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Multi-Method, Multi-Theoretical, Multi-Level Research in the Learning Sciences
Abstract
We examine methodologies and methods that apply to multi-level research in the learning sciences. In so doing we describe how multiple theoretical frameworks inform the use of different methods that apply to social levels involving space-time relationships that are not accessible consciously as social life is enacted. Most of the methods involve analyses of video and audio files. Within a framework of interpretive research, we present a methodology of event-oriented social science, which employs video ethnography, narrative, conversation analysis, prosody analysis, and facial expression analysis. We illustrate multi-method research in an examination of the role of emotions in teaching and learning. Conversation and prosody analyses augment facial expression analysis and ethnography. We conclude with an exploration of ways in which multi-level studies can be complemented with neural level analyses.
... This study adopted an interpretive design, where I drew on core assumptions (Chapter 3) from the interpretive paradigm (Denzin, 1984;Erickson, 1986;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). ...
... I produced data about students' emotional experiences by transcribing fine-grained descriptions of students' actions, facial expressions, speech gestures, utterances, and silences within classroom situations. For example, when students were seen to point excitedly at a common object, direct their gaze and body towards it, and make confirming utterances related to it, as the researcher I highlighted this occurrence as one of mutual visual focus and collective ideas in their learning experience (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). ...
... Microsociology enabled me to make deductive interpretations of classroom interactions embedded in emotional experiences, which may be vital in understanding how learning experiences unfold over time (Bellocchi, 2017;Collins, 2004;Scheff, 1997;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). In doing so, the interpretive study design enabled sense-making of in-the-moment occurrences and their possible influence on progressive science inquiry practices. ...
In science education, science inquiry is an approach used to engage students, develop their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, improve scientific literacy, and model how scientists explore phenomena. There is, however, limited research on student emotions and how they influence learning experiences during science inquiry. A paucity in understanding student emotion and how it shapes learning experiences limits current science inquiry teaching practices that are responsive to student emotions. Understanding students’ unpleasant emotional
experiences can support teachers in developing responsive teaching practices that address common challenges in classrooms to support student needs. To address the limitations of existing research, this study explores student emotions before and after responsive teaching practices during science inquiry within two Australian Year 10 chemistry classes. An interpretive study design and a multi-method design using a two-element conceptual framework, emotion and cogenerative dialogue, enabled me to develop theoretical understandings of students’ challenging emotional experiences as they worked on different science inquiry activities during their science inquiry project. An understanding of the unpleasant emotions associated with common challenges experienced by students during the science inquiry project provided the teachers with insights into developing responsive teaching practices to address student needs. The findings of this study provide evidence that understanding students’ unpleasant emotional experiences can support teachers in developing responsive teaching practices that address student needs. In addition, positive changes in student emotions follow the implementation of responsive teaching practices. To this end, my study contributes new knowledge on the enacted practices of how student emotions influence students’ learning experiences during science inquiry and how to use this understanding to develop responsive teaching practices that address student needs. The findings also have implications for teaching and research by identifying ways to address barriers to inquiry learning through teachers’ use of the model of emotional inquiry practice and extend emotion research in science education by using the concepts and techniques developed in my study.
... It is also noted that in the methodological proposal of Formenti and Jorio (2018), the reflective movement consists of a reconstruction, which, in a way, resorts to the interpretation of a portion of the reality already experienced, which is in line with the studies by Barth-Cohen et al. (2018), as well as Tobin and Ritchie (2012). Tobin and Ritchie (2012) propose, for the development of research with data obtained through records and documents, a contribution called multi-method by the authors. ...
... It is also noted that in the methodological proposal of Formenti and Jorio (2018), the reflective movement consists of a reconstruction, which, in a way, resorts to the interpretation of a portion of the reality already experienced, which is in line with the studies by Barth-Cohen et al. (2018), as well as Tobin and Ritchie (2012). Tobin and Ritchie (2012) propose, for the development of research with data obtained through records and documents, a contribution called multi-method by the authors. According to this perspective, to interpret in depth, the social phenomenon studied, such as the pedagogical practice of a certain teacher or the students' speech during a mathematics class, one must mobilize not only a form of method but a combination of them. ...
