--- title: Meaningful Student Engagement | ST Math description: Student Engagement strategies, downloads, examples and discussions from educators and thought leaders. These student engagement resources will provide educators with the tools to increase active and meaningful student engagement in their classroom, schools and districts. image: https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/Blog/Images/personalized-learning-social_media-cta.png --- Toggle navigation [![2020-STMath-wordmark](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/Logos/2020-STMath-wordmark.svg)](https://www.stmath.com/) - What is ST Math? - Impact - Resources - Solutions - [Request Demo](https://www.stmath.com/demo) - [Sign In](https://play.stmath.com) **New MIND Education website coming soon.**  **NEW** **:** MIND Education website coming soon ![icon-chalkboard-stmath](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/Icons/svg-icons/icon-chalkboard-stmath.svg) How it works Learn how ST Math can make a difference for your students. [![Learn More »](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/31ab3d54-0b5e-41ea-9c39-f3df51c7a22a.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/31ab3d54-0b5e-41ea-9c39-f3df51c7a22a) ## Programs - [Early Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/earlylearning) - [K - 6](https://2024.mindresearch.org/elementaryschool) - [Middle School](https://2024.mindresearch.org/middleschool) - [Summer Immersion](https://2024.mindresearch.org/summer-immersion) - [Tutoring Powered by VIPTeacher](https://2024.mindresearch.org/tutoring-by-vipteacher) - [Math Camp](https://2024.mindresearch.org/math-camp) - [Homeschool](https://2024.mindresearch.org/homeschool-math) ## Explore - [How it Works](https://2024.mindresearch.org/how) - [What's New?](https://2024.mindresearch.org/whats-new) - [Distance Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/distance-learning) - [Tech Requirements](https://2024.mindresearch.org/techrequirements) - [Standards Alignment](https://help.stmath.com/hc/en-us/articles/360054027353-Scope-and-Sequence) ## Experience - [Try Quick Games](https://2024.mindresearch.org/play) - [Play Full Games](https://bit.ly/playstmathgames) - [Take a Tour](https://2024.mindresearch.org/tour) - [Request Demo](https://2024.mindresearch.org/demo) ## Impact - [Validation and Methodology](https://www.stmath.com/impact/validation-and-methodology) - [Equity and Outcomes](https://www.stmath.com/impact/equity-and-outcomes) - [Success Stories](https://2024.mindresearch.org/success-stories) ![2020-stmath-badges](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hs-fs/hubfs/STMath/Graphics/2020-stmath-badges.png?width=1400&height=605&name=2020-stmath-badges.png)   ## Learn More - [Blog](https://2024.mindresearch.org/blog) - [FAQ](https://2024.stmath.com/faq) ## Services - [Family Resources](https://2024.mindresearch.org/parent-math-resources) - [Instructional Resources](https://2024.mindresearch.org/instructional-resources) - [Publications](https://2024.mindresearch.org/publications) - [Professional Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/professional-learning) - [Support](https://www.stmath.com/techrequirements#technical-support) - [JiJi Store](https://store.mindresearch.org) ## Educator Topics - [Deep Conceptual Understanding](https://2024.mindresearch.org/conceptual-understanding) - [Math Rigor](https://2024.mindresearch.org/productive-struggle-math-rigor) - [Personalized Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/personalized-learning) - [Social Emotional Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/social-emotional-learning) - [Student Engagement](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement) ![icon-news-stmath-lg](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/Icons/svg-icons/icon-news-stmath-lg.svg) Subscribe to the Newsletter ## Approach - [Accelerate Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/accelerate-learning) - [Expanded Learning](https://2024.mindresearch.org/expanded-learning) - [English Learners](https://2024.mindresearch.org/english-learners) - [Approach to Equity](https://2024.mindresearch.org/equity) ![icon-news-stmath-lg](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/Icons/svg-icons/icon-news-stmath-lg.svg) Subscribe to the Blog # Header Copy [![Learn More](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/843f29b8-1cce-4b5c-8de1-1800d7b44783.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/843f29b8-1cce-4b5c-8de1-1800d7b44783) # See the Math and Grow Move away from digitized math drills and put students in the mindset to explore and understand how math works. [![Learn More](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/843f29b8-1cce-4b5c-8de1-1800d7b44783.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/843f29b8-1cce-4b5c-8de1-1800d7b44783) ![STMath_Hero_Slide_1.png](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/STMath_Hero_Slide_1.png) # See the Math and Grow Move away from digitized math drills and put students in the mindset to explore and understand how math works. [![Learn More](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/843f29b8-1cce-4b5c-8de1-1800d7b44783.