Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

A large proportion of students are disengaged from school, and children

living in poverty and minority children are more likely to be disengaged.

Disengaged students are more likely to struggle academically, drop out of school,

and engage in problem behavior (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). the

problem of student engagement that most of students are lazy or incompetent.

Therefore, they are bored (Wright, 2013).

Student engagements concerned with the interaction between the time,

effort and other relevant resources invested by both students and their

institutions intended to optimism the student experience and enhance the

learning outcomes and development of students and the performance, and

reputation of the institution. It is the one that requires an understanding of

affective connections.

The relation between School activities and Students engagement that the

Student engagement, described as the tendency to be behaviorally, emotionally,

and cognitively involved in school activities, is a key construct in motivation

research (Thijs & Verkuyten, 2009). Consequently, compared to less engaged

peers, engaged students demonstrate more effort, experience more positive

emotions and pay more attention in the classroom (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, &

Paris, 2004). Further, engagement has also been associated with positive
student outcomes; including higher grades and active participation in the class

(Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994). School activities are designed in which

students develop their cognitive, psycho motor and affective domain through

learner’s active engagement (Kuh, 1998)

It is in the above context that the researches would like to find out if there

is a domain of school activities such as course learning, experiences with faculty,

students’ acquaintances, club organization, and personal experience (Pace, and

Kuh, 1998) could influence the student’s engagement since existing studies only

focus on the main variables of the study. Thus, the researcher has not come

across with a similar study in the local setting because of insufficient empirical

studies and researches were conduct abroad. Therefore, there is an urgency to

pursue the study to contribute to the existing body of knowledge.

Research Objective

The purpose of the study is to determine which domain of school activities

best influences the student engagement. Specifically the study has the following

objectives:

1. To determine the level of School Activities in term of:

1.1 course learning;

1.2 experiences with faculty;

1.3 student acquaintances;

 1.4 club organization; and

1.5 personal experience

2. To determine the level of Student Engagement in terms of:

2.1 emotional engagement;

2.2 cognitive engagement; and

2.3 behavioral engagement

3. To find out the significant relationship between school activities and student

engagement.

4. To determine which domain of school activities best influence Student

Engagement.

Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis will be tested of at 0.05 level significance:

1. There is no significant relationship between school activities and student

engagement.

2. There is no domain of school activities that best influence the Student

Engagement.
 SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AND STUDENTS ENGAGEMENT OF GRADE 12
EVENING CLASS IN ASSUMPTION COLLEGE OF DAVAO

ASSUMPTION COLLEGE OF DAVAO

Juan P. Cabaguio Avenue, Davao City

A Research Paper presented to the Faculty of the Senior High School Unit

Assumption College of Davao

___________________________

Rosito Magpusao Jr.

Rodney Olimba

Michelle Dumaan

Roselyn Legaspi

Zenny Sarosos

Jecel Dama

August 2018
Review of Related Literature

This section will present discussions related to the independent and

dependent variables of the study. The School Activities is independent variable

with the following domain; course learning, experiences faculty, student

acquaintances, club organization, and personal experience (Pace and Kuh,

1998). Student’s engagement is dependent variable with the following indicators:

emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, and behavioral engagement

(Fredricks et al., 2014).

School Activities

There are many parents who find it difficult to excite and interest their high

school age kids with productive activities. Engaging activities that keep in mind

their level of skill and that are appropriate for their age group will do wonders in

keeping them engaged. These fun and intelligent activities for students will

stimulate their intellect and motivate them to sharpen their skills. (Jump Start

Game, Inc., 2018). The term "school activities" applies to a wide range of

skill-based games, strategies and interactive activities that support

students' educational development (Jaebi, 2001)

 Student activities are those school activities voluntarily engaged in, by

students which have approval of and are sponsored by the faculty and which do

not carry credit towards promotion (Eccles, 2003). Co-curricular activities,

according to the present concept of education, are considered as media for the

realization of the modern aim of Education i.e. the development of the total

personality 'physical, intellectual, emotional, social, aesthetic, moral and spiritual

aspects' of personality (Barber 2005). They are also a source of enrichment and

vitalization of the school curriculum. They provide outlet for the flow surplus

energies of pupils (Little 2005).

