Emotion regulation in collaborative learning:students’ affective states as conditions for socially shared regulation

Abstract Emotions set the conditions for collaborative learning but can be also evoked by the learning activities. With emotion regulation, students can alter these affective conditions for their collaboration. Although it is central for learning, emotion regulation has not been systematically studied in a collaborative learning context. This dissertation focuses on individuals’ and groups’ affective states during collaborative learning, as well as the interrelations between affective states and the co- and socially shared regulation of learning. Furthermore, it aims to explore the potential of multichannel process data in detecting students’ affective states and regulation. Two data sets were collected in authentic learning situations. In Data I, participants were 6th grade students (N=31, 10 groups) performing a collaborative task. In Data II, 7th grade students (N=54, 18 groups) collaborated across four lessons. Collaboration was videotaped and students’ electrodermal activity was measured. The analyses were based on video observations of students’ emotional expressions (valence) and regulation. The codes were integrated with electrodermal activity data (activation) and the resulting multichannel data sets were analyzed with statistical and process analysis methods. The results revealed various individual- and group-level affective states fluctuating during collaborative learning. Activated affective states were triggered by factors deriving from the learning task and from social aspects of collaboration. The groups utilized regulation to overcome negative and mixed affect but also to strengthen positive affect within the group. However, regulation was rare compared to the observed need. The results highlight individual learners’ agentic role in co- and socially shared regulation. Methodologically, the results indicate that capturing valence and activation with separate data channels can provide further insights into students’ emotional and regulatory processes. This study contributes to the theoretical development of the role of affect in socially shared regulation. For educational practice, the findings highlight the need to provide more support and guidance for students and teachers in how to apply emotion regulation as a part of successful collaborative learning. The results can also be utilized in designing regulation support for collaborative learning.Tiivistelmä Oppilaiden tunteet luovat olosuhteet yhteisölliselle oppimiselle, mutta vastavuoroisesti myös oppimistilanteet herättävät oppilaissa monenlaisia tunteita ja muokkaavat ryhmän yhteistä tunnetilaa. Vaikka tunteet ja niiden säätely luovat pohjan oppimiselle, ilmiötä ei ole juurikaan tutkittu yhteisöllisessä oppimisessa. Tämä väitöstutkimus tutkii peruskouluikäisten oppilaiden tunteita ja niiden sosiaalisesti jaettua säätelyä osana yhteisöllistä oppimista. Lisäksi tavoitteena on tarkastella monikanavaisen aineiston mahdollisuuksia oppilaiden tunnetilojen ja oppimisen säätelyn tutkimisessa. Tutkimus koostuu kahdesta aineistosta, jotka on kerätty aidoista oppimistilanteista. Ensimmäisessä aineistossa kuudennen luokan oppilaat (N=31, 10 ryhmää) suorittivat yhden yhteisöllisen oppimisen tehtävän. Toisessa aineistossa seitsemännen luokan oppilaat (N=54, 18 ryhmää) opiskelivat pienryhmissä neljän yhteisöllistä oppimista sisältävän oppitunnin ajan. Ryhmien työskentely videoitiin. Videolta havainnoitiin oppilaiden vaihtelevia tunnetiloja sekä vuorovaikutuksessa tapahtuvaa oppimisen sosiaalisesti jaettua säätelyä. Oppilaiden tunnetilan aktivaatiotason mittaamiseen hyödynnettiin ihon sähkönjohtavuutta. Monikanavaista aineistoa analysoitiin useilla tilastollisilla ja prosessianalyysimenetelmillä. Tulokset osoittivat, että oppimisen aikana oppilaiden tunnetilat vaihtelivat paljon sekä yksilö- että ryhmätasolla. Ryhmät hyödynsivät tunteiden säätelyä päästäkseen yli negatiivisista tunteista, mutta myös vahvistaakseen ryhmän yhteistä positiivista tunnetilaa. Aina ryhmän tunteiden säätely ei kuitenkaan toteutunut. Tulokset korostavatkin yksilön oman tunteiden säätelyn merkitystä sosiaalisesti jaetun säätelyn toteutumiselle. Menetelmällisesti tutkimus osoitti, että monikanavaista aineistoa hyödyntämällä voidaan saavuttaa syvällisempää tietoa yksilöiden ja ryhmien tunnetiloista sekä oppimisen säätelyprosesseista. Tämä väitöstutkimus osallistuu oppimisen jaetun säätelyn teorian kehittämiseen huomioiden erityisesti tunteiden merkityksen. Tulokset korostavat tarvetta lisätä entisestään oppilaiden ja opettajien tietoisuutta tunteiden säätelystä ja sen merkityksestä onnistuneelle yhteisölliselle oppimiselle. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää myös kehitettäessä uutta teknologiaa tukemaan oppimisen säätelyä

