Higgins 1

George Higgins

Trotter

Brit Lit (2)

February 5 2019

Research Questions
1.

Entin, Esther. “All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed.” ​The
Atlantic​, Atlantic Media Company, 12 Oct. 2011,
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/10/all-work-and-no-play-why-your-kids-are-mor
e-anxious-depressed/246422/​.

In the article, Entin shows that young kids value the experiences of play more than

they the value the time they spend in the classroom and how play is beneficial to early

development. It shows statistics provided by the psychology professor from Boston College,

and his information includes that of the decrease in time to play and the benefits of more

play time. She first shows the statistics of the increase class time, which results in less play

time. Then, she gives examples of how play can boost confidence and cooperation skills.

There are other statements made that it improves the happiness of kids which can lead to

the decline in depression in the future. This information is useful towards my research

because the happiness of students will be useful to know when looking for what motivates a

child into doing schoolwork and how we can correlate these into the curriculum.

2.

“Four Elements for Creating a Positive Learning Environment.” ​Alliance For Excellent
Education​, all4ed.org/four-elements-for-creating-a-positive-learning-environment/.

In the article, Waldman gives situations that can improve the environment that people

learn in. The author uses Gallup polls to solidify her statements on what makes an

environment positive and optimal for learning valuable lessons. She describes a healthy

environment for students as being a place of safety of physical and mental well being,
 Higgins 2

cooperation among peers and an good teacher and student relationship, and engagement of

students willing to learn. There is also mention of the current events,such as school

shootings, being detrimental to the development of a positive learning environment, leading

to less motivated students. The article then goes on to give suggestions to parents on how

they can improve a child's learning space at home. These suggestions on how to improve

the environment are very useful for helping me solve the problem of students being

motivated. With a better learning environment, students will be more likely to be engaged

with the lesson.

3.

Domina, Thurston. "Leveling the Home Advantage: Assessing the Effectiveness of Parental
Involvement in Elementary School."​ Sociology of Education,​ vol. 78, no. 3, 2005, pp.
233-249​. ProQuest​, ​https://search.proquest.com/docview/216498575?accountid=172748​.

In this article, Thurston talks about how much a parent should be involved in their

child’s academic career and the comparison of parents that are heavily involved in there kids

schooling, and those who are not. She uses studies from ​a 1995-96 survey by the National

Center for Education Statistics to reference the amount of participation parents had in school

events they were invited to. The article goes on to show the linkages of how parental

support and strong educational outcomes. It also states how vital parents are in the

education of their kids and that they play one of the biggest roles in how motivated a student

may be to succeed in school. With this information, I can tell school staff to have more

parent and student events, to get parents more involved with the school, bringing them

closer to their child’s education. Having parents in the equation, could change a kid’s future

for the better.

4.

Dube, Shanta R., and Pamela Orpinas. "Understanding Excessive School Absenteeism as
School Refusal Behavior."​ Children & Schools,​ vol. 31, no. 2, 2009, pp. 87-95​. ProQuest,​
 Higgins 3

https://search.proquest.com/docview/210946581?accountid=172748,
doi:​http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cs/31.2.87​.

In the article, Dube discusses how absenteeism is very prominent factor in the

decline in motivation in school. She gives sources such as ​Chou, Ho, Chen, & Chen, 2006 and 

Roebuck, French, & Dennis, 2004 to show that students that are absent more are often more 

likely to be depressed or anxious which could possibly be the cause of their habit of not 

attending school. This article displays a lot of data that supposes it’s claim of the detrimental 

effects of not attending school and how it is a bigger problem than it may seem. There is also a 

experiment procedure and results layed out that produced the same results as seen by the 

surveys, which further solidifies their stance on the matter. This information is quite useful to my 

studies because it is the absolute epitome of my problem and with this info, I can see the root of 

my problem and attack it at its core.

5.

Strauss, Valerie. “Why Kids Lose Interest in Reading as They Get Older.” ​The Washington
Post​, WP Company, 29
Apr.2015,​www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/29/why-kids-lose-int
erest-in-reading-as-they-get-older/?utm_term=.ab369073087c​.

In the article, Strauss discusses the importance of reading and how it should be

treated as a reward. The author uses the source of Daniel Willingham and his research on

the brain’s ability to learn and focus on learning. She gives he idea and then uses

Willingham studies to back up her statements. For example, she talks about how younger

people have less of a variety to read because of their lack of knowledge on certain topics.

She then backs this up with the fact that children don’t have a high enough vocabulary to

understand words that are in higher level thinking books. Because of this information, I can

distinguish a possible factor in why students might not be motivated to succeed, and that is

because they are discouraged by the fact that they have little access to instant knowledge,
 Higgins 4

and are impatient. I can keep this in mind when working with younger people and remind

them that they can figure this stuff out in the long run, to not get discouraged, and to keep

their heads up.