LEARNING TO LEARN
Facilitating flow in the teaching of philosophy
Jonathan Beale, Teacher of Philosophy, ITL Research Fellow
Flow and education
Flow is the psychological state of optimal experience and performance, where we’ re completely absorbed in and concentrated on challenging activities such that we must stretch our skills to their limits. The concept was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s( Csikszentmihalyi 1990). Csikszentmihalyi focused on flow in individuals, but Keith Sawyer has since identified group flow – the shared flow experience( Sawyer 2007), such as among a group collectively problem-solving.
Flow can lead to 500 % more productivity and creativity, and enables us to learn 200-500 % faster( Holton 2021). Flow significantly increases happiness( Layard 2005, p. 253). It’ s one of the five domains constitutive of flourishing in positive psychology: the scientific study of the conditions and processes leading to human flourishing( Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi 2000).
Facilitating flow more in education could yield significant benefits for students. This hypothesis motivated the pilot action research project briefly described here.
Flow triggers
Research has identified 12 individual and 10 group‘ flow triggers’: factors that significantly facilitate flow( Kotler 2021, 249-256; Sawyer 2007, 50-65). The individual triggers:
1 Complete concentration 2 Autonomy 3 Risk 4 Clear goals 5 Curiosity, passion and purpose 6 Novelty 7 Complexity 8 Unpredictability 9 Deep embodiment 10 Immediate feedback 11 Creativity and pattern recognition 12 The challenge / skills ratio.
The first two group triggers are shared with the individual ones. Two are group versions of the individual triggers( 3a & 4a). The rest are additional:
1a Complete concentration 2a Autonomy / a sense of control 3a Shared risk 4a Shared, clear goals 5a“ Yes, and …” 6a Close listening 7a Blending egos 8a Familiarity 9a Equal participation 10a Open communication
I aimed to facilitate flow in my lower sixth IB philosophy lessons during 2021-22 by designing teaching and learning activities incorporating flow triggers. I focused on group triggers because the lifeblood of philosophy is discussion. Activities focused on 1 / 1a, 3 & 3a, 4 & 4a, 5, 6a, 7a, 9a and 12.
22