The first domain is course learning which helps the student learning

outcomes are more specific and describe achievement expected in a particular

course. The outcomes should clearly relate to topics, assignments, and exams

that are covered in the present course. Outcomes should be clear, measurable,

use verbs (e.g., identify, recall,) and may contribute to the assessment of

program learning outcomes. Course outcomes are more detailed and specific

than programmatic outcomes because they identify the unique knowledge and

skills expected to be gained from a given course. However, course outcomes

should be broad and general enough to accommodate changes in course content

over time. For example, course outcomes may be written as “students will be

able to describe the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, and historical

trends within a specialty area.” Not including specific concepts, perspectives, and

trends will allow an instructor to add to those concepts/perspectives/theories that

are newly-emerging without re-writing the course outcome. Course outcomes

contribute to the achievement of programmatic outcomes. For example, if a

programmatic outcome is: “students will be able to describe the major concepts,

theoretical perspectives, and historical trends in psychology,” a course outcome

may be: “students will be able to describe the major concepts, theoretical

perspectives, and historical trends in abnormal psychology” (i.e., a specific

component of the discipline). (2018 University of Rhode Island)

The second domain of school activities is experience with faculty. In order

for students to succeed, faculty, staff and administrators should understand

current issues that influence student motivations, interests and goals. University

leaders need to be aware of changing student expectations, particularly from

students’ prior classroom and school experiences. For example, when I returned

to the faculty I discovered that many students now expect immediate feedback

on assignments and a constant status report their course grades throughout the

semester. In other words, “racking up” points and knowing where they stand on

their progress are rewarding pursuits for many young students. I made modest

adjustments to my grading approach to provide more timely feedback and

maintain a digital grade book that students can access in our course

management system. However, rather than make wholesale changes, faculty

should make adjustments to their pedagogical approach to the extent that they

are maintaining teaching and assessment rigor.

While students are at university, their campus experiences matter to their

future success. Studies have shown that students who feel more integrated with

their campus, as a member of the campus community, have a higher probability

of succeeding academically and socially. In my mind, student success reflects

faculty, administrator and staff success. (Gonzales, 2018)

The third domain of school activities is student acquaintance. To develop

a sense of belongingness, to acquaint the new peers to the upperclassmen, get

to know one another through interpersonal communication. Acquaintance party is

common to different colleges and universities all over the world. Moreover, acquaintance

party is a sure way of building bonds between students, school administration staffs and

instructors. (Ramon Magsaysay college, 2012) Here are the purposes of staging an

acquaintance party in a school. Such party is tailored for the new students of the school

to help them acclimatize with their new environment (classmates, instructors and other

people around the school and even to the school’s norms and standards and teaching

methodologies). It allows the students and the school personnel a splendid time to

unwind for a while. It seeks to enhance the socialization skills of the students. Some

acquaintance party can be graced with talent search (battle of the bands, singing

contest, dance contest and search for the most handsome and the most beautiful

students, etc.) To build camaraderie and rapport.

The third domain of school activities is student organizations it can be an

important part of your growth during your college career. Not only do they provide

the resources needed to succeed in the world, they can give you some of the

best people you’ve ever met, building friendships that last a lifetime. Student

organizations can you give you access to opportunities you won’t find anywhere

else. Being involved can be important to your attitude toward college and either

make or break your stay. Student organizations help strengthen leadership

skills. According to an article released by Sam Houston State University, on-

campus organizations allow students to “take on responsibilities or challenges to

lead and make a difference in the university community” and “provide students

with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be a good leader”—qualities they can

take with them into life after college. Furthermore, in a survey conducted by the

University of Arizona, more than half the students surveyed agreed that joining

student organizations allowed them to strengthen their leadership skills.

The last domain of school activities is Personal experience is paramount.

