Engaging Students in Learning

Research tells us that all learners (including adults) require active engagement in order to fully understand content. The age of a student is an approximation of the frequency they need active engagement. For example, a kindergarten student needs to be actively engaged every 5-6 minutes. A middle school student needs active engagement every 11-13 minutes. The maximum amount of passive engagement for a learner of any age is 15 minutes. This means in a secondary class period, students should have at least 4 opportunities for active engagement during each class.

Active student engagement can take on many forms. When students are engaged, they are developing their understanding and making connections through what they are doing. Keep in mind that students can be compliant, busy, and on-task without being engaged as active learners. It is our goal to design instruction that is purposeful and relevant and leads to students being co-constructors of knowledge.