Boredom: Data-informed Practical Implications for Educators
“I am so bored” is a sentiment students often express. There is a minimal stigma in making this statement, and many students and adults might say, “Of course, schooling can be boring.” Indeed, tired and bored are the conditions students report experiencing most often at school. How should educators evaluate this expression when they hear it and consider what it could indicate about students’ academic and psychosocial development? This recording introduces two new California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) boredom items added in 2021/22 asking students about school boredom and how much value they place in their academic endeavors.
Using the responses of more than 500,000 secondary students, WestEd and the University of California, Santa Barbara shared how “boredom” could provide helpful insights into students’ social and emotional well-being.
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Presenters:
Michael Furlong, PhD, is Research Professor/Distinguished Professor Emeritus of School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (2021/22 UCSB Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship). The National School Mental Health Center awarded him the 2022 School Mental Health Research Award. He provides consultation and support to the California Department of Education and WestEd related to CHKS. A coeditor of the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools (2009, 2014, 2022), he collaborates with colleagues on Project Covitality, supporting schools’ efforts to foster all students’ social–emotional development.
Tom Hanson (he/him) serves as a Senior Advisor for the California Center for School Climate. Tom is a Senior Managing Director at WestEd. He has extensive experience in developing and validating survey instruments designed to measure school climate and other outcomes. He is the Director of the California School Climate, Health, & Learning Survey (CalSCHLS), a comprehensive youth risk-behavior and resilience data-collection service available to all California local education agencies. He has served as a principal investigator of multiple large-scale randomized controlled trials and has been lead methodologist for several studies examining the impacts of education interventions.