Cognitive appraisals, achievement emotions, and students’ math achievement: A longitudinal analysis.

Based on control-value theory (CVT), we examined longitudinal relations between students’ control and value appraisals, three activity-related achievement emotions (enjoyment, anger, and boredom), and math achievement (N = 1,716 fifth and seventh grade students). We assessed appraisals and emotions with self-report measures of perceived competence in math, perceived value of math, and math emotions, and achievement with school grades in math. All variables were measured in each of three consecutive annual assessments. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the CVT proposition that appraisals, emotions, and achievement show reciprocal relations over time. We hypothesized that (a) control-value appraisals influence the emotions, (b) the emotions influence achievement, and (c) achievement reciprocally influences appraisals and emotions. Supporting these hypotheses, the findings show that students’ perceived competence and perceived value positively predicted their subsequent enjoyment and negatively predicted their anger and boredom, controlling for prior levels of these variables, gender, and prior achievement. Students’ enjoyment positively predicted subsequent math achievement; anger and boredom negatively predicted achievement. Achievement showed reciprocal positive predictive effects on subsequent perceived competence, value, and enjoyment, and negative effects on subsequent anger and boredom; the effects on enjoyment and boredom were significant from Time 1 to 2 only. As posited in CVT, the effects of achievement on the emotions were mediated by perceived competence. In sum, the findings suggest that enjoyment, anger, and boredom influence students’ achievement in mathematics, and that control-value appraisals and achievement are important antecedents of these emotions. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed

A Three-Dimensional Taxonomy of Achievement Emotions

We present a three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions that considers valence, arousal, and object focus as core features of emotions occurring in achievement settings. By distinguishing between positive and negative emotions (valence), activating and deactivating emotions (arousal), and activity emotions, prospective outcome emotions, and retrospective outcome emotions (object focus), the taxonomy has a 2 × 2 × 3 structure representing 12 groups of achievement emotions. In four studies across different countries (N = 330, 235, 323, and 269 participants in Canada, the US, Germany, and the UK, respectively), we investigated the empirical robustness of the taxonomy in educational (Studies 1-3) and work settings (Study 4). An expanded version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire was used to assess 12 key emotions representing the taxonomy. Consistently across the four studies, findings from multilevel facet analysis and structural equation modeling documented the importance of the three dimensions for explaining achievement emotions. In addition, based on hypotheses about relations with external variables, the findings show clear links of the emotions with important antecedents and outcomes. The Big Five personality traits, appraisals of control and value, and context perceptions were predictors of the emotions. The 12 emotions, in turn, were related to participants’ use of strategies, cognitive performance, and self-reported health problems. Taken together, the findings provide robust evidence for the unique positions of different achievement emotions in the proposed taxonomy, as well as unique patterns of relations with external variables. Directions for future research and implications for policy and practice are discussed

What do we teach when we teach the Learning Sciences? A document analysis of 75 graduate programs

The learning sciences, as an academic community investigating human learning, emerged more than 30 years ago. Since then, graduate learning sciences programs have been established worldwide. Little is currently known, however, about their disciplinary backgrounds and the topics and research methods they address. In this document analysis of the websites of 75 international graduate learning sciences programs, we examine central concepts and research methods across institutions, compare the programs, and assess the homogeneity of different subgroups. Results reveal that the concepts addressed most frequently were real-world learning in formal and informal contexts, designing learning environments, cognition and metacognition, and using technology to support learning. Among research methods, design-based research (DBR), discourse and dialog analyses, and basic statistics stand out. Results show substantial differences between programs, yet programs focusing on DBR show the greatest similarity regarding the other concepts and methods they teach. Interpreting the similarity of the graduate programs using a community of practice perspective, there is a set of relatively coherent programs at the core of the learning sciences, pointing to the emergence of a discipline, and a variety of multidisciplinary and more heterogeneous programs “orbiting” the core in the periphery, shaping and innovating the field

Control-Value Theory and Students with Special Needs Achievement Emotion Disorders and Their Links to Behavioral Disorders and Academic Difficulties

Many students suffer from excessive negative emotions, a lack of positive emotions, or dysfunctional emotion regulation related to learning and achievement. This includes emotional problems below the threshold of clinical diagnosis as well as psychopathological disorders in students diagnosed for emotional needs. These emotional problems jeopardize students’ educational careers and health, can contribute to other (e.g., behavioral) disorders, and may also contribute to the unacceptable numbers of suicide attempts among students. In this chapter, we outline implications of Pekrun’s control-value theory of achievement emotions (CVT) for conceptualizing, understanding, and treating achievement-related emotional problems. We first define achievement emotion and outline the role of these emotions for emotional and behavioral disorders. We introduce the term achievement emotion disorder to denote problems with these emotions that are out of proportion relative to the events they relate to, persist over time, distress students, and impair their functioning, such as excessive test anxiety and excessive boredom. We also discuss the role of achievement emotions for generalized anxiety disorder, depressive disorders, and behavioral disorders. Next, we outline propositions of CVT for the appraisal antecedents of achievement emotions. We argue that biases in control and value appraisals are likely to be major causes of achievement emotion disorders and highlight the role of lack-of-control bias, lack-of-value bias, and excessive-negative-value bias. Subsequently, we discuss implications of CVT for the role of gender and environmental risk factors. We then address the impact of achievement emotions and related disorders on students’ learning, academic performance, and nonacademic behaviors. We go on to discuss ways to prevent or reduce achievement emotion disorders and increase mental health through emotion regulation, psychotherapy, classroom intervention, and educational practices. In conclusion, we outline directions for future research

Emotions and learning from multiple representations and perspectives

Using control-value theory as a conceptual framework, we review the literature on the role of emotions in learning from multiple inputs. We first provide a conceptual definition of emotion and an overview of the different types of emotions that play a role during learning, including achievement, epistemic, topic, and social emotions. Next, we discuss theoretical propositions about the origins and functions of these emotions. In the third section, we review empirical evidence on emotions during learning from multiple representations, both in terms of the sensory channels used and in terms of structures of multiple representations that guide learners’ emotion-prompting appraisals. Most of this evidence has been gathered in studies on technology-enhanced multimedia learning, such as learning with intelligent tutoring systems, simulations, and games. Subsequently, we summarize recent findings on learning from multiple perspectives, such as contradictory perspectives provided in texts on controversial issues or refutation texts targeting conceptual change. In conclusion, we discuss directions for future research and implications for practice