Through classroom observation, digital videos, and face-to face-interviews, this study investigated the phenomenon of student engagement within one inquiry-oriented secondary science classroom. The data suggests that students engage in very different ways and these individual approaches often do not match with the narrow vision of engagement held by classroom teachers and espoused in existing research literature. Classroom behaviors are frequently misread and misinterpreted when students are not given opportunities to explain what their behaviors mean. Furthermore, students cited an array of emotional, cognitive, and intangible factors that significantly impact their behavioral engagement on a daily basis. This study provides an in-depth analysis and description of student engagement across behavioral, emotional and cognitive dimensions that rely on both verbal and nonverbal aspects of student voices
