"When the experience of learning becomes
its own reward, that's being in the "flow!" Perhaps
when students are challenged in ways that make it possible for
them to learn -- taking into consideration their ability, learning
style, kinds of intelligence -- and in ways that are strongly
motivating, more students may reach that enviable state that Dr.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi so eloquently describes. His work is devoted
to examining the state of "flow," how it comes about,
and how it can be facilitated.
Dr. Csikszentmihalyi is professor of Human Development and Education
at the University of Chicago, where he was formerly chairman of
the Department of Psychology and Chairman of Human Development.
After graduating and receiving his Ph.D. from the University of
Chicago, he began his career as associate professor and chairman
of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Lake Forest
College. He has been a visiting professor at the University of
Maine, and also at universities in Finland, Brazil, Canada, and
Italy.
He currently serves on the Child Labor Advisory Committee of the
United States Department of Labor and the Center for Giftedness
of the federal Department of Education.
Dr. Csikszentmihalyi has published over 120 articles or chapters,
his books include Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, Flow: The psychology
of optimal experience, Being Adolescent, The Evolving Self,
and Creativity, Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention.He
has also written short stories for the New Yorker, essays for
the Atlantic Monthly, book reviews for the New York Times, and
has translated fiction and poetry into English from Italian, French,
and Hungarian."
from: http://www.newhorizons.org/crfut_csikszent.html#author