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How do we teach students who are bored?
Boredom is an increasing problem in schools. We know that boredom is a negative, deactivating emotion that reduces motivation, engagement and learning. So, as educators (and parents), what can we do about it? It is important to emphasise that boredom can have different and multiple contributing factors. For instance, boredom can be due to a general tendency or proneness to experience boredom in different contexts, such as school or leisure contexts. It can also stem from a lack of stimulation in a specific situation or during a specific activity or task. For example, boredom can result from an activity or task that is too easy and therefore is perceived as repetitive or dull. Equally, it can be experienced during an activity or task that is perceived as too difficult that students find overwhelming and frustrating. Hence, the same emotion can be experienced but with different appraisals of the activity or task.
Research on achievement emotions tells us that there are two main appraisals that contribute to emotions such as boredom. These are appraisals of control (i.e., can I do it ) and value (i.e., is it worth it). Value can be intrinsic and/or extrinsic. Based on these two appraisals, it would seem that combinations of low control and low value, as well as high control and low value, can lead to boredom. However, do we as educators (and parents) take these different combinations of appraisals into account when we create learning environments, design learning activities and assessments, or when we teach or interact with students?
It would be wonderful to hear whether people agree with this explanation and what strategies do people use to address student boredom? Do these strategies address appraisals of control and value?
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7 Replies
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Research shows that there are two contributing factors in student boredom:
1. Lack of relevance of the content to their lives
2. Lack of a relationship with the student
One can compensate for the other, but when you have both, students are engaged.
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Thanks for the response ????
The lack of relevance for me fits under perceived value, where relevance relates to perceived instrumental value. I agree with you that the student/teacher relationship helps protect against boredom and foster student engagement. For instance, I think teachers can recognise a student’s personal interest and provide opportunities for them to indulge and pursue these, and at the same time teach in ways that promote situational interest as well. I also agree with you that the combined/interactive effect has the strongest effect on student experience.
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Boredom occurs when students do not know the answers to these three questions:
1. Why I am learning it?
2. When I am going to use it?
3. How I am going to use it?
Help your students find the answer to these questions will significantly increase their focus on the content.
It also depends on the relationship between the students with their teachers. A sympathetic and motivating teacher would get students interested in a subject without much effort.
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Hey @jukychen-wei-ling These are great points, relevance is essential! I also agree that students are more interested in learning when they are engaged and have a good relationship with their teacher.
When students recognize that a teacher truly wants the best for them, they are willing to try harder in the classroom.
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I remember being bored in school. I’m either stressed out or bored. Lack of challenges was an issue or spending a lot of time on topics I did not find relevance or interest in. I ended up zoning out or plan complicated pranks to keep myself entertained. My kids are showing some of those tendencies so here we go~
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What I hear you saying is that stress is when the expectations are too high; boredom is when they are too low.
The sweet spot is an accessible challenge. How to make this happen? When the *student* is able to co-create their learning.
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This description reminds me of the Yerkes Dodson Curve where boredom would be the emotion at the low end and feeling stressed would be at the opposite end.
I am also interested in how we find the middle ground and in particular the role of student goals here. The co-create approach makes a lot of sense to me in terms of supporting a student’s autonomy and interests. I suspect that an assigned goal without a clear justification would lead to either boredom or feeling stressed.
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