Emotions in Learning and Teaching

Stephanie MacMahon s.macmahon1@uq.edu.au

• What are your beliefs about emotions in teaching and learning? How does this impact your practice?

• How is learner motivation developed and sustained in your classroom?

• How can emotions be used to further enhance your teaching and your students learning?

Why is this important?

• Current system –devalues emotion in learning & teaching

• Cognitivist-oriented pedagogy

• Challenge: measuring emotional states

• SoL changing this:– Brain networks highly

integrated– Sensory input draws

attention = value determined by emotions

• Calling for reconceptualisation of emotions in learning and teaching

• More holistic approachwww.123rf.com

AttentionInterest

EngagementMotivation

Self regulation

Overview of session• What…

– Are emotions?– Is their function?– Is happening?

• Why…– Are they important for teaching and learning?

• How…– Are they involved in teaching and learning?– Can we promote positive emotions in teaching and

learning?• Application…

Activity 1 – Handout 1

• Emotions of teaching and learning

Think

Pair

Share

Emotions are..- Relatively brief, psychological states that result from experiencing an event or an interaction that evokes a response along a continuum of threats and opportunities

THREATS OPPORTUNITIES

The Ocean

• Essential for survival and to thrive

• Primary emotions are universal

• “biologically built, but culturally shaped”

• Highly interconnected to multiple brain regions

www.converse4change.com

• Emotions are highly subjective

• Emotions need to be understood:– Hazards avoided– Possibilities realised

The ‘why’ of emotions

• Innate

• Guide interest, attention

• Response to environment: external (physical, social) but also internal(psychological):

“Given the present sensory information and the individuals present internal state [and subjective value of the experience], how should it react?” Pessoa, 2008

• Barometer of response to environment

• Sensory input from our environment

• Sensory-activated

• Trigger brain-body loop = embodied experience

• Interconnected systems

www.123rf.com

Brain

Body

Activity 2• Select an emotion from your

list

• How is that emotion embodied for you – what is your physiological response?

• Can you manipulate your emotion through changing your physiological response or physical posture?

• Think-Pair-Share www.slideshare.net

Brain

Body

Social synchrony

• ‘feel what others feel’

• Neurologically evident

• Shared emotional state= understand others

Brain

Body

Adolescent social brain

• Increased social interest

• Period of structural and functional brain development

• Positive social and emotional role models important

Activity 3• Refer to your list of

learner emotions:

• How do your students embody emotions?

• How do you know what they are feeling?

• How does it make you feel?

Brain

Body

Emotions…

• Help us understand ourselves, our world, and others

• Influence our interpretation of experiences

• Shape thoughts, decisions

• Make memories

www.pinterest.com

Emotions and cognition

www.dailygenius.com

Emotions underpin cognition

Emotions

Attention

Memory

Problem solving

Decision making

Information processingEngagement

Interest/ Curiosity

Reasoning

Motivation

So we now know…

Emotions underpin cognition

Emotions are embodied

Emotions help us understand ourselves, our world and others

Emotions are defined as…

Achievement

Topic

Epistemic

Social

Incidental

LEARNER

Learner Emotions

Pekrun, 2006

ACHIEVEMENT EMOTIONS:

• those emotions “tied directly to achievement activities or achievement outcomes” (Pekrun, 2006, p.317).

www.fuelrunning.com

TOPIC EMOTIONS:• triggered by teaching

or learning about a particular topic or content, and directly influence the level of interest (Pekrun, 2006; Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2014).

EPISTEMIC EMOTIONS:• related to the

knowledge-generating aspects of cognitive processes (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-

Garcia, 2014, p.4). • “How do I know what I

know?”

SOCIAL EMOTIONS

www.leitsculinaria.comwww.stevemccurry.wordpress.com

INCIDENTAL EMOTIONS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wP1xEHU3LI

Activity 4 – Handout 2

Achievement

Topic

Epistemic

Social

Incidental

LEARNER

Teacher emotions

• Teacher emotions impact learners

• Teacher emotions impact teacher well-being & capacity

Teacher emotions

Student Behaviour

Time/ workload

Policy/ curriculum

Job Satisfaction

Relationships

Professional identity

Personal Context

Beliefs

Values

Attitudes

Knowledge

Norms Teacher

Activity 5 – Handout 3

• Refer to your emotions list:

• Plot your emotions into the dimensions

• Is there a particular dimension that elicits the majority of your +/-emotions?