In most cases it's all we trust, and it's all anything is ever good for. The

fundamental contradiction lies in the fact that all universal truths are meant to be

objective, yet all possible experience can only be personal and subjective. In

other words, at the most fundamental level, even physics is 100% dependent on

what we see and experience. Yet, directly, there is no such thing as objective

experience. Objectivity is the result of a process and of our hard work. Objectivity

is based on subjectivity (Miyanaga, 2015). Assisting people to achieve their

desired individual quality-of-life outcomes is one of the primary goals of our long-

term care system. The following statements and definitions demonstrate the

areas of life that people in long-term care programs have identified as being

important to their quality of life. They are stated in the first person to emphasize

the importance of the personal voice and experience of the individual. These

statements provide a framework for learning about and understanding the

individual’s needs, values, preferences, and priorities in the assessment and care
planning process and in monitoring the quality of our long-term care programs

(University of Wisconsin System, 2009).

Although Student activities are an integral part of the school program.

Qualified students must be able to participate in any activity without regard to

race, religion, national origin, disability, or sex. Generally approved by the

principal and under the direct supervision of the staff, activities should contribute

to the educational objectives of the school and should avoid interrupting the

instructional program

Students Engagement

Student engagement includes three interdependent components—

behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004)—and

students need to be engaged in all three areas in order to be fully engaged.

Although student engagement is somewhat difficult to measure, research has

indicated that the construct itself is useful and significant (e.g., Finn & Rock,

1997; Marks, 2000; Willms, 2003).

The first domain of Student Engagement is Behavioral Engagement. The

term behavioral engagement usually encompasses a broad range of behaviors at

school, from merely showing up to actively participating in academic or non-

academic activities. Fredricks et al. (2004) have identified three forms of

behavioral engagement: positive conduct, involvement in learning, and

participation in school-related activities. Positive conduct includes attending

class, avoiding disruptive behavior, responding to directions, and following

classroom rules. Involvement in learning includes concentrating, making an

effort, being persistent, contributing to class discussion, asking questions,

finishing homework, and spending extra time on class-related learning.

Participation in school-related activities includes taking part in extracurricular

activities such as sports teams or student organizations. While all the above

activities can be categorized as behavioral engagement, they differ greatly in

degree. For example, merely sitting in a classroom is not the same as actively

asking questions in the classroom; these activities require different amounts of

individual effort and thus represent varying degrees of engagement. Additionally,

schools differ in the number and type of opportunities provided for extracurricular

activity. These variations cause some difficulties in constructing a measure of

behavioral engagement that evaluates an individual’s participation in such

activities.

The next domain of Student Engagement is Emotional engagement, also

called affective engagement or psychological engagement, includes affective

reactions and having a sense of belonging at school (Finn, 1993; Willms, 2003).

Affective reactions toward tasks, school, and people at school (e.g., teachers or

peers) may include liking, disliking, being interested, being bored, being happy,

being sad, or being anxious. These emotional reactions can be task or person-

specific but may also be more general—for example, a student may be simply

happy to be at school. Positive emotional reactions to tasks or people can lead to

students having a sense of belonging at school. Having a sense of belonging

refers to feeling accepted, included, respected, and/or valued by people at school

(Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Willms, 2003). Studies have also referred to this

sense of belonging as identification with school (Finn, 1993), school

connectedness (Shochet, Dadds, Ham, & Montague, 2006), and attachment to

school (Johnson, Crosnoe, & Elder, 2001). As Fredricks and her colleagues

(2004) have noted, measures of emotional engagement often do not specify the

source of the feeling or emotion. A student may be happy to be at school

because s/he likes to learn or to take part in extracurricular activities, or because

s/he likes peers or teachers at school. Even when the source or cause of

engagement is unknown, however, the construct of emotional engagement is

useful in capturing how students generally feel about their school.