All for one and one for all:how are students’ affective states and group-level emotion regulation interconnected in collaborative learning?

Abstract This study explored the interplay between students’ group-level emotion regulation behavior and affective conditions and products of regulation (emotional valence, activation, participation). The participants were 12-year-old students (N = 31, 10 groups) performing a collaborative science task. Conditions, emotion regulation behavior, and products of regulation were captured from video and electrodermal activity data. Results reveal that affective conditions were related to students’ regulatory behavior. Students were more likely to initiate regulation when they indicated a personal need to restore affective grounds. Moreover, regulation was activated to restore participation by targeting regulation to non-participating students. While regulation did not always change conditions for collaboration, the results indicate that it was more influential for students who either initiated or were targets for regulation

Socio-emotional interaction in collaborative learning:combining individual emotional experiences and group-level emotion regulation

Abstract This study explores how groups’ negative socio-emotional interactions and related emotion regulation during a collaborative physics task are interconnected with 12-year-old primary school students’ (N = 37) situated individual emotional experiences. To accomplish this, the study relates group-level video data analysis with students’ self-reported emotional experiences. The results indicate that students’ negative emotional experiences related to the task prior to collaborative working increase the group’s emotion regulation during the collaboration and that negative group interactions negatively affect students’ emotional experiences after the task. The study also shows that even though group-level regulation is more likely to change the valence of the group’s interaction from negative to positive, regulation does not always succeed in making a difference to the students’ overall emotional experiences

The sequential composition of collaborative groups’ emotion regulation in negative socio-emotional interactions

Abstract Research indicates that to adjust a group’s emotional atmosphere for successful collaborative learning, group members need to engage in group-level emotion regulation. However, less is known about the whys and ways regulation is activated at a group level. This research explores what triggers 12-year-old primary school students’ (N = 37) negative socio-emotional interactions during a collaborative science task and whether the nature of the trigger makes a difference to group-level emotion regulation strategies and their sequential composition in these interactions. Groups’ collaborative working was videotaped, and triggers and strategies were analysed. The results reveal that the triggers of negative interactions are linked to the groups’ activated regulation strategies. Motivation control strategies were more represented in situations where negative interactions were triggered by task-related issues, whereas socially related triggers were associated with behavioural regulation strategies. Furthermore, the results illustrate that strategies are concatenated to a series of strategic actions, which mostly begin with sharing an awareness of the trigger. The results indicate a need to focus on the series of strategic actions activated in group interactions. This will help reveal how socially shared regulatory processes build a group’s emotional atmosphere

Exploring groups’ affective states during collaborative learning:what triggers activating affect on a group level?

Abstract During collaborative learning, affect is constantly present in groups’ interactions, influencing and shaping the learning process. The aim of this study was to understand what type of learning situations trigger affective states in collaborative groups, and how these affective states are related to group members’ physiological activation. The participants were 12-year-old primary school students (N = 31, 10 groups) performing a collaborative science task. In the analysis, video data observations were combined with data of group members’ physiological activation. The groups’ situational valence was identified based on the group members’ observed emotional expressions and their physiological activation levels were measured with electrodermal activity (EDA). Results revealed that situations with group members’ simultaneous physiological activation were rare compared with the observable emotional expressions. However, when group members indicated physiological activation simultaneously, they also showed visible emotional expressions more often than in deactivating situations. Moreover, the results showed that socially-related factors were more likely to trigger physiological activation with a mixed group level valence. In turn, task-related factors were more likely to trigger physiological activation with a neutral group level valence. The results of this study imply that by combining different process data modalities revealing the different components of affect, it might be possible to track emotionally meaningful situations that shape the course of the collaborative learning process