Student Behaviour

Time/ workload

Policy/ curriculum

Job Satisfaction

Relationships

Professional identity

Personal Context

Teacher

Activity 6 – Handout 4

NEGATIVE NEUTRAL POSITIVE

Negative Emotions

Can:• Impact overall well-being:

negative physical and psychological effects

• Heighten awareness of task difficulties

• Impede learning

• Interrupt cognitive function

Sadness

• Slows capacity to think and process

Trauma

• Heightens levels of anxiety, fear, stress and sadness

• Can have long-term or sporadic effects on learning

• May disrupt emotional development

Positive Emotions

Positive emotions

Wellbeing

Flourishing

Interest

CreativityPersistence

Perspective

Motivation

Positivity ratio

3:1

How can we deliberately

cultivate positive emotions for

ourselves and our learners?

Motivation

• the underlying psychological process, the energy and direction, that underpins behaviour through linking affective and cognitive components (Ainley, 2012; Ainley & Hidi, 2014; Pekrun, 2006).

Affective Cognitive

MOTIVATION

Relatedness

AutonomyCompetence

Sources of motivation may be different for different

learners

http://abduzeedo.com/25-kickass-skydiving-pictures

www.buzzfeed.com

Emotional appraisal system

futureyouuniversity.blogspot.com

• Cognitive control over emotional response to an experience or event

• Can be targeted for intervention

• Subjective control: • Subjective Value:

Achievement

Topic

Epistemic

Social

Incidental

LEARNER

Subjective control

Subjective value

Student Behaviour

Time/ workload

Policy/ curriculum

Job Satisfaction

Relationships

Professional identity

Personal Context

Subjective control

Subjective value

Teacher

So, to summarise, Emotions…

• are essential for human survival• are biologically built but culturally shaped• help us understand ourselves, our world, and

others• influence our interpretation of experiences,

shape thoughts and decisions, make memories

• are embodiedBrain

Body

Emotions…

• underpin cognition

• impact well-being of ourselves and others

• can impede or enhance learning

• can be deliberately targeted to enhance learning and teaching.

Activity 6 – Handout 5 - Artifact• What emotional challenges – for yourself and your learners - may you face

in this class/ unit/ lesson/ activity?

• How are you deliberately engaging learner emotions? Can higher levels of positive affect be engineered?

• How are you engaging the learners’ sense of relatedness, competence and autonomy to increase their motivation? Are there ways that this could be enhanced?

• How could individual learners’ subjective control and subjective value of the experience be increased?

• What challenges may you face in addressing these emotion-related concepts?

• What are your beliefs about emotions in teaching and learning? How does this impact your practice?

• How is learner motivation developed and sustained in your classroom?

• How can emotions be used to further enhance your teaching and your students learning?

Questions?

References and further readingAinley, M. (2012). ‘Students’ interest and engagement in classroom activities.’ In Christenson, S.L. et.al. (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer Science+Business Media. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7_13

Ainley, M. & Hidi, S. (2014). ‘Interest and enjoyment’. In Pekrun, R. & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (eds.) International Handbook of Emotions in Education. Taylor & Francis: Hoboken.

Ardizzi, M., Martini, F., Umilta, M.A., Sestito, M, Ravera, R., & Gallese, V. (2013). ‘When Early Experiences Build a Wall to Others’ Emotions: An Electrophysiological and Autonomic Study’. Plos One 8(4), 1-9.

Becker, E.S., Keller, M.M., Goetz, T., Frenzel, A.C., & Taxer, J.L. (2015). 'Antecedents of teachers' emotions in the classroom: an intraindividual approach.' Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1-15.

Blakemore, S.J. (2004). ‘Social cognitive neuroscience: where are we heading?’ Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(5), 216-222.

Blakemore, S.J. & Frith, U. (2005). The learning brain: lessons for education. Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishing.

Blanchette, I. & Richards, A. (2010). ‘The influence of affect on higher level cognition: a review of research on interpretation, judgement, decision making and reasoning.’ Cognition and Emotion, 24(4).

Chang, M.L. (2009). 'An appraisal perspective of teacher burnout: exaaming the emotional work of teachers.' Educational Psychology Review, 21, 193-218.

Chiao, J.Y. & Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2013). ‘Modularity and the cultural mind: contributions of cultural neuroscience to cognitive theory.’ Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(1), 56-61. DOI: 10.1177/1745691612469032.

.

Cornelius- White, J. (2007). ‘Learner-Centred Teacher-Student Relationships are effective: a meta-analysis.’ Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 113-143. DOI: 10.3102/003465430298563

Cross, D.I. & Hong, J.Y. (2009). 'Beliefs and professional identity: Critical constructs in examining the impact of reform on the emotional experiences of teachers.' In Schutz, P.A. & Zembylas, M. (Eds.) Advances in Teacher Emotion Research: The Imapct on Teachers' Lives.' Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419--564-2_14

Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (2008). ‘Self-Determination Theory: A Macrotheory of human motivation, development and health’. Canadian Psychology, 49 (3), 182-185.