The last domain of Student Engagement is Cognitive engagement is an

“exercise of thinking” (Lao & Kuhn, 2002) which is evidenced by the amount of

mental involvement and types of cognitive strategies that students use in learning

(Ravindran, Greene, & DeBacker, 2005). Cognitive engagement involves

seeking, interpreting, analyzing, summarizing, critiquing, reasoning, and making

decisions (Zhu, 2006). Due to the difficulties inherent in operational zing and

measuring the amount and depth of mental involvement, cognitive deep

processing strategies and cognitive self-regulation often have been used to

indicate cognitive engagement (e.g., R. B. Miller, Greene, Montalvo, Ravindran,

& Nichols, 1996). Higher levels of cognitive engagement require higher-order

thinking that can be found in deep processing strategies and self-regulated

learning. Deep processing involves connecting new information with existing

knowledge, creating meaning, and creating knowledge structure, while shallow

processing involves only rote memorization (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). Self-

regulated learning involves the use of meta-cognitive functions such as goal-

setting, planning, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation during the process of

learning (Zimmerman, 1990). Cognitive engagement has not been clearly defined

in the literature. In fact, most of the information cited by researchers on the

subject has come from studies of cognitive processing or self-regulated learning,

which do not use the term cognitive engagement per se. This ambiguity may due

to the difficulty of measuring cognitive activities. In an attempt to clarify the

definition of cognitive engagement, Fredricks and her colleagues (2004) have

described it as psychological investment. However, psychological investment,

too, is a rather vague definition because such investment involves both emotion

and cognition. Clearly, a better definition of cognitive engagement is needed.

Focusing on activities that are 8 exclusively cognitive in nature may be a better

way to precisely and decisively define this phenomenon.

Although the definitions of student engagement found in the literature

have at times been unclear, the multidimensional construct of student

engagement effectively captures how students feel, think, and behave at school.

Students are fully engaged when they are engaged behaviorally, emotionally,

and cognitively, because these three components of engagement are

interdependent and therefore influence each other. Students are more likely to

show behavioral and cognitive engagement; for example, when they like the

tasks and people at school, feel close to people at school, and feel they belong at
school. Students also develop emotional engagement through meaningful

behavioral and cognitive engagement.

The relation between School activities and Students engagement that the

Student engagement, described as the tendency to be behaviorally, emotionally,

and cognitively involved in school activities, is a key construct in motivation

research (Thijs & Verkuyten, 2009). Consequently, compared to less engaged

peers, engaged students demonstrate more effort, experience more positive

emotions and pay more attention in the classroom (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, &

Paris, 2004). Further, engagement has also been associated with positive

student outcomes; including higher grades and active participation in the class

(Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994). School activities are designed in which

students develop their cognitive, psycho motor and affective domain through

learner’s active engagement.

Correlation between Measures

This must show the correlation and the analysis revealed that teacher

involvement was central to students experiences in the classroom and the

teacher provision of both autonomy support across the school areas (Skimen &

Belmont, 2004).
Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on the theory of Greg Kearsley and Ben

Shneiderman
Conceptual Framework

Presented in Figure 1 is the conceptual framework is showing the

variables of the study. The first variable is the School Activities according to Roth

(2000) with the following indicators: course learning, experiences with the faculty,

student acquaintances, club organization, and personal experience.

Course learning is a student learning outcomes are more specific and

describe achievement expected in a particular course; experience with faculty in

order for students should understand current issues that influence students;

student acquaintance to develop a sense of belongingness; club organization

provide the resources needed to succeed; personal experience is the result of

process and of our hard work.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Course Learning Emotional Engagement

Experience with faculty Cognitive Engagement

Student Acquaintance Behavioral Engagement

Club Organization

Personal Experience
Significant of the Study

School activities are an important aspect in student engagement. This is

because school activities is related to academic performance of the students and

could predict the student’s behaviour. Also, school activities help them in their

persistence in seeking the student engagement career.

 Moreover, this study will be a significant endeavour to the teaching and

skilling process in school activities both in private and public. Also this study is a

contribution and moderate but significant total affects on student engagement

(Lethwood & Jants , 200)

Definition of Terms