A Study on the Relationship between Classroom Climate and Agentic Classroom Engagement Perceived by Elementary School Students

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of classroom climate on agentic classroom engagement, with regards to the importance of student agency in the classroom. Methods For this purpose, a survey was conducted on 245 elementary school students. With the exception of 13 invalid responses, 232 were used for the actual analysis. The responses were analyzed using the SPSS statistic program. Results The results of this study are as follows: First, There was a significant difference discovered between grades in the class climate and agentic classroom engagement recognized by elementary school students. Second, classroom climate showed positive influence on the agentic classroom engagement. “self-disclosure” and “satisfaction”, which are variables of classroom climate, demonstrated a positive influence on the agentic classroom engagement. Conclusions The conclusions of this study are as follows: First, teachers' efforts are needed to increase the class climate and the agentic classroom engagement that decreases as the grade increases. Second, the class climate acts as an important factor in increasing the agentic classroom engagement. In particular, among the sub-factors of the class climate, self-disclosure factor and satisfaction factor influence the agentic classroom engagement. In addition, it is necessary to operate educational activities that take into account the interests and needs of students so that students feel pleasure in class life.