... In this sense, in the light of the objectivity-subjectivity dyad, which from the Enlightenment period directed investigative studies towards the common goal of modeling the phenomenon based on the search for observed patterns, reflective methodologies consider the tradition of differentiating between objective/subjective 3 methods through the insertion of the 2 The expression "transformed data" refers to one of the fundamental stages of the multi-method theory, which deals with the recognition and subsequent transformation of information into analysis data. So, according to Tobin and Ritchie (2012) considering the studies developed with teachers in service, for example, we would have the following steps: (i) delimitation of the context for collecting information, (ii) identification of the information collected following a pre-analysis guided by the research question-problem, (iii) transformation of information into data for analysis and, finally, (iv) the analysis itself. 3 This differentiation alludes to the opposition of the Romantic movement to the Enlightenment perspective since for the latter the objectivity of the study of the phenomenon was achieved through logos (rationality), while for the former we had, in addition International Journal for Research in Mathematics Education self, that is, as the core of its epistemological basis, the Heideggerian existentialist discussion appears as a central piece, in the way we interpret the world and relate to it. ...
Studies in Math Education have, in the last twenty years, presented substantial results regarding the teaching methodologies used in elementary education. Thus, considering the context of the training of pedagogue teachers who teach Mathematics, we seek with this paper to present a study carried out with a group of polyvalent teachers about their methodological understandings concerning the teaching of fractions. For that, we used the hermeneutic-phenomenological methodology for data analysis, considering the alectic process as an instrument of extraction and interpretation. As results obtained in this study, we highlight the cultural aspects that stress the methodological choice by the teacher, here named cultural crystallization, as well as the gap between the mathematical concept of fraction and the methodological choice for its teaching. In addition to the results obtained through the hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis, the present paper brings possibilities and limitations regarding its use in research in Math Education.
... Zembylas (2005) suggests exploratory studies of cognition and emotion in science education may be best approached using methodologies drawn from socioconstructivist or post-structuralist perspectives. My study framework reflects contemporary approaches in science education that emphasize multi-method, multitheoretical and multi-level approaches to data production and analysis (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). My multiple methods involved the reduction of video and audio data to understand these data through conversation analysis, prosody (speech rate and intonation), and frame-by-frame alignment of physical gestures and speech gestures. ...
... In this chapter, the diverse perspectives of emotion (psychological and sociological) reflected in the field of general education were outlined in terms of the Linnenbrink-Garcia's (2014) concern for alternative approaches by adopting a sociological perspective on emotion (Bellocchi, 2015), within the context of science education where multi-method, multi-theoretical and multi-level research is increasingly important (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). As an overview of emotions in the general education literature I explore the key features of emotion in this section. ...
... As noted in chapter 1, I have adopted a multi-method, multi-theoretical approach to this study to analyse the multi-level qualities of my data (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). My methodological orientation is informed by Garfinkel's (1967) ethnomethodology to derive a descriptive approach to the data. ...
This study explores the emotional experiences of high school science students when thinking and learning with analogies. It develops innovative research methods and proposes a foundation for a new theory to explain how students learn with analogies. The thesis illustrates analogical thinking and learning by studying social interactions involving body language, facial expressions and ways of speaking during science lessons. By studying small group interaction, I have adopted a sociological approach for understanding analogical thinking in school science, with the potential to impact on science education theory, the way we teach science teachers, and future teaching practices in school science.
... My methodology (theory of method) is constructed through interrelated perspectives in science education research and sociology that draw on the study of social practice (Bellocchi, 2017(Bellocchi, , 2018aDavis, 2017;Durkheim, 1915;Garfinkel, 1967;Liberman, 2013;Rawls, 2009Rawls, , 2011, phenomenology of practice (Bellocchi, 2018a;van Manen, 2014van Manen, , 2015, and microsociology (Bellocchi, 2017(Bellocchi, , 2018aTobin & Ritchie, 2012). Ethnomethodology and microsociology are interconnected analytic traditions due to their foundation in Durkheim's (1915) inquiry into social practices. ...
... In the linear structure of journals articles, this is the most effective way of illustrating the stages of analysis undertaken. Combination of inductive inquiry into social practice (phenomenology, ethnomethodology) with deductive analyses afforded by microsociology (Bellocchi, 2017;Collins, 2004) and interpretive research (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012) presents a powerful synergy that redresses the limitations when each approach is adopted separately. ...
