The Influence of Autonomy-Supportive, Student-Centered Teaching on Student Engagement: A Mixed Methods Study

Elementary school students in a Jewish day school are reporting significantly lower levels of engagement in their Judaic Studies learning than in their General Studies learning. The problem of Jewish day school students’ limited engagement in Judaic Studies extends beyond the scope of this particular school context. Scholars and practitioners of Jewish education criticize the current approach to day school education as being focused on transmission of tradition, to the exclusion of a focus on cultivating a meaningful and personally relevant learning environment. Findings from a needs assessment suggest that teachers’ predominantly traditional, teacher-centered instructional approach contributes to students’ lower levels of engagement in Judaic Studies. This research investigates the influence of an autonomy-supportive and student-centered approach to teaching a unit of Bible on third and fourth-grade students’ engagement in learning, skill development, and content knowledge. Results indicate that students in the treatment groups were significantly more engaged in learning than students in control groups at both intervals of testing. There were no increases in engagement over time within treatment or control groups. All students achieved equivalent levels of skill development and content knowledge. The research suggests the importance of designing Judaics instruction in an autonomy-supportive and student-centered approach