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Essay on Educational Essays
Schools are busy places in which students are expected to learn a large amount of information in a short amount of time. One challenge that educators face involves the implementation of strategies designed to foster interest, engagement, and sustained effort in students, thereby optimizing learning outcomes. Teachers believe that allowing students to make choices within the context of instruction is an effective motivational strategy. As teachers grapple with questions about specific ways to use choice, they do not have a clear sense of when, how much, and with whom choice will have the greatest benefit (Flowerday & Schraw, 2000). One question is whether giving students choices affects how efficiently and quickly they learn. The purpose of the present research was to examine the effects of choice on cognitive and affective engagement. This question is central to the ongoing debate about the merits of choice in the classroom as a means to motivate students, increase effort, and in turn, increase cognitive engagement.
The purpose of the present research was to examine the effects of choice on cognitive engagement and affective engagement. We constructed two theory-driven hypotheses about choice. The enhanced cognitive engagement (ECE) hypothesis states that choice increases cognitive engagement and learning because students are more motivated to learn. The enhanced affective engagement (EAE) hypothesis suggests that choice increases positive effect with regard to attitude, satisfaction, and effort. There are at least three possible reasons for a decrease in engagement and effort that have been discussed in the literature. One reason is that students do not want the responsibility that accompanies a choice because it increases performance anxiety.
We used eight measures of cognitive and affective engagement to test the ECE and EAE hypotheses. The five cognitive measures included a 20-item, multiple-choice test of main ideas based on a 900-word narrative text........
