Engagement in after-school program activities: quality of experience from the perspective of participants

Middle school students’ experiences at after-school programs were compared as they participated in different types of activities and with different social partners. The students (N = 165) attended eight programs in three Midwestern states. A total of 1,596 experiences were randomly sampled using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) during 1 week in the fall of 2001 and 1 week in the spring of 2002. Student engagement was conceptualized as the simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment. Students reported high levels of engagement while participating in sports activities and arts enrichment activities at the after-school programs, and low levels of engagement while completing homework at programs. They reported being more engaged in activities involving both adults and peers than activities with peers only. Concentrated effort, intrinsic motivation, and positive and negative mood states were also compared by program activities and social partners. Findings about participants’ subjective experiences and engagement in specific program activities have implications for understanding after-school programs as a context for youth development.

Deborah Lowe VandellEmail:

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David J. Shernoff   is an assistant professor of educational psychology at Northern Illinois University broadly interested the relationship between human development and education. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago and the Sloan Center for Working Families, where he applied Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow and Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to the study of engaging educational contexts. From 2000 to 2003, he served as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His recent publications include “Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory” in School Psychology Quarterly, 18, 158–76 (with M. Csikszentmihalyi, B. Schneider, and E. S. Shernoff 2003). Deborah Lowe Vandell   is the Chair of the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior. Prior to these appointments, Professor Vandell was the Sears Bascom Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she held appointments in Educational Psychology, Human Development and Family Studies, and Psychology. Professor Vandell is principle investigator of several multi-site studies examining child care, family, and after-school experiences. The author of more than 130 articles, Dr. Vandell’s research has focused on the effects of developmental contexts (early child care, schools, after-school programs, families, neighborhoods) on children’s social, behavioral, and academic functioning.