Emotionally Intense Science Activities

Science activities that evoke positive emotional responses make a difference to students’ emotional experience of science. In this study, we explored 8th 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 analysed 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. First, during the demonstration activity, students experienced the emotions of wonder and surprise; second, 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 longer term memorability. Finally, implications for science teachers and pre-service teacher education are suggested.     

Early career science teacher experiences of social bonds and emotion management

High demand for suitably qualified, high-quality science teachers is undermined by elevated teacher burnout/attrition rates within the early years of teaching. Effective emotion management can alleviate feelings of burnout and is also linked theoretically to sustaining positive social bonds. Scant attention has been directed at the importance of emotion management and social bonds in science education research. This study presents a methodology for studying emotion management and social bonds, delivering novel outcomes that elucidate how these two phenomena are interrelated. Video recordings of classroom interactions and reflective accounts in an early-career science teacher's ninth grade class were analyzed through a combination of ethnomethodology and interpretive techniques. Situated actions that constitute emotion management at the classroom level impacted the status of bonds between the teacher and one of his students, ultimately leading to a breakdown in their relationship. Results of the study detail how social actions of numerous students and the teacher led to the co-construction of emotion management and how this impacted social bonds. Theoretical and practical insights about the co-constructed nature of emotion management and social bonds present novel perspectives that can help to avoid pathologizing the actions of individual students and teachers for sustaining positive social bonds. Implications for science teaching and teacher education are offered. Study outcomes extend previous perspectives on emotion management in science education, which treat emotion management as an individual cognitive phenomenon.     

The Role of Emotion in Informal Science Learning: Testing an Exploratory Model

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.     

Young children's emotional practices while engaged in long‐term science investigation

In this article, the role of young children's emotional practices in science learning is described and analyzed. From the standpoint of performativity theory and social‐constructionist theory of emotion, it is argued that emotion is performative and the expression of emotion in the classroom has its basis in social relationships. Arising from these relationships is the emotional culture of the classroom that plays a key role in the development of classroom emotional rules as well as the legitimation of science knowledge. These relationships are reflected in two levels of classroom dialogue: talking about and doing science, and expressing emotions about science and its learning. The dynamics of the negotiations of classroom emotional rules and science knowledge legitimation may dispose students to act positively or negatively toward science learning. This analysis is illustrated in the experiences of a teacher and her students during a 3‐year ethnographic study of emotions in science teaching and learning. This research suggests the importance of the interrelationship between emotions and science learning and the notion that emotional practices can be powerful in nurturing effective and exciting science learning environments. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 693–719, 2004     

寓情感教学于英语书面表达教学

情感是人类特有的一种心理现象。学生情感与英语语言学习有着千丝万缕的联系。在英语书面表达教学中应注意选择学生感兴趣的话题;通过学生日记或周记了解学生的情感;加强合作学习,促进学生形成积极态度;多用鼓励性评语,增进师生间情感沟通。     

Emotional Issues in Teaching Science: A Case Study of a Teacher’s Views

Science teaching environments are social environments, and teachers emotions interact with their science teaching in powerful ways. To value the teacher is to value the whole person, not just the intellect. In this paper, a theorization of teacher emotion in science teaching is developed which illustrates the role of emotion in establishing and maintaining self-esteem in science teaching situations. From the standpoint of social-constructionist theory of emotion, it is argued that emotion is a social construction within social relationships. Arising from this view, are the emotions of intellectual excitement, frustration and shame that play a key role in the development of self-esteem. The dynamics of these emotions, in the context of experiences of success and failure, may dispose teachers to act positively or negatively towards science teaching. The theorisation developed is illustrated in the emotional experiences of an elementary school teacher in an early childhood science classroom. These experiences indicate that emotion is constitutive of teaching, and merits greater consideration in science teaching.     

Hidden Expectations Behind the Promise of the Flipped Classroom

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the student experience of pre-service teachers in a compulsory primary science education course that adopted a flipped classroom approach. Participants (n = 79) were surveyed at the conclusion of the course exploring their perceptions of engagement, enjoyment, and degree of learning as a result of participating in this course. At the end of this course, the majority of participants indicated they were happy with learning outcomes and enjoyed some aspect of the online videos; however, they also indicated they did not watch all of the eight mandatory weekly videos. In fact, the majority only watched about four out of the eight videos. This paper explores why students were reluctant to engage with the online videos and asks if there is an underlying aspect to flipped classrooms that disengages students.     

Teachers’ Discussions of Emotion in Child Care Centers

Teachers have the opportunity to discuss the emotions of children as they occur in the context of the classroom. As such, teachers play an important role in the socialization of emotions of young children. This observational study examines teachers discussions of emotions in three child care centers. The findings suggest that child care centers are important social contexts for learning about feelings because of ongoing interaction between teachers and children. Teachers in child care centers use various strategies with children to discuss their emotional expressions. They help children learn to identify emotion-related words, to understand the causes of emotion, and to provide them with constructive means of emotion regulation. The implications for teacher-training programs focusing on methods of facilitation of emotional competence and appropriate emotional socialization are presented.     

