Addressing affective states with empathy and growth mindset

We present results of a randomized controlled study that compared different types of affective support messages delivered by pedagogical agents. Results suggest that using a character that is empathic and emphasizes the malleability of intelligence and the importance of effort provides useful results in student learning, while reducing boredom and anxiety. Emphasizing success and failure ("That is correct/wrong") appears to be detrimental to learning and interest and promotes anxiety. We examine a variety of student affective, cognitive and engagement outcomes in an intelligent tutoring system for mathematics

Blinded by science?: Exploring affective meaning in students’ own words

This work addresses students’ open responses on causal attributions of their self-reported affective states. We use qualitative thematic data analysis techniques to develop a coding scheme by identifying common themes in students’ self-reported attributions. We then applied this scheme to a larger set of student reports. Analysis shows that students’ reasons for reporting a certain affect do not always align with researchers’ expectations. In particular, we discovered that a sizable group of students externalize their affect, attributing perceived difficulty of the problem and their own negativity as lying outside of themselves