초등학교 아동들이 수업에 적극적으로 참여하고 활동에 몰입하는 맥락은 어떤 의미를 갖는지 연구하기 위하여 서울시내 공･사립 초등학교 6개 학급을 선택하여 집중관찰과 면담을 실시하였다. 본 연구에서 드러난 것은 아동들이 수업에 관심을 보이며, 적극적으로 참여하고, 교육활동에 몰입하는 공통적 상황은 크게 네 가지로 나타났다. 수업내용이 초등학교 아동의 삶과 밀접하게 ‘관련성’을 갖고 있을 때, 수업에 접근하는 방법으로 신체를 부분적 혹은 전체적으로 움직이도록 하는 ‘활동성’을 나타낼 때, 수업내용과 방법에서 아동이 적극성과 책임감을 가지고 결정내리는 ‘주도성’이 있을 때, 그리고 수업내용과 접근방법이 실제로 현실세계에서 나타나는 ‘진정성’의 특징을 나타낼 때 아동은 수업에 몰입하였다.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contexts children are mostly engaged in elementary school classroom under the qualitative research paradigm. For the qualitative data collection, six elementary teachers and their classrooms (including lower, middle, and upper grades) were chosen, their instructions were video-tapped, and the teachers and children were interviewed to check the validity of the qualitative data. The data was reviewed by three researchers to gain the overall credibility of the findings. The research results showed that children were mostly engaged in their instruction when the content of the instruction was closely related to their lives and experiences, when the instruction was partially or entirely associated with the physical movement of children, when the instruction was encouraged to make self-initiated decisions by children, and when the instruction reflected upon the authentic aspects of the real world and experiences. This research implied that those four characteristics were often overlapped and closely related in the context of the instruction that children were deeply engaged in. It suggested that the more common part of the four characteristics were getting enlarged, the better and more meaningful instruction would provide for children in elementary schools.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contexts children are mostly engaged in elementary school classroom under the qualitative research paradigm. For the qualitative data collection, six elementary teachers and their classrooms (including lower, middle, and upper grades) were chosen, their instructions were video-tapped, and the teachers and children were interviewed to check the validity of the qualitative data. The data was reviewed by three researchers to gain the overall credibility of the findings. The research results showed that children were mostly engaged in their instruction when the content of the instruction was closely related to their lives and experiences, when the instruction was partially or entirely associated with the physical movement of children, when the instruction was encouraged to make self-initiated decisions by children, and when the instruction reflected upon the authentic aspects of the real world and experiences. This research implied that those four characteristics were often overlapped and closely related in the context of the instruction that children were deeply engaged in. It suggested that the more common part of the four characteristics were getting enlarged, the better and more meaningful instruction would provide for children in elementary schools.