The Effects of Prior-knowledge and Online Learning Approaches on Students’ Inquiry and Argumentation Abilities

This study investigated the effects of students’ prior science knowledge and online learning approaches (social and individual) on their learning with regard to three topics: science concepts, inquiry, and argumentation. Two science teachers and 118 students from 4 eighth-grade science classes were invited to participate in this research. Students in each class were divided into three groups according to their level of prior science knowledge; they then took either our social- or individual-based online science learning program. The results show that students in the social online argumentation group performed better in argumentation and online argumentation learning. Qualitative analysis indicated that the students’ social interactions benefited the co-construction of sound arguments and the accurate understanding of science concepts. In constructing arguments, students in the individual online argumentation group were limited to knowledge recall and self-reflection. High prior-knowledge students significantly outperformed low prior-knowledge students in all three aspects of science learning. However, the difference in inquiry and argumentation performance between low and high prior-knowledge students decreased with the progression of online learning topics.     

Teaching primary science: emotions, identity and the use of practical activities

This paper uses cultural historical activity theory to examine the interactions between the choices primary teachers make in the use of practical activities in their teaching of science and the purposes they attribute to these; their emotions, background and beliefs; and the construction of their identities as teachers of science. It draws on four case studies of science lessons taught over a term by four exemplary teachers of primary science. The data collected includes video recordings of science lessons, interviews with each teacher and some of their students, student work, teachers?? planning documents and observation notes. In this paper, we examine the reflexive relationship between emotion and identity, and the teachers?? objectives for their students?? learning; the purposes (scientific and social) the teachers attributed to practical activities; and the ways in which the teachers incorporated practical activities into their lessons. The findings suggest that it is not enough to address content knowledge, pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education, but that efforts also need to be made to influence prospective primary teachers?? identities as scientific thinkers and their emotional commitment to their students?? learning of science.     

The role of relationships and emotions in student perceptions of learning and assessment

The paper addresses the way in which participants in a qualitative study drew upon accounts of relationships and emotions in sharing their perceptions of assessment. By first exploring ideas about emotions and relationships in learning and assessment through the literature and subsequently discussing an interpretation of participant narratives, the author suggests that emotions and relationships surrounding past learning and assessment contexts can influence current perceptions of assessment and learning in powerful ways. The study also reveals how students value opportunities to express their beliefs, feelings and emotions during the assessment process. They also expect teachers to balance objectivity in assessment with empathy for those parts of themselves shared in the process. The conclusion is drawn that there are important implications for learning in the emotional response of students to assessment and in the nature of teaching and learning relationships that are worthy of further investigation.     

Early childhood directors as socializers of emotional climate

Early childhood centres are vibrant social communities where child and adult emotions are integral to learning. Previous research has focused on teaching practices that support children’s social-emotional learning; fewer studies have attended to relevant centre-level factors, such as the emotional leadership practices of the centre director. The present study qualitatively explored the role of directors in cultivating climates supportive of social-emotional teaching and learning. Program administrators (N = 12) were interviewed to inform a model of Positive Early Emotional Leadership. Findings indicate that administrators believe that they play a vital role in creating and maintaining positive centre emotional climates. Moreover, the ways in which directors influence the climate of the centre resemble the emotion socialization processes identified previously in parenting and teaching literatures. These findings connect developmental theory to educational practice, highlighting the potential connections among centre directors’ leadership practices, teachers’ emotional experiences at work, and children’s social and emotional learning.     

Pre-service teachers’ efficacy beliefs and emotional states

Teachers’ efficacy beliefs play an important role in how they create quality learning environments. When pre-service teachers (also known as initial teacher trainees) develop strong efficacy beliefs, they can be confident in their abilities to be successful teachers once they enter the field. One way pre-service teachers obtain efficacy information is through their emotional states. Positive emotional experiences like joy and satisfaction may enhance a teacher’s sense of efficacy, while undesirable emotions such as fear and worry could be debilitating to efficacy beliefs. The current study investigated how feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress contributed to efficacy beliefs among a sample of 297 American pre-service teachers. Results from regression analysis showed that depressive symptoms negatively predicted teacher efficacy beliefs. However, reports of anxiety and stress did not significantly predict efficacy. Student teaching experience also did not significantly predict teacher efficacy.     

A study of the use of pairwise comparison in the context of social online moderation

Traditional moderation of student assessments is often carried out with groups of teachers working face-to-face in a specified location making judgements concerning the quality of representations of achievement. This traditional model has relied little on modern information communications technologies and has been logistically challenging. We argue that social online moderation, coupled with the use of analytical and pairwise scoring methods and technologies, can provide better moderation outcomes and highly valuable professional learning experiences improving teachers’ understandings of assessment standards. This paper reports on a component of a study involving Visual Arts teachers from rural schools making comparative judgements of digitised student artworks. We report the teachers’ observations of the social online moderation processes, including the quality and standard of the digitised artworks, the effectiveness of the pairwise comparison process, the functionality of the online tools, and the concept of using online scoring for moderation and standard setting purposes.     