... This is the first study to analyze emotion management and its connection to social bonds using ethnomethodology (Davis, 2017;Garfinkel, 1967;Liberman, 2013) and microsociological approaches (Bellocchi, 2017;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012) in science education research. As such, transferability remains elusive until further studies in related contexts, beyond those from reviewed studies here, adopt similar methods. ...
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 9th-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.
KEYWORDS: science teaching, science learning, emotion management, social bonds, sociology of emotion
... The study begins with an ethnomethodological orientation that enables us to provide fine-grained description of our data as outlined in the section "Outcomes of the Analysis." Then we apply interpretation to these data, considering the theoretical understandings of emotion adopted in science education research Tobin et al., 2013;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). This study goes beyond a pure application of ethnomethodology by including theoretical interpretation of data as presented later in the conceptual framework. ...
... That is, the research focus is on sense making actions such as eye contact, hand gestures, utterances, and prosody, which are used by students as resources to construct shared understanding about their topic, atomic structure. Ethnomethodological approaches are an increasingly common influence in science education research (e.g., Bellocchi & Ritchie, 2015;Ritchie et al., 2013;Roth, Ritchie, Hudson & Mergard, 2011;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012), where the study of gesture and conversation as interactional resources are foregrounded. ...
... As noted earlier we have adopted the concept of emotional energy (Collins, 2004) to enable identification of emotional experiences within localized social practices. Emotional energy is extensively documented as a social phenomenon in science education research in studies such as Bellocchi et al. (2014), Bellocchi and Ritchie (2015), Olitsky (2007), Ritchie et al. (2013), Roth et al. (2011), and Tobin and Ritchie (2012). In this section, we define emotional energy and describe a particular form of emotional energy referred to as respect in sociology (Durkheim, 1912(Durkheim, /2008. ...
Science inquiry is an important part of educational reform focusing on improvements to pedagogy. Developing students' capacities and understandings about the design and conceptualization of scientific research informs contemporary curriculum and teaching practices. Although objectivity is regarded as a fundamental aspect of scientific research, limited studies in school contexts have considered how students generate objectivity during situated classroom practices of science inquiry. A cognitive view of objectivity informs existing research, neglecting the localized production of objectivity during classroom practices and associated emotional experiences. To inform understandings about objectivity, we adopt an ethnomethodological orientation for understanding students' situated practices during science inquiry tasks. Transcripts produced from video recordings of group interactions are collected into salient episodes using ethnomethodological conventions. We extend beyond the fine‐grained ethnomethodological description to analyze transcript data by drawing on a theoretical perspective from the microsociology of emotion. Outcomes include an understanding of how objectivity came to exist through the dialectic relationship between objectivity and subjectivity that are linked via emotional experience. Suggestions are provided to inform future research investigating relationships between emotion, objectivity, student identity, and learning in different science inquiry contexts.
... Framed by hermeneutic phenomenology (Guba & Lincoln, 1989) as applied to educational research (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012), and learning from Ann Brown's design studies research (1992), authentic inquiry research is dialectic, fluid, and organic. It is emergent and contingent and, thus, continually changing. ...
... Such interactions generate, produce, and reproduce symbols infused with emotional energy. Intense emotions may be carried across situations into other fields, (especially if we think of these fields as having no boundaries (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012)), setting up interaction ritual chains. Since the individual is made up of past, present and future interactions, emotions, and rituals are the organic component of interaction ritual chains. ...
... Authentic inquiry research is interpretive and reflexive and addresses authenticity criteria using multi-method, multi-level resources (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). It is transformative, not only for the researchers and the researched, but the research itself is also transformed in the process. ...