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/843f29b8-1cce-4b5c-8de1-1800d7b44783) ![STMath_Hero_Slide_1.png](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/STMath_Hero_Slide_1.png) > # Meaningful Student Engagement - [Meaningful SE](https://stmath.com/student-engagement#meaningful) - [Download Poster](http://stmath.com/student-engagement#download-poster) - [Increasing SE](http://stmath.com/student-engagement#increase) - [Resources](http://stmath.com/student-engagement#resources) ## Shortcuts - [What is Student Engagement](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#what-is-student-engagement) - [Reducing Math Anxiety and Increasing Motivation](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#reducing-math-anxiety) - [Three I's to Mathematize](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#three-is-to-mathematize) - [Student Engagement with ST Math](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#student-engagement-with-st-math)  - [More Student Engagement Resources](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#student-engagement-resources) ### Quick Downloads - [Three I's to Mathematize Poster](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/Operations/Collateral/Research%20and%20Results/The-Three-Is-to-Mathematize-Poster.pdf) - [Rethinking Student Engagement Ebook (PDF)](https://www.mindresearch.org/student-engagement-e-book) ## What is Student Engagement? Student engagement is often considered one of the "holy grails" of education, yet it is also a widely-defined and often misunderstood term. At its most literal, engagement simply means being occupied or involved in an activity. In conversations about student engagement, a common theme is that we don’t just want kids to be occupied, we also want them to be excited. But that’s not enough. **Meaningful student engagement is tied to sustained effort, intentional thinking, and active learning.** When it comes to student engagement, the focus very often gets put on bringing students to the learning—getting them excited about a topic, a lesson or an activity. But when the method used to engage students is only superficial, that excitement can fade very quickly, and the deeper learning never happens. Students have to be motivated through the learning for active engagement, and that motivation must be intrinsic. ## Meaningful Student Engagement In this episode of the Inside Our MIND podcast, Director of ST Math Content Ki Karou talks about game design, and what student engagement looks like when it's truly meaningful. Ki also shares some of his experience from this year’s Game Developers Conference. You can listen to the episode in the player below, and you can find show notes from the episode [here](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/games-student-engagement).   ## FREE Ebook: Rethinking Student Engagement Learn how to move your students beyond superficial engagement to being dynamically active in their learning. This ebook by MIND’s Lead Mathematician Brandon Smith examines the wash, rinse, repeat cycle that many student engagement efforts get stuck in. He proposes a new schema in which the focus goes beyond engaging students to a concept, but motivates them through learning while challenging them at a deep level. This dynamically active lens can be used when creating math experiences or evaluating existing ones. ![ipad-student-engagement-ebook.png](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Graphics/student-engagement-ebook-01.png?width=486&height=597&name=student-engagement-ebook-01.png) ## FREE Ebook: Rethinking Student Engagement Learn how to move beyond superficial engagement with your students to more dynamically active engagement. This ebook by MIND’s Lead Mathematician Brandon Smith examines the wash, rinse, repeat cycle that many student engagement efforts get stuck in. He proposes a new schema in which the focus goes beyond engaging students to a concept, but motivates them through learning while challenging them at a deep level. This dynamically active lens can be used when creating math experiences or evaluating existing ones. ## [![DOWNLOAD THE FREE EBOOK NOW](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/78450b5b-ea2e-4a60-a61d-ecb5c4ddbd66.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/78450b5b-ea2e-4a60-a61d-ecb5c4ddbd66)   ## Reducing Math Anxiety and Increasing Motivation Two of the biggest challenges to student engagement with math are math anxiety and boredom. Many students are either afraid of math, or outright apathetic about it. Math anxiety affects a student’s ability to concentrate, to remember information, and make calculations, negatively affecting learning and performance. Research has shown that [parents](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797615592630) and [teachers](http://www.pnas.org/content/107/5/1860) who have math anxiety can negatively impact student performance as well.  