Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Flow Experiences: From High School to University

Abstract

Flow is a subjective experience that is a state of being totally involved, absorbed by activity and focused while enjoying doing the activity for its own sake. Researchers found out flow experience is effective in learning and teaching process. Therefore, the purpose of the research was to investigate the flow status of prospective mathematics teachers at major courses in university and whether their flow status is changed from high school to university, or not. It is also determined the factors affecting their flow experiences. The design of the longitudinal research conducted with 36 participants is a mixed study including descriptive study and multiple case study. Data collection tools are the form for the degree of difficulty of YGS 2017 questions in order to get information students’ flow experience in high school, Flow Short Scale developed by Rheinberg, Vollmeyer, and Engeser (2003) and semi-structured interviews are used. Results show a few numbers of student teachers experience flow; the majority feel at ease. Moreover, instructor factor, academic effort, goal orientation, and preparedness have impacts on student teachers’ flow status.

Matematik Öğretmen Adaylarının Akış Deneyimi: Liseden Üniversiteye

Öz

Öznel bir deneyim olarak akış, bir etkinliği gerçekleştirirken amacın yalnızca etkinliğin kendisinin olduğu, keyifle tamamen kendini kaptırdığı, etkinlikle bütünleştiği ve odaklandığı bir durumdur. Araştırmacılar akış deneyiminin öğrnme ve öğretme süreçleri üzerinde etkili olduğunu tespit etmişlerdir. Bu nedenle, bu araştırmanın amacı matematik öğretmen adaylarının üniversitede aldıkları alan derslerinde akış yaşama durumlarını incelemek ve liseden üniversiteye akış deneyimlerinde değişiklik olup olmadığını tespit etmektir. Ayrıca, değişikliğin olduğu ve olmadığı durumları etkileyen faktörlerin ne olduğunu belirlemek araştrımanın amaçlarındandır. 36 katılımcı ile gerçekleştirilen uzun süreli çalışmanın araştırma deseni betimsel ve çoklu durum çalışmalarını içeren karma araştırma yöntemi olarak belirlenmiştir. Veri toplama araçları olarak lisedeki akış durumlarını belirlemek amacıyla YGS 2017 sorularının zorluk derecelerinin puanlandırılması için bir form, Rheinberg, Vollmeyer ve Engeser (2003) tarafından oluşturulan ve İşigüzel ve Çam (2014) tarafından Türkçe’ye uyarlanan Akış Kısa Ölçeği ve yarı yapılandırılmış mülakatlar kullanılmıştır. Bulgular, az sayıda öğretmen adayının bu dersler kapsamında akış yaşadıkları, çoğunluğun rahatlama kanalında olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca, öğretmen faktörünün, akademik çabanın, hedef yöneliminin ve hazırbulunuşluğun öğretmen adaylarının akış yaşama durumları üzerinde etkili olduğu görülmüştür.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Motivasyon,Akış Deneyimi,Öğrenme Faktörü,Hedef Yönelimi

References

1. Belce, Ö. (2019). Flow experiences of EFL instructors in Turkey (Doctoral dissertation, Bilkent University).
2. Clarke, S. G., & Haworth, J. T. (1994). ‘Flow’experience in the daily lives of sixth‐form college students. British Journal of Psychology, 85(4), 511-523.
3. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997a). Application of flow in human development and education. New York: Springer.
4. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997b). Flow and education. The NAMTA Journal, 22, 3-35.
5. Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Csikszentmihalyi, I.S. (1988). Optimal experiences: Psyhological studies of flow in consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
6. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). The flow experience and its significance for human psychology. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.), Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness (pp. 15-35). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511621956.002
7. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
8. Csikszentmihalyi, M., & LeFevre, J. (1989). Optimal experience in work and leisure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 815–822.

9. Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Rathunde, K. (1997). Application of flow in human development and education. New York: Springer.
10. Cothran, D. J., & Ennis, C. D. (2000). Building bridges to student engagement: Communicating respect and care for students in urban high schools. Journal of Research & Development in Education.
11. Deci, E., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Springer Science & Business Media.
12. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Self-Determination Theory [On-line].
13. Ermiş, E.N. (2013). Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Akış Deneyimlerini Etkileyen Faktörlerin İncelenmesi. İstanbul: Haliç Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. Ermiş, E. N. & Bayraktar, S. (2014). Flow experiences in university students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 152, 830-834. Frase, L. E. (1998). An Examination of Teachers' Flow Experiences, Efficacy, and Instructional Leadership in Large Inner-City and Urban School Districts.
14. Goulding, M., Hatch, G., & Rodd, M. (2003). Undergraduate mathematics experience: Its significance in secondary mathematics teacher preparation. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 6(4), 361-393.
15. Harackiewicz, J. M., Barron, K. E., Tauer, J. M., Carter, S. M., & Elliot, A. J. (2000). Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement goals: Predicting interest and performance over time. Journal of educational psychology, 92(2), 316.
16. Hourigan, M., & O’Donoghue, J. (2007). Mathematical under-preparedness: the influence of the pre-tertiary mathematics experience on students’ ability to make a successful transition to tertiary level mathematics courses in Ireland. International journal of mathematical education in science and technology, 38(4), 461-476.
17. İşigüzel, B., & Çam, S. (2014). The adaptation of Flow Short Scale to Turkish: A validity and reliability study Flow Yaşantısı Ölçeği Kısa Formunun Türkçeye uyarlama, geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması. Journal of Human Sciences, 11(2), 788-801.
18. Jackson, S. A., and Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Flow in Sports: The Keys to Optimal Experiences and Performances. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
19. Jonsson, H., & Persson, D. (2006). Towards an experiential model of occupational balance: An alternative perspective on flow theory analysis. Journal of Occupational Science, 13(1), 62-73.
20. Lambert, V. A., & Lambert, C. E. (2012). Qualitative descriptive research: An acceptable design. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 16(4), 255-256.
21. Malmberg, L. E. (2008). Student teachers' achievement goal orientations during teacher studies: Antecedents, correlates and outcomes. Learning and Instruction, 18(5), 438-452.
22. Marks, H. M. (2000). Student engagement in instructional activity: Patterns in the elementary, middle and high school years. American Educational Research Journal, 37, 153–184.
23. Mason, L. (2003). High school students' beliefs about maths, mathematical problem solving, and their achievement in maths: A cross-sectional study. Educational psychology, 23(1), 73-85.
24. Massimini, F., & Carli, M. (1988). The systematic assessment of flow in daily life. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.), Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness (pp. 266–287). New York: Cambridge Universtiy Press.
25. Matthews, B., & Ross, L. (2010). Research methods. Longman/Pearson Education.
26. Morse, J. M. (2003). Principles of mixed methods and multimethod research design. Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research, 1, 189-208.
27. Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2009). Flow theory and research. In C.R. Snyder & S.J. Lopez (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (2nd edn., pp. 195–206). New York: Oxford University Press.
28. Novak, T. P., & Hoffman D. L. (1997). Measuring the flow experience among web users. Paper Presented at Interval Research Corporation, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA.
29. Novak, T. P., Hoffman, D. L., & Yung, Y.-F. (2000). Measuring the costumer experience in online environments: A structural modeling approach. Marketing Science, 19, 22-42.
30. Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (1996). Motivation in education: Theory, research, and practice. Chapter, 5, 153-197.
31. Rheinberg, F., Vollmeyer, R., & Engeser, S. (2003). Die erfassung des flow-erlebens.
32. Ryan, R.M & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Education Psychology, 25, 54-67.
33. Schmidt, J. A., Shernoff, D. J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Individual and situational factors related to the experience of flow in adolescence. In Applications of flow in human development and education (pp. 379-405). Springer, Dordrecht.
34. Schunk, D.H., Pintrich, P.R. & Meece, J.R. (2002). Motivation in Education: Theory, Research and Applications, 2,5-6, New Jersey:Merrill Prentice Hall.
35. Schüler, J. (2007). Arousal of flow experience in a learning setting and its effects on exam performance and affect. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 21(3/4), 217-227.
36. Shernoff, D. J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E. S. (2014). Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory. In Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education, 475-494. Springer Netherlands.
37. Steinberg, L. D., Brown, B. B., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1996). Beyond the classroom: Why school reform has failed and what parents need to do. New York: Simon & Schuster.
38. Stavrou, N. A., Psychountaki, M., Georgiadis, E., Karteroliotis, K., & Zervas, Y. (2015). Flow theory–goal orientation theory: positive experience is related to athlete’s goal orientation. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 1499.
39. Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of personality and social psychology, 54(6), 1063.