5 Strategies to Boost Student Engagement in the Classroom

Disengaged students—they’re a reality every teacher faces, and they can be a significant source of frustration. According to a 2023 study by the Pew Research Center, 47% of teachers (and 58% of high school teachers) identified students’ lack of interest in learning as a major issue in their classrooms.

Student apathy, however, is just one of many challenges teachers encounter daily. Chronic absenteeism, poverty, insufficient parental support, lax discipline policies, and the rising tide of anxiety and depression among students compound the struggle. While many of these issues are outside a teacher’s control, student engagement is one area where teachers can make an impact—making it all the more disheartening when students “zone out.”

What Is Engagement?

Think of engagement as a three-legged stool: it requires cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components to stand steady. When one leg is missing, engagement falters.

- Cognitive Engagement involves students’ attention, interest, and understanding. It includes higher-order thinking skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and metacognition (thinking about one’s own learning).

- Behavioral Engagement is what you can observe—students participating in discussions, taking notes, answering questions, or actively working on tasks.

- Emotional Engagement relates to how students feel about the subject, the classroom environment, their teacher, and their peers.

Achieving balance among these elements is key. Here are 5 strategies to boost student engagement and fight apathy in your classroom.

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1. Give Them the WHY

Adolescents often struggle to connect present actions to future outcomes, thanks to the prefrontal cortex—the brain’s planning and decision-making hub—still developing into their mid-20s. Explaining why the content matters can boost cognitive engagement by bridging that gap.

When faced with the inevitable, “When will I ever use this?” here are a couple of responses that I've used with success:

- You might never use this again—but I want you to have every opportunity in the future, and learning this ensures no doors are closed.

- This is mental cross-training. Just like how NFL players take ballet classes, mastering this content strengthens your brain for challenges ahead.

2. Leverage Peer Teaching

One lasting effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is the noticeable decline in collaborative skills. Many students now approach group work as a simple division of tasks rather than genuine collaboration.

Peer teaching can reignite these skills. In this method, students become “experts” on a portion of the material, then teach their peers. They also act as learners when others share their expertise. Finally, the group tackles a new problem together, applying their combined knowledge.

This strategy reinforces all three facets of engagement:

- Cognitive: Students strive to deeply understand their part, as they’ll present it to peers.

- Emotional: Teaching builds a sense of belonging and accountability.

- Behavioral: Active participation in discussions and problem-solving is key to success.

3. Make It Competitive

Competition taps into students’ natural motivation, especially when the stakes feel achievable. Inject low-pressure challenges into everyday lessons, such as:

- *Who can list the thirteen colonies in alphabetical order the fastest?*

- *Who can name the most elements on the periodic table?*

- *Who can identify the most ways to solve this math problem?*

These activities spark cognitive engagement by activating the prefrontal cortex. Even better, competitions don’t have to pit students against each other. Encourage personal goals, like annotating a paragraph faster than before or answering one more question in class than the day prior. By framing competition as a challenge against oneself, you also foster behavioral engagement and resilience.

4. Offer Student Choice

Let’s face it—students have limited autonomy in their academic lives. Providing options within your classroom gives them a sense of control, boosting both emotional and cognitive engagement.

To avoid overwhelming students, limit options to three or four. For example:

- A digital option

- A partner-based activity

- Two differentiated paper-based tasks (even better if one incorporates artistic skill)

For larger projects, stay open to student suggestions. Some of the most creative outputs I’ve seen—like a rap about rigid transformations (complete with background sample track) and a comic book on ratios—came from students proposing their own ideas.

5. Incorporate Movement

Sitting still for extended periods can drain energy and focus. Incorporating movement into lessons recharges students and sharpens their cognitive function.

Consider these movement-friendly strategies:

- Elementary: Use short movement breaks like GoNoodle to reset between subjects.

- Middle/High School: Incorporate gallery walks or walk-and-talk activities into your lessons.

- On the Fly: When students seem lethargic, pause and get them moving. A quick march around the classroom or a round of “pretend you're a bird” can lift spirits and reengage the group.

While movement isn’t a cure-all, it can make even the toughest lessons more manageable.

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BONUS: Two Final Tips

Show Them How

Many students simply haven’t been taught how to “do school.” This lack of behavioral engagement often manifests as avoidance—“I don’t have a pencil, so I can’t do the worksheet.” Instead of assuming these behaviors are intentional, explicitly teach skills like note-taking, test preparation, and respectful disagreement. Modeling and role-playing these actions can make a world of difference.

Be a Warm Demander

Disengaged students are always communicating something, whether it’s a lack of confidence, frustration, or disinterest. Your job is to figure out what they’re telling you.

In her book, Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain, Zaretta Hammond outlines what it means to be a “Warm Demander.” This approach combines empathy with high expectations. Build trust with your students (emotional engagement) while holding them accountable and guiding them toward independence (cognitive engagement). Students are far less likely to disengage when they know their teacher refuses to give up on them.

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Student engagement isn’t just an educational buzzword—it’s the foundation for a thriving classroom. By incorporating these strategies, you’ll not only battle apathy but also create an environment where students feel motivated, capable, and connected.

Want to know more about student engagement and how to create successful learning environments for your students? Use the contact link below to reach out - I'd love to hear from you!!

References:

Pew Research Center (2024). What’s it like to be a teacher in America today? https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/whats-it-like-to-be-a-teacher-in-america-today/

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (2020). Three Dimensions of Student Engagement https://citl.illinois.edu/citl-101/teaching-learning/resources/teaching-across-modalities/teaching-tips-articles/teaching-tips/2020/09/15/three-dimensions-of-student-engagement#:~:text=Student%20engagement%20is%20a%20multi,think%2C%20feel%2C%20and%20act.

Kalmar et al. (2022). The COVID-19 paradox of online collaborative education: when you cannot physicaly meet, you need more social interactions. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022001116#abs0010

Balconi, M. & Vanutelli, M. (2017). Brains in competition: Improved cognitive performance of inter-brain coupling by hyperscanning paradigm with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5583169/#:~:text=Therefore%2C%20based%20on%20our%20hypotheses,synergic%20activity%20between%20the%20subjects.

CDC (2022). Physical Education. https://archive.cdc.gov/#/details?url=https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/physical-education.htm

Hammond, Z. (2019). Culturally responsive teaching & the brain. Corwin.