Dweck, C. (2006) Mindset: How you can fulfill your potential. New York: Random House

Fredrickson, B. (2009). Positivity. Great Britain: One World.

Hattie, J. & Yates, G.C.R. (2014). ‘Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn’. Oxon & NY: Routledge

Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2007). ‘A tale of two cases: Lessons for education from the study of two boys living with half their brain.’ Mind, Brain and Education, 1(2), 66-83.

Immordino-Yang, M.H., Christodoulou, J.A. & Singh, V. (2012). ‘Rest is not idleness: implications of the brains default mode for human development and education.’ Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(4), 352-364. DOI: 10.1177/1745691612447308.

Immordino-Yang, M.H. & Damasio, A. (2007). ‘We feel, therefore we learn: the relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education.” Mind, brain and Education, 1(1).

Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2007). ‘A tale of two cases: Lessons for education from the study of two boys living with half their brain.’ Mind, Brain and Education, 1(2), 66-83.

Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2008). ‘The smoke around mirror neurons: goals as sociocultural and emotional organisers of perception and action in larning.’ Mind, Brain and Education. 2(2), 67-73.

Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2011a). ‘Me, My “self”, and You: Neuropsychological relations between social emotion, self-awareness and morality.’ Emotion Review, 3(3), 313-315. DOI: 10.1177/17546739114-2391.

Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2011b). ‘Implications of affective and social neuroscience for educational theory.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(1), 98-103. DOI: 10.1111/j/1469-5812.2010.00713.x

Keltner, D. & Horberg, E.J. (2015). ‘Emotion-Cognition Interactions’. In Mikulincer, M. & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.) APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 1. Attitudes and Social Cognition. 623-664. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14341-020.

Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2011b). ‘Implications of affective and social neuroscience for educational theory.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(1), 98-103. DOI: 10.1111/j/1469-5812.2010.00713.x

Keltner, D. & Horberg, E.J. (2015). ‘Emotion-Cognition Interactions’. In Mikulincer, M. & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.) APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 1. Attitudes and Social Cognition. 623-664. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14341-020.

Neville, B. (2015). ‘The enchanted Loom’. In Emotion and School: Understanding how the Hidden Curriculum Influences Relationships, Leadership, Teaching and Learning. 3-23. http://dx.doi.org/10/1108/51579-3687(2013)0000018005.

Newberry, M. (2015). ‘The demand of multiplicity in the classroom: emotion regulation and cognitive load.’ In Emotion and School: Understanding how the Hidden Curriculum Influences Relationships, Leadership, Teaching and Learning. 25-48.

O’Connor, K. E. (2008) ‘”You choose to care”: Teachers, emotions and professional identity.’ Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 117-126. DOI:10.1016/j.tate.2006.11.008

Patten, K.E. (2011). ‘The Somatic Appraisal Model of Affect: Paradigm for educational neuroscience and neuropedagogy.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(1), 87-97. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00712.x

Pekrun, R. (2005). ‘Progress and open problems in educational emotion research.’ Learning and Instruction, 15,497-506. DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2005.07.014

Pekrun, R. (2006). ‘The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries and implications for educational research and practice.’ Educational Pscyhology Review, 18, 315-341. DOI: 10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9

Patten, K.E. (2011). ‘The Somatic Appraisal Model of Affect: Paradigm for educational neuroscience and neuropedagogy.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(1), 87-97. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00712.x

Pekrun, R. (2005). ‘Progress and open problems in educational emotion research.’ Learning and Instruction, 15,497-506. DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2005.07.014

Pekrun, R. (2006). ‘The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries and implications for educational research and practice.’ Educational Pscyhology Review, 18, 315-341. DOI: 10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9

Pekrun, R. & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (2014). ‘Introduction to emotions in education.’ In Pekrun, R. & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (eds.) International Handbook of Emotions in Education. Taylor & Francis: Hoboken. 1-10.

Skaalvik, E.M. & Skaalvik, S. (2015). 'Job satisfaction, stress and coping strategies in the teaching profession -what do teachers say?' International Education Studies, 8(3), 181-192. DOI: 10.5539/ies.v8n3p181

Skinner, E., Pitzer, J., & Brule, H. (2014). ‘The role of emotion in engagement, coping and the development of motivational resilience.’ In Pekrun, R. & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (eds.) International Handbook of Emotions in Education. Taylor & Francis: Hoboken. P.331-347.

Suarez-Orozco, M., Sattin-Bajaj, C. & Suarez-Orozco, C. (2010). ‘Introduction: Architectures of Care’. In Educating the whole child for the whole world. New York Press: New York. 1-25. http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780814741412

Viding, E., McCrory, E.J., Blakemore, S.J., & Frederickson, N. (2011). ‘Behavioural problems and bullying at school: can cognitive neuroscience shed new light on an old problem?’ Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(7), 289-291.