Exploring Factors That Promote Online Learning Experiences and Academic Self-Concept of Minority High School Students

The rapid growth of online education at the K-12 level in recent years presents the need to explore issues that influence the academic experiences of students choosing this method of learning. In this study, we examined factors that promote/hinder the learning experiences and academic self-concept of minority students attending an online high school. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four African American, and sixteen Hispanic high school students. The results showed that collaborative learning activities, access to resources, time convenience, student-teacher interactions, student-student interactions, improved academic behavior, and parental support helped to enhance online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the minority students. On the contrary, the lack of social presence, and the lack of cultural inclusion in course content constrain online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the students. The findings revealed some similarities between factors that influence minority students learning experiences online, and in face-to-face setting. The study also highlighted the need for teachers of online courses to understand the cultural backgrounds of minority students, and to use their knowledge to improve the learning experiences and academic self-concept of these students. Implications for teaching minority high school students in an online environment, as well as suggestions for future research are provided. (Keywords: minority students, K-12 online school, factors, online learning, self-concept)     

The Role of Struggle in Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Experiences as Students and Approaches to Facilitating Science Learning

Science education researchers are concerned with preparing pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) to teach in ways that support students to learn science in a meaningful way. Preparing elementary teachers to teach science is complicated given that they tend to be generalists and may not have the same experience with science as secondary teachers. During an elementary science methods course, we explored PSETs?? perspectives on the teaching and learning of science via a case study that included four PSETs. Using Frykholm??s (Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 19:125?C149, 2004) framework of ??educative?? and ??debilitating?? discomfort, we examined PSETs?? approaches to their own science learning and their approaches to science teaching. A theme apparent in PSETs?? perspectives was struggle. We described ways in which struggle was either educative or debilitating for PSETs, both in terms of their own learning and the ways in which they approached teaching. Some PSETs who struggled in their own learning developed learning experiences to engage their students in reform-based science teaching, while some PSETs developed learning experiences that prevented their students from experiencing any sort of struggle in their learning process. The ways in which these students dealt with their own learning struggles mirrored the ways in which they dealt with their struggles to become teachers of reform-based science instruction. Helping PSETs to deal with their feelings of discomfort with science content or ideas about the nature of science learning and teaching promoted by reform documents may be a key issue in developing their willingness to become facilitators of meaningful science learning.     

The road taken: professional pathways in innovative curriculum development

This article describes the phases that teachers went through in their engagement with innovative teaching strategies as part of a school‐based research consortium linked to a university department of education in England. The teachers recorded their experiences and responses in diaries which gave access to their dominant feelings and concerns during the innovation. The diaries were analysed to investigate changes in the entries over time. The six phases were: initiation, novice, concerns, consolidation, expansion and commitment. The analysis also indicates the changing nature of professional support that was important during each of these phases. The conditions that characterized the ‘working space’ created by the teachers are discussed and particular emphasis is given to the fact that they collaborated with each other and with outside agents. Evidence from later interviews is used to suggest that these conditions have had a lasting impact on the schools. Further these conditions are related to the concept of social capital and the school research coordinator exploiting a ‘hole’ in the organization. It is argued that social capital among teachers and school leaders is critical to large‐scale change.     

Towards a framework of interactions in a blended synchronous learning environment: what effects are there on students' social presence experience?

A synchronous blend of online learning and “face-to-face” teaching is becoming a feasible instructional approach in higher education with the advent of technology. Although this learning mode is not new in higher education, little research has been done to contextualise social presence experiences in which effects of interactions were explored for enhancing learning. A qualitative approach was adopted using the case study method to examine the instructor and students’ pedagogic interactions in the social presence of a blended synchronous learning environment. This paper reports an exploration of the blended learning with an online group of students at a remote site attending a computer-aided engineering drawing course synchronously with a face-to-face group taught by an instructor in a laboratory. The process of interaction was visually and verbally mediated by videoconference as if in an online face-to-face learning community. The findings show that the online and face-to-face groups had different social presence experiences in which interaction emerged. Emotional adaptation and practice is needed for the students and the instructor in such a complex environment. Based on the interaction patterns, a framework of interactions in the blended synchronous learning environment is conceptualised to inform course development and instructional design. Implications for further study are also discussed.     

Emotion in online college classrooms: examining the influence of perceived teacher communication behaviour on students’ emotional experiences

This research focused on teacher communication behaviour as an influential factor in students’ educational experiences. This study examined students’ perceptions of emotion (involving teachers’ emotional support, students’ emotional work and students’ positive emotional valence toward class and teacher) as influenced by a variety of predicting variables: perceptions of teacher affinity-seeking as well as teachers’ positive behaviour alteration techniques, verbal immediacy and teacher online presence (involving the three factors of instructional design, organisation facilitating discourse and direct instruction). Relying on survey data collected from undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines enrolled in course offerings at a large public university, quantitative analysis examined relationships among existing factors previously studied in educational and communication research. Although this study uncovered multiple significant relationships between variables in the data set, students’ perceptions of their teachers’ verbal immediacy and presence in their instructional design were found to be most predictive relative to students’ emotions in online classrooms. Ultimately this project addresses and emphasises the need to more fully examine students’ emotions and related social experiences with virtual teachers and course content in higher education.