Emotional Engagement in Agentive Science Learning Environments

Educational Psychologist, 2015

Engagement is one of the hottest research topics in the field of educational psychology. Research shows that multifarious benefits occur when students are engaged in their own learning, including increased motivation and achievement. However, there is little agreement on a concrete definition and effective measurement of engagement. This special issue serves to discuss and work toward addressing conceptual and instrumentation issues related to engagement, with particular interest in engagement in the domain of science learning. We start by describing the dimensional perspective of engagement (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, agentic) and suggest a complementary approach that places engagement instrumentation on a continuum. Specifically, we recommend that instrumentation be considered on a "grain-size" continuum that ranges from a person-centered to a contextcentered orientation to clarify measurement issues. We then provide a synopsis of the articles included in this special issue and conclude with suggestions for future research.

Mind, Brain, and Education, 2017

Although there is substantial research on the effect of emotions on educational outcomes in the classroom, relatively little is known about how emotion affects learning in informal science contexts. We examined the role of emotion in the context of an informal science learning experience by utilizing a path model to investigate the relationships among emotional arousal, valence, attention, environmental values and learning outcomes. Sixty undergraduate and graduate students participated in one of two treatments consisting of watching an exciting or neutral nature documentary video, reading an associated narrative, and taking a post-test. Our findings suggested that higher emotional arousal, less pleasant feelings about the content, and stronger environmental values led to greater short-term learning outcomes. We discuss our findings in relation to current understandings of emotion and learning in informal science education settings. In recent years, considerable research has focused on the effect of emotions, particularly anxiety, on a number of educational outcomes, including motivation, self-regulation, and academic achievement, making it clear that emotions are vitally important during the learning process (Frenzel,

R. Ferdig et al, 2004

- Recent path-breaking research supports the view that affect plays a critical role in cognition and learning. Notwithstanding this rapidly evolving body of research, the role and function of affect is not sufficiently recognized or adequately modeled within the discipline of ...

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1971

Science Education, 2007

Although beloved of some chemists and physicists, science demonstrations have been criticized for stifling inquiry and assisting teachers to maintain a power differential between themselves and students in the classroom. This interpretive study reports the unexpected positive learning outcomes for urban science students in two chemistry classes that resulted from the use of science demonstrations during a unit on gas laws. Beginning with an examination of science demonstrations as sites of interactions, researchers observed greater student engagement and positive emotional energy, more sophisticated use by students of symbol systems associated with chemistry, and a greater willingness of students to move between description of the phenomena and submicroscopic explanations. Applying sociology of emotions to analysis of classroom conversations and actions, we examine the nature of engagement and propose explanations for the positive effect of science demonstrations on the engagement, emotional energy, and learning of students. C 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci

International Journal of Science Education, 2015

Science activities that evoke positive emotional responses make a difference to students' emotional experience of science. In this study, we explored 8 th Grade students' discrete emotions expressed during science activities in a unit on Energy. Multiple data sources including classroom videos, interviews and emotion diaries completed at the end of each lesson were analyzed to identify individual student's emotions. Results from two representative students are presented as case studies. Using a theoretical perspective drawn from theories of emotions founded in sociology, two assertions emerged. Firstly, during the demonstration activity students experienced the emotions of wonder and surprise; secondly, during a laboratory activity students experienced the intense positive emotions of happiness/joy. Characteristics of these activities that contributed to students' positive experiences are highlighted. The study found that choosing activities that evoked strong positive emotional experiences, focused students' attention on the phenomenon they were learning, and the activities were recalled positively. Furthermore, such positive experiences may contribute to students' interest and engagement in science and longerterm memorability. Finally, implications for science teachers and pre-service teacher education are suggested.

Science education international, 2015

Despite the belief that emotions are important in the learning process, research in the area of emotions and learning, especially in science, is scant. Modelling and SSI argumentation have shared with respect to the emphasis in recent science standards reports as core scientific practices that need to be part of science teaching and learning. Even though there is evidence supporting the effectiveness of these competences in students' achievement, students' emotions about these have not been explored. The emphasis in this paper is on students' self-reported emotions about a lesson focusing on understanding an authentic socio-scientific issue through the use of student constructed models. Specifically the emphasis is on exploring students' emotions about the learning environment, and on identifying whether their self-reported emotions about the designed activities are positive or negative. The sample for the research study consisted of 19 elementary school students (11...

Cultural Studies of Science, 2016

In this paper, we seek to explore the inseparable role of emotions in the teaching and the learning of science at the primary school level, as we elaborate the theoretical underpinnings and personal experiences that lead us to this notion of inseparability. We situate our perspectives on the complexity of science education in primary schools, draw on existing literature on emotions in science, and present arguments for the necessity of working towards positive emotions in our work with young children and their teachers. We layer our own perspectives and experiences as teachers and as researchers onto methodological arguments through narratives to emerge with a reflective essay that seeks to highlight the importance of emotions in our work with children and their teachers in elementary school science.

This study aimed to investigate the role of science teacher’s behaviors (i.e., teacher’s autonomy support and teacher’s structure) in students’ collective engagement. Students’ collective engagement refers to their task involvement, such as attention, effort and verbal participation, and also attempts to affect flow of classroom activities. By using an observation form developed by Reeve, Jang, Carrell, Jeon, and Barch (2004), totally, 41 science teachers working in middle schools in Erzurum were observed during one class hour. Before data collection, observation form was adapted into Turkish by the researchers. The observation form incudes four sub-dimensions which are teacher’s autonomy support (4 items), teacher’s structure (5 items), teacher’s involvement (4 items), and students’ collective engagement (5 items). In the scope of this study, teacher’s autonomy support, teacher’s structure, and students’ collective engagement sub-dimensions were used. The observation form is prepared in a bipolar format which has negative statements on the left side (scored 1) and positive statements on the right side (scored 7). The reliabilities (Cronbach alpha) for the subscales ranged from .73 to .97. The teachers showed high levels of autonomy support (M= 5.73, SD= .94) and teacher’s structure (M= 5.86, SD= 1.02). Students’ collective engagement was also found to be at high level (M= 5.47, SD= 1.46). By conducting multiple linear regression analysis, students’ collective engagement was predicted by teachers’ behaviors. A considerable amount of variance explained in students’ collective engagement (Adjusted R2= .64) by teacher’s behaviors. Teacher’s autonomy support (β= .40) and teacher’s structure (β= .46) were statistically significantly and positively predicted students’ collective engagement. Based on these findings, it can be concluded in science classes where teachers’ nurture intrinsic motivational resources such as enjoyment, challenge; use informational language rather than controlling language; be clear, predictable, and understandable; and scaffold students, students’ collective engagement are likely to be high.