The way math has traditionally been taught is very one-dimensional--worksheets, pencil and paper calculations, and a focus on getting the answer to an equation. This is akin to experiencing music only as symbols on lined paper but never actually hearing it. To [reduce math anxiety](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/math-anxiety) and get students engaged, we need to change their relationship with math. Getting students to express their feelings can not only help reduce math anxiety, but it can impact their social-emotional well-being overall. Providing math experiences where motivation is intrinsic (as opposed to a reward for task completion) keeps learning exciting. Math experiences that are rich with decision making motivate students through the learning. And when students set goals for themselves, they are motivated to learn. ## Three I's to Mathematize ### Follow these steps to create math experiences that will engage and motivate your students! Use Math to Add **INTRIGUE** -Ask "How can math add an interesting twist on the activity?" -Put math at the core of the activity--math is not an add-on **INTERACT** With Math in a New Way -Go beyond paper and pencil -Create an experience through which students dynamically interact with math Use Math to **INFORM** Decisions -Don't start and stop the math at the calculation -Allow math to be a tool for the decisions you are naturally making in the experience Remember: Learning should be active and rich with decision making. Use math to make decisions and solve new problems creatively! [![Student Engagement Poster](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Landing%20Pages/images/Three-Is-to-Mathematize-Poster.png?width=316&height=480&name=Three-Is-to-Mathematize-Poster.png)](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/Landing%20Pages/images/Three-Is-to-Mathematize-Poster.png) ## Three I's to Mathematize ### Use these steps to create math experiences that will engage and motivate your students! Use Math to Add **INTRIGUE** -Ask "How can math add an interesting twist on the activity?" -Put math at the core of the activity--math is not an add-on **INTERACT** With Math in a New Way -Go beyond paper and pencil -Create an experience through which students dynamically interact with math Use Math to **INFORM** Decisions -Don't start and stop the math at the calculation -Allow math to be a tool for the decisions you are naturally making in the experience Remember: Learning should be active and rich with decision making. Use math to make decisions and solve new problems creatively! ## [![DOWNLOAD THE FREE POSTER NOW](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/2431c90f-aa42-48a3-848f-5df9ab490b79.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/2431c90f-aa42-48a3-848f-5df9ab490b79) For more on the "Three I's," listen to our [podcast episode](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/three-is-to-mathematize-anything) on mathematizing! ## ST Math Engages and Motivates Students to Solve Problems Creatively   The visual instructional approach of [ST Math](https://2024.mindresearch.org/) builds a deep conceptual understanding of math through rigorous learning and creative problem solving. Through tantalizingly tricky puzzles, students are actively engaged, motivated and challenged toward higher achievement. Over the course of a school year, students solve well over 5,000 interactive puzzles, each one providing animated feedback that adapts to a student’s response. This informative feedback offers an intrinsically motivating learning experience that shows students the mathematical consequences of each answer. We perceive the world, perform actions, perceive the results, and adjust our actions in response...all in a [cycle](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/perception-action-cycle) that repeats again and again. This forms the basis of our brain’s ability to learn, think and solve problems. [Watch Video](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#video-popup-mod)[Play Games](https://stmath.com/play)   [![play button](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/PlayButton@2x.png)](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#video-popup2)   ## What Does Student Engagement Look Like? Pickerington Local School District students are actively engaged in mathematical learning with ST Math. The experience of solving tantalizingly tricky puzzles provides intrinsic motivation for students. In doing so, students develop a conditioned response that drives them to take on the next challenge with energy and enthusiasm. *"They're engaged not just because it's a game and it's fun and it's JiJi the penguin. They're engaged because they finally believe that they can do math." --Whitney Robinson, Vice Principal, Harmon Middle School, Pickerington, OH* ![](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/Blog/Images/Blog_Aniya.png) "What I like about ST Math is that you can learn new ways to do things and you can also have fun at the same time. It’s important to learn math because when you grow up, math is going to be all around you. Math is really important in the world."   Aniya, Student La Escuelita School, Oakland, CA Quote Name Quote Name ## Personalized Learning in the Classroom Examples and insights from education leaders who’ve implemented personalized learning with successful student learning outcomes.   *"I grew up as a teacher where all students were grouped in a box and the instruction was very cookie-cutter. It left few options for creativity and for meeting a student at their individual level. We're now in a new era where we're having broader discussions about what meeting those students can look like. Personalized learning isn’t a new concept - it’s been around. I think what's important is that we're now at a point now where we can go deeper into it."