completing an activity beyond my and their expectations, because I instilled in them trust, security, capacity and responsibility, and I triggered their "I CAN DO IT!".
Language cannot be a barrier for children. Their involvement and immersion during this work lead them to live their task positively and in a very engaging way.
Have you ever experienced the “flow”?
by Salvatrice - 03/02/2021