Affective states and regulation of learning during socio-emotional interactions in secondary school collaborative groups

Abstract Background: Group affective states for learning are constantly formed through socio-emotional interactions. However, it remains unclear how the affective states vary during collaboration and how they occur with regulation of learning. Appropriate methods are needed to track both group affective states and these interaction processes. Aims: The present study identifies different socio-emotional interaction episodes during groups’ collaborative learning and examines how group affective states fluctuate with regulation of learning during these episodes. Sample: The participants were 54 secondary school students working in groups across four science learning sessions. Methods: Multichannel process data (video, electrodermal activity [EDA]) were collected in an authentic classroom. Groups’ affective states were measured with emotional valence captured from video data, and activation captured as sympathetic arousal from EDA data. Regulation of learning was observed from the videotaped interactions. Results: The study disclosed four clusters of socio-emotional interaction episodes (positive, negative, occasional regulation, frequent regulation), which differed in terms of fluctuation of affective states and activated regulation of learning. These clustered episodes confirm how affective states are constantly reset by socio-emotional interactions and regulation of learning. The results also show that states requiring regulation do not automatically lead to its activation. Conclusions: By advancing existing understanding of how group level socio-emotional processes contribute to regulation of learning, the study has implications for educational design and psychological practice. Methodologically, it contributes to collaborative learning research by employing multiple data channels (including biophysiological measures) to explore the various dimensions of socio-emotional processes in groups

A person-centered approach to study students’ socio-emotional interaction profiles and regulation of collaborative learning

Abstract Emotions in collaborative learning both originate from and are externalized in students’ socio-emotional interactions, and individual group members evidently contribute to these interactions to varying degrees. Research indicates that socio-emotional interactions within a group are related with the occurrence of co- and socially shared regulation of learning, which poses a need to study individual contributions to these interactions via a person-centered approach. This study implements multimodal data (video and electrodermal activity) and sequence mining methods to explore how secondary school students’ (n = 54, 18 groups) participation in socio-emotional interactions evolved across a series of collaborative tasks. On this basis, it identifies subgroups of students with distinct longitudinal profiles. Furthermore, it investigates how students with different socio-emotional interaction profiles contributed to their groups’ regulation of learning. Three profiles were identified: negative, neutral, and diverse. Each profile represents a particular socio-emotional interaction pattern with unique characteristics regarding the emotional valence of participation and physiological emotional activation. The profiles relate to students’ contributions to group regulation of learning. Students with the diverse profile were more likely to contribute to regulation, whereas the neutral profile students were less likely to contribute. The results highlight the importance of person-centered methods to account for individual differences and participation dynamics in collaborative learning and consequently clarify how they relate to and influence group regulation of learning

Capturing motivation and emotion regulation during a learning process

Abstract This paper describes our research approach in which we have focused on situational and contextual variations in motivation and emotion regulation to better understand its role, appearance and function in collaborative learning situations. We have used research designs that employ process-oriented measures combined with subjective interpretations to capture motivation and emotion regulation. Analysing on-line process data poses several challenges such as variation in the granularity of different data sources, problems that emerge due to the complexity of contextual and situational factors in ecologically-valid learning situations or, currently, challenges in the use of multiple data channels and their analyses. In this paper, we present three claims underlying our research, particularly the motivationand emotions and their regulation in learning. The claims are as follows: (1) motivation and emotion regulation is situation and context specific, (2) motivation and emotion regulation is influenced by multi-layered nature of motivationand(3) Motivation and emotion regulation is intertwined with other processes of learning and can be captured from their temporal manifestation. We present an example from our empirical study to discuss how these claims have led us to employ multiple process-oriented methods that include both subjective and objective data sources, including different combinations of situation-specific self-reports, video and physiological data. We then describe opportunities and challenges involved in the empirical studies