Abstract:

To learn, students need to be cognitively, emotionally and behaviorally engaged in school. Notably, well-being, referring to psychological, cognitive, social and physical functioning and capabilities that students need to live a happy and fulfilling life, is related to engagement in school and learning. However, studies have been reporting a decrease in engagement during adolescence. Considering its importance for learning, it is essential to understand how can engagement in school be promoted for all students.

A range of programs and approaches have been recognizing the importance of developing emotional and social, as much as cognitive dimensions, for promoting students’ engagement and learning. In particular, mindfulness has been considered a promising field of research, within education and school. Mindfulness is an intentional training of the mind to focus attention through the observation of thoughts, emotions and sensations, showing benefits in cognition, stress reduction and well-being, as well as on gratitude. Gratitude is a temporary feeling of thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible, and it is associated with life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, hope and positive affect (mood), important aspects for engaging with school and learning.

The COVID-19 outbreak caused disruption on the education system, but, also, psychological distress on the young. Considering the importance of well-being for students’ engagement and learning, it is important to understand how to reduce the negative psychological effects COVID-19 has caused. Given the reported benefits of mindfulness and gratitude on well-being, the goal of the current study was to examine how two groups of students, one involved in a mindfulness intervention before the COVID outbreak and the other during it, appreciated their current life experiences. The mindfulness intervention lasted six weeks (face-to-face group) and eight weeks (online group). 42 students from 5th to 9th grade participated in the first group, of which 47.6% were female and aged in average 12.29 (SD = .265). 27 students from 5th to 9th grade participated in the second group, of which 50% were female and aged in average 11.88 (SD = .305). 427 student’s expressions of emotional gratitude were analyzed.

Participants were invited, at the end of each session, to answer the question: “I feel grateful for…” and write it down in a diary (paper vs online form). Responses were content-analyzed into different categories and sub-categories of gratitude: feeling of sufficiency (e.g., basic needs, material goods, family support), appreciation of the little things in life (e.g., health, leisure, academic success, body awareness, mindfulness program), feeling positive emotions, and appreciation of other people in our lives (e.g., family and social relationships, feeling loved/ appreciated). Quantitative analysis showed that categories were common to both groups, although with different order of importance. Firstly, health is the main reason to be grateful for the online group, while feeling positive emotions is what face-to-face group is mainly grateful for. Family is secondly important for both groups, but peer relationships are less referred in the online group. School performance is only mentioned before COVID-19. The mindfulness program, was considered, by both, an opportunity to develop psychological resources on which they could rely in difficult times.

Keywords:

Engagement, Mindfulness, Gratitude, Covid-19.