The Hidden Ingredients of Engagement: Collective Efficacy and Respectful Demeanors

• In Event: Dynamics of Student Engagement and Peer Influence in Collaborative Settings

Abstract

From a social cognitive lens, student engagement in collaborative environments is a product of contextual and personal factors. In this study, we examined how the academic engagement of early adolescents who participated in a curricular intervention was related to two underlying processes: collective efficacy and respectful demeanors. Participants included 184 elementary school students who completed pre- and post-intervention survey measures of these constructs. A structural equation model revealed that post-intervention engagement was predicted by collective efficacy and respectful demeanors, respectively. Respectful demeanors also mediated the relationship between collective efficacy and engagement. These results were not replicated in a pre-intervention model. We use these findings to discuss the agentic role of students in cultivating a respectful learning environment conducive to engagement.

Authors

• Haeun Park, The Ohio State University

• Yue Sheng, The Ohio State University

• Adriana I. Martinez Calvit, The Ohio State University

• August Masonheimer, The Ohio State University

• Tzu-Jung Lin, The Ohio State University

• Michael Glassman, The Ohio State University

• Eric M. Anderman, The Ohio State University