* Wendy Kerr, Principal, Live Oak Elementary, CA [Read more about how personalized learning changed Live Oak »](http://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/math-personalized-learning-culture)   *"For the first six months \[developing a personalized learning plan\], we talked about nothing other than what we wanted teaching and learning to look like in the future. A lot of that geared around the idea of moving the teacher out from behind their desk, giving the kids what they needed, and not teaching to the middle."* Brian Seymour, Director of Instructional Technology, Pickerington Local School District, OH [Read more about Pickerington’s personalized learning model »](http://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/ingredients-for-personalized-learning-success)   ## Personalized Learning with ST Math ST Math is a visual instructional program that builds a deep conceptual understanding of math through rigorous learning and creative problem solving to engage, motivate and challenge PreK-8 students toward higher achievement. In ST Math, over 200 visual games create a unique pathway of interconnected content challenges to provide differentiated instruction for individual students, regardless of skill level. Students take their own path to mastery. In order to move to new levels, they must demonstrate mastery at each stage of the objective. To ensure all students develop deep mathematical understanding, the program personalizes their exposure to each concept according to their unique needs. As a result, students are empowered to work through any obstacle as they make their own pathway to mastery. [![Play Sample Games](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/97b857dd-9105-446e-bfc1-e837c008173c.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/97b857dd-9105-446e-bfc1-e837c008173c) ## Implementation Highlight?: Student Engagement [![play button](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/PlayButton@2x.png)](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#video-popup-1)   *“Our end-all, be-all goal is individualized, personalized, differentiated instruction. ST Math allows students to work at their own pace. It allows student to fill in some of those gaps that may have been missed in previous courses.”* - Brian Seymour, Director of Instructional Technology, Pickerington Local School District, OH [![View Full Profile »](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/34dc0a70-3a3c-4c68-970c-1473f0787fb0.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/34dc0a70-3a3c-4c68-970c-1473f0787fb0) ## Implementation Highlight?: Student Engagement [![play button](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hubfs/STMath/PlayButton@2x.png)](https://2024.mindresearch.org/student-engagement#video-popup-3)   *“Taking teaching to the next level is really all about individualizing learning for all students. One way that we do that here at Marlboro Township is purposeful use of our digital tools. And ST Math is one of our digital tools that fills an important gap, which other digital tools do not.”* - Michael Ballone, Director Of Curriculum & Instruction, Marlboro Township Schools, NJ [![View Full Profile »](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/237516/4f52f3d4-50c5-42bc-a84f-cc42d28be299.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/237516/4f52f3d4-50c5-42bc-a84f-cc42d28be299) ### Enter your email - \[action item\]! ## More Student Engagement Strategies and Resources [How to Motivate Students with ST Math Read Blog»](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/how-to-motivate-students-st-math) [What the Perception-Action Cycle Tells Us About How the Brain Learns Read Blog »](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/perception-action-cycle) [Increasing Intrinsic Motivation Through Goal Setting Read Blog »](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/intrinsic-motivation-for-students) [How Flexible Seating Is Increasing Student Engagement Read Blog »](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/flexible-classroom-seating) [The Difference Games Can Make for Student Engagement Watch Presentation »](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/student-engagement-game-based-learning) [Making Quadratic Functions Engaging With ST Math Read Blog »](https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/quadratic-functions-st-math) [![MIND-Ed_Logo_White](https://2024.mindresearch.org/hs-fs/hubfs/graphics/logos/MIND%20Education/PNG/MIND-Ed_Logo_White.png?width=1146&height=456&name=MIND-Ed_Logo_White.png "MIND-Ed_Logo_White")](http://www.mindeducation.org) - - - - - - [Blog](https://2024.mindresearch.org/blog) - [FAQ](https://2024.stmath.com/faq) - [About Us](http://www.mindeducation.org) - [Contact Us](https://2024.mindresearch.org/contact) - [JiJi Store](http://store.mindresearch.org) - [ST Math Help](https://help.stmath.com/) - [Accessibility](https://www.mindresearch.org/accessibility) - [Sitemap](https://2024.mindresearch.org/sitemap) - [Terms of Use](https://2024.mindresearch.org/terms) - [Privacy Policy](https://2024.stmath.com/privacy-policy) Copyright © 2024 MIND Education®. 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