Engagement as a prerequisite to learning is obvious right?
Depends on your definition of engagement.
Educational researchers and psychologists studying education define engagement as:
- behavioral motivation ( a student’s participation in learning)
- emotional engagement ( a student’s attitudes, interests and values)
- cognitive engagement ( the student’s willingness to exert effort).
Researchers generally agree that learning is inherently social-it happens in the context of interactions and relationships with teachers, peers, family, and others. The literature on social and emotional engagement stems back to Vygotsky’s view that the process of learning is at once individual and sociocultural, and includes research from the cognitive, educational psychology, and social sciences. Researchers generally acknowledge that socialization results in attitudes, values, and cognitive and linguistic skills-all necessary tools that children and adolescents use as they learn.
So what does that mean?
Simply stated, a student must feel connected to his/her environment. They must feel secure, valued, accepted and encouraged by others in order to be motivated learners. Motivated learners turn into productive, responsible members of their communities.
So what happens to the children that do not have the emotional and social support? When there is no one there to validate them, support and encourage them, or provide basic security?
In Bangalore India, there is Sahasra Deepika.
Sahasra Deepika is committed to providing a safe residential facility where 60 girls are valued, loved and supported. They engage daily with adults who pour into them and are actively involved in their daily lives. The girls attend an accredited school located on the Sahasra Deepika campus where they are educated alongside their middle-class contemporaries and are welcomed members of the school community.
Despite the hardships these girls face, they are “engaged”. The love and support of Sahasra Deepika has given them the security, and sense of belonging that research says is imperative to achieving academic success.
So What? … you might be saying
So, 10 highly motivated girls just graduated and are currently attending university.
Who knows where they might be headed if they hadn’t made a stop at Sahasra Deepika.
Dana Hutson
