This investigation uncovered the conditions of learning, both positive and negative, that students in an alternative school experienced both in and out of the classroom setting. Eleven students at an alternative high school in a large suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest were interviewed using methods of narrative inquiry and iterative data collection, grounded in social cognitive theory and student voice literature. Four chief findings are discussed: (a) Learning experiences are improved when explicitly connected to the real world; (b) Positive emotions and relationships support successful learning, whereas negative ones hinder learning; (c) A certain level of student autonomy during learning seems to be tied to achieving goals; and (d) Social learning is consequential for students. The social as defined in this study is composed of two things: (a) how social influences from outside of school can have an effect on how students approach schooling and (b) the implications of understanding and taking part in relationships.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.