Using a sociocultural approach to critical action research, this book is a primer in doing refl exive, authentic inquiry research in teaching and learning for educators as teacher | researchers. Rather than the artifi cial dichotomy between theory and practice, the roles of teacher and researcher are instead seen in a dialectic relationship (indicated by the symbol " | " in teacher | researcher) in which each informs and mediates the other in the process of revising and generating new knowledge that is of benefi t to those being researched. In addition to providing a theoretical foundation for authentic inquiry, Being a Teacher | Researcher provides a detailed framework with ideas and strategies that interested educators can apply in exploring teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. It provides concrete examples of how to use authentic inquiry as a basis for collaborating with others to improve the quality of teaching and learning while cogenerating new theory and associated practices that bridge what has been described as a theory-practice divide. Included in this book are how to plan and carry out authentic inquiry studies, choosing appropriate methodologies, methods of data collection and analysis, negotiating research with human participants, using authenticity criteria and characteristics, and addressing challenges and confl icts for teacher | researchers. As a primer, this book serves the needs of many different populations including prospective and practicing teachers, teacher educators, beginning researchers and seasoned researchers who are making changes to what and how they research.
... The research was designed as an interpretive study using event-oriented social inquiry (Tobin and Ritchie 2012) to account for the naturalistic setting of a pre-service teacher education classroom and help us in our ongoing research to generate insights into emotional climates in mathematics classrooms (Bonne and Higgins 2022). The three researchers are also experienced classroom teachers and educators of both in-service and pre-service Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
... In both events, our attention was drawn to unexpected expressions of high emotion, not uncommon in classroom contexts (Alexakos 2015). We saw these events as important for transforming structures and contributing to social solidarity and an inclusive emotional climate (Tobin and Ritchie 2012). The event we focus on in this paper occurred in the fifth week of the mathematics component of the course. ...
Emotions associated with prior mathematics learning experiences endure for some pre-service teachers, leaching into their own teaching of mathematics. Taking a sociology of emotions framing, the naturalistic study used event-oriented social inquiry and employed multiple methods (classroom transcripts, interviews, email conversations and reflective notes). In the event selected for this paper, we identified the importance of teacher educators intentionally attending to emotions in pre-service mathematics classes to address a dominant cognitive emphasis in learning to teach mathematics. We found that collective empathy was central to an emotional climate in which responses to individual and collective emotions were considered. We argue that collectively creating an emotionally safe environment in pre-service teacher education can help disrupt cycles of negative emotion associated with mathematics.
... For instance, Scheff (1997) and Denzin (2010) have critiqued typical sociological research that relies on a single method and single set of epistemological assumptions, highlighting the limitations associated with methodological fragmentation. In the learning sciences, Tobin and Ritchie (2012) promote a 'multi-logical' approach, studying emotional events at different levels using multiple methods and theoretical frameworks. Clément and Sanger (2018) join Bleiker and Hutchison (2018) in calling for a pluralist framework to studying emotions in world politics. ...
... In our study, following Bellocchi (2015) and Davis and Bellocchi (2019), we used video and interview data and drew on interactionist theories of emotions in social life, such as IRT, to study the emotional dimensions of IPP. We transcribed the aforesaid video-clips for further scrutiny following conventions from conversation analysis (Garfinkel, 1967), which included notation of: speech; pause duration; interruptions (denoted by '-'); concurrent talk (denoted by '#'); and non-verbal interactions, such as gestures and engagement with material artefacts, both denoted by double parentheses (Tobin and Ritchie, 2012;Davis and Bellocchi, 2019). An analysis of interaction during key moments of videoed data offered moment-to-moment insight into how communication, including facial expressions, moments of entrainment 6 and shared emotional energy, created social bonding and the socioemotional reality of each conference. ...
Scholars studying emotions in social life typically work mono-logically, within a paradigmatic camp, drawing on distinct theories of emotion. In isolation, each offers a singular conceptualisation of emotions in social life. Working multi-logically, in contrast, offers richer, comparative insight into the layered meanings of emotion relevant to a social context. Rather than treating them as incommensurate, we not only argue for the benefits of drawing on multiple paradigms, methods and theories of emotions in social life, we offer a worked example of a post-paradigmatic methodology for analysing emotions in social life that values multilogicality and epistemic flexibility. Setting aside debates about what emotions are, we work from the premise that different conceptualisations of emotions do things: shape what we see and ignore, and discursively position people. We show how multiple theories and concordant methods can – and should – be applied to studying emotions in social life in the same study. In this empirical illustration of a methodological innovation, we map theories and methodologies of emotions in social life against four research paradigms and against four phases of a study into the emotional dimensions of interprofessional practice, depicting the realisations afforded through a post-paradigmatic methodology for analysing emotions in social life.
