Smith and Wilhelm also found out that the boys tended to look for a sense of “flow” in their activities. The state of flow, originally conceived by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is one “in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter”… a sense of control and competence, a challenge that requires an appropriate level of skill, clear goals and feedback, and a focus on the immediate experience” (Galley, 2008, 90)

When I learned about the state of flow in my Psychology I class during my freshman year in college, I became fascinated by what it was and wanted to find ways to feel it more often during my daily activities. At the time, I was 18 or so years old, and I felt like I had not really experienced it during any of my classes in school before, so I researched about it and ways to achieve it while doing academic work. I found out that educators play a major role in fostering this state in their students; and although it is hard, it should be one of our primary goals to stimulate this feeling during class instruction. If we want all of our students to see themselves as learners that are able to enjoy all school subjects, then we must do our best to help them achieve “flow”.
The author claims that boys are more likely to look for that state of flow than girls and I think that based on my own discovery as a freshman, I can agree with him. I never felt the need to look for that state in school because even though I enjoyed many of my classes, I thought about academic work as something I was supposed to do and try to excel in, not as something I should enjoy doing. The chapter also mentions the need girls feel to please others, and I believe that I fit right into that definition as well. Looking back, I remember that in school, I would try to please my teachers so that they would give me good grades and at home, I wanted to please my parents by behaving well in school and seeing them happy when my progress reports came home.
Beyond the importance of teaching content to students, it is also very important to impart quality lessons that promote a sense of flow in all students, boys and girls. It is also important to note that despite what the statistics indicate (that boys are the most likely to look and feel flow) we should not limit ourselves and identify what works for all students to achieve this state.