... Time. Like ontological and epistemological perspectives, our conceptualization of time may be taken-for-granted during our moment-to-moment enactment of social life (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). Stephen Ritchie and Jennifer Beers Newlands (2017) have explicitly reframed the temporal and contingent quality of events in learning science from notions of historical events (Moore, 2011) to define a conceptualization of time through the explication of emotional events in learning science. ...
... In each investigative context, researchers employ a bricolage of multi-level, multi-method, and multitheoretical approaches (cf. Tobin & Ritchie, 2012) to explore the complexity of experiences and theoretical understandings of emotional energy, which we have touched upon throughout this section. ...
... Time. Like ontological and epistemological perspectives, our conceptualization of time may be taken-for-granted during our moment-to-moment enactment of social life (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). Stephen Ritchie and Jennifer Beers Newlands (2017) have explicitly reframed the temporal and contingent quality of events in learning science from notions of historical events (Moore, 2011) to define a conceptualization of time through the explication of emotional events in learning science. ...
... In each investigative context, researchers employ a bricolage of multi-level, multi-method, and multitheoretical approaches (cf. Tobin & Ritchie, 2012) to explore the complexity of experiences and theoretical understandings of emotional energy, which we have touched upon throughout this section. ...
Our purpose in this chapter is to review a discerning selection of recent science ed-ucation research on the topic of emotions. Within the theme of theoretical foun-dations, we firstly discuss the big ideas influencing this body of literature that we describe in terms of ontology, epistemology and time; emotion and embodied ex-perience; mindfulness; expression of emotion; and, emotional energy and emo-tional climate. We then review the most recent of these studies to highlight the out-comes of these investigations as they relate to school classrooms or teacher educa-tion. The studies included in this overview offer a foundation for future research, and support the forthcoming chapters of this collection that document emotional events in a range of contexts and from complementary and new perspectives.
... Emotional literacy and ethical literacy skills are considered essential skills of the 21st century as they ensure that graduates who are academically capable can also become responsible practitioners and leaders (McGunagle & Zizka, 2020). It follows that the development and self-assessment of these skills is vital as it prepares individuals to cope emotionally and ethically in their careers (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). ...
Despite a growing imperative for graduates to possess STEM skills, both to boost their employability prospects and their perceived economic value, it is critical to also consider the professional or 'soft skills' that will enable these graduates to thrive in their careers. Ironically, gender differences in personality and occupational choice are larger, not smaller, in more gender-equal countries. This is known as the gender equality paradox and in STEM it highlights the importance of purposeful initiatives throughout the educational trajectory, even in countries with higher levels of gender equality. This study employed an online self-assessment of perceived employability (PE) using a validated instrument and analyzed the data from 2493 STEM students studying at 40 universities globally. The findings, underpinned by Social Cognitive Careers Theory, indicate that female report greater confidence than their male peers in ethical literacy and in some emotional literacy skills; these are understood to be critical soft skills for STEM graduates. This distinction is more pronounced in the natural and physical sciences and within information technology fields. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
... Additionally, various kinds of self-report are frequently used in empirical research on emotions. Furthermore, physiological variables such as pulse frequency (Tobin and Ritchie 2012) and thermography (Clay-Warner and Robinson 2014) could be potential parameters to consider in the analysis of emotional coordination. ...
This article aims to elaborate on Collins’ theory of Interaction Ritual Chains by proposing the concept of emotional ambience as a complement to emotional energy. Interaction ritual chains describe how collective actions and shared cognitive and affective orientations within a group contribute to feelings of unity and reverence towards the group’s symbols. Successful interaction rituals generate emotional energy (EE), leading to increased self assurance, enthusiasm, and initiative. Conversely, unsuccessful rituals diminish EE. The concept of EE pertains to the long-term impact of interaction rituals on individuals beyond immediate contexts. To capture emotions created and diffused in social settings, the term emotional ambience is suggested. Emotional ambience focuses on the collective emotional process in an interaction situation, enhancing our understanding of how common sentiments are cultivated among actors during interaction rituals. To facilitate the analysis of emotional ambience, a three-dimensional model is proposed, considering the valence, arousal, and strength of collective emotions. Methodologically, the study focuses on the emotional coordination of various communication elements, such as gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and rhythm of speech. Understanding the separation of emotional energy and emotional ambience is crucial, as even the mutual sharing of unpleasant emotions can generate emotional energy and strengthen social bonds. The reciprocal relationship between emotional energy and emotional ambience highlights how individuals’ emotional energy influences the emotional ambience of interactional situations.
... In the learning sciences, various approaches have been developed to address these challenges, usually crossing disciplinary traditions (Hoadley, 2018), and often triangulating via a range of approaches (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012), from cognitive microgenetic methods (Schoenfeld et al., 1993;Siegler & Crowley, 1991), to thick cultural descriptions (Goldman et al., 2014), to tools such as multimodal learning analytics (Blikstein, 2013). More importantly, the learning sciences have adopted a variety of methods of research on and through design, linking methods of the past with new ways of building trustworthy and applicable theories (Hoadley, 2018;Hung et al., 2005). ...
The ever-changing nature of online learning foregrounds the limits of separating research from design. In this article, we take the difficulty of making generalizable conclusions about designed environments as a core challenge of studying the educational psychology of online learning environments. We argue that both research and design can independently produce empirically derived knowledge, and we examine some of the configurations that allow us to simultaneously invent and study designed online learning environments. We revisit design-based research (DBR) methods and their epistemology, and discuss how they contribute various types of usable knowledge. Rather than compromising objectivity, we argue for how design researchers can acknowledge their intent and, in so doing, promote ways in which research and design can not only produce better interventions but also transform people and systems. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
... Our interpretive study used event-oriented social inquiry and included multiple data collection methods (Tobin and Ritchie 2012), as we outline below. The lead researcher and one other researcher (the second and first authors, respectively) were both experienced elementary school teachers who also have considerable experience in mathematics education. ...
The inclusion of games in mathematics programmes is widely believed to foster the enjoyment of mathematics. The focus of this paper is on fluctuations in emotional climate during the playing of whole-class mathematics games. A multimethod approach drawing on the sociology of emotions was employed to explore changes in the classroom emotional climate that were associated with game playing. The event-oriented inquiry was conducted with two teachers and a class of 10- to 13-year-olds in a New Zealand classroom during mathematics sessions. Over a series of eight mathematics lessons, there were three noticeable fluctuations in emotional climate, all of which occurred during whole-class games. Our analysis of these three events identified a successful interaction with dramatic emotional energy associated with a positive emotional climate, a successful interaction with undramatic emotional energy associated with positive emotional climate, and an unsuccessful interaction associated with negative emotional climate with interactional repair. The third event also illustrated how the incomplete nature of a game’s rules can provide an opportunity for a negative emotional climate to be associated with game playing. The taken-for-granted wisdom that whole-class mathematics games can enhance emotional aspects of a classroom learning environment is supported by some of our evidence.
... Because of these framings and understandings, I sometimes think of these spaces as sacred but I am not advancing it here as such a label could easily be misconstrued as religious (which it does not need to be) and could confuse and divert rather than explain. As any space too can take on such a conscious intent and attention, such when interacting with another while walking or while driving, these spaces don't need to be physical or formal, but can be any space that becomes central to an event, an event being a breach or rupture in the norm (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). ...
When we first used the term thorny issues in our work in 2015, it was to describe sensitive and vulnerable, often painful, conversations on topics such as race and gender, and sexual preferences. The discussions were valanced with intense emotional energy and often associated with violence. We developed the thorny issues heuristic to better educate ourselves and those interested in how to explore such challenging issues more knowingly and more mindfully. In this chapter I include reflections on my own learnings since, such as an introduction on how to plan for, build and maintain conscious spaces and the idea of radical ignorance. Also, I present a new heuristic focus-ing on boundaries, core, and being in the heart. In pushing the edges of mainstream academic realities and thinking, this phenomenological work also makes visible some of my own struggles and conflicts with what is safe to write about and make public.
... I adopt a combination of two methodological orientations in two study phases. The first study phase is informed by principles from ethnomethodology the second study phase is informed by microsociology and interpretive inquiry (Bellocchi, 2017;Davis & Bellocchi, 2018;Scheff, 1997;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). ...
Emerging research is beginning to explore the role of social bonds in science learning. In this study, I develop a novel conceptual framework extending recent science education research that has adopted Scheff's social bond theory in understanding science learning. I use microsociological methods to understand social bonds and knowledge construction as contemporaneous phenomena through analysis of interactional dynamics. Drawing on ethnomethodology and an interpretive paradigm, I analyze multiple data sources including video recordings of group interactions, social bond diaries, reflective discussions, and social bond quizzes to understand how a student group cocreates science knowledge and how the same social practices co-construct social bond status within the group. Complexity in the nature of trio's interactions highlights the need for researchers to produce holistic understandings of knowledge construction and social bonds. Implications for future research on social bonds and their role in science learning experiences are offered.
... For example, when student teachers experience success in learning situations during a course, they feel in control of their studies and exert volitional effort or persist in their career. Research indicates that affective experiences, such as feeling confident, are highly relevant for the development of pre-service teachers' strong beliefs in their competence during their education (Hong, 2012;Tobin and Ritchie, 2012). One could argue that pride and enjoyment are more typical affects or emotions than feelings of competence and motivation in the moment; however, based on our experience, student teachers report experiencing these emotions less often during academic course sessions. ...
Dynamic structural equation modeling was applied to examine feelings of competence and in the moment motivation among pre-service science teachers (N = 101) enrolled in a course on practical biology during their second semester. The student teachers completed a short questionnaire 18 times, and the interaction between their feelings of competence and momentary motivation over time was examined in relation to control-value theory. The autoregressive values of both variables were significant, and a pattern was observed of low competence at the beginning of the course session, combined with low motivation in the moment. Feelings of competence increased by the end of each course session but returned to a low level at the beginning of the next session. Momentary motivation followed this back-and-forth shifting somewhat but showed more carryover effects. The student teachers’ motivation depended on their feelings of competence from the previous moment in the biology course session, but feelings of competence did not depend on their motivation.
... I am guided by William Sewell's (1999) theorization of culture as being enacted as patterns of practices and schema, and these patterns have thin coherence and are interconnected with contradictions. I draw inspiration from scholars who position science as cultural enactment (e.g., Roth & Lawless, 2002;Tobin, 2015a;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012) and see science education as a form of culture with its own narrative forms, material practices, and beliefs. Science learning emerges from critical engagement with knowledge and experience as tools for making sense of the world in culturally and socially relevant ways. ...
This contribution to the APSE special issue, “Equity and Diversity in Science Education: Implications for the Asia-Pacific Region,” presents research on plurilingual students’ interactions in science drawn from several studies in the multilingual context of Luxembourg. The goal of the manuscript is to present dialogic pedagogies and multimodal methodologies as central to working towards equitable practices in science education, in particular when working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. Through a layering of claims from prior case studies, the manuscript makes three assertions: multimodal methodologies highlight children’s embodied participation in science; multimodal methodologies support resource-rich perspectives on children; and dialogic pedagogical structures mediate children’s engagement of resources. An interpretive discussion focuses on the necessity of situating difference as a resource, and implications are raised for science education teaching and research.
... Thus, the place, the learner, the teacher, the specific moment, in other words, all the educational context with all of its complexity enact at the same moment when learning is constructed. In the case of our preservice teachers, if we want to know how their view changed, we must do the same as biologists in the lab and increase the zoom lenses of microscopy, in order to look at our research object more closely (Tobin & Ritchie, 2011). Furthermore, to comprehend how they changed their minds we must listen to their voices, and that means, to engage them in the research. ...
This chapter describes how two preservice teachers' initial views of teaching and learning science and mathematics are shaped by their prior emotional experiences as students. From a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study highlights how the emotions that they felt while studying these courses as students have affected their perceptions as teachers and how these perceptions shift reflexively thanks to the Didactics courses, which themselves are based on reflexivity. Both cases presented in the study uncover authoritarian structures in science and mathematics teaching that use unpleasant emotions to constrain student agency. These cases reflect how interpretive research can allow teacher educators not only to improve their understandings of their students' views, but also how interpretive research can help these pre-service teachers reflect on and change their mental structures and practices with regard to teaching and learning.
... A protocol, therefore, was in place to ensure that the emotional and motivational climate of the classroom was supportive (e.g., Ritchie et al., 2014;Tobin and Ritchie, 2012). Reflection is important for learning, and a scaffolded approach (e.g., Howitt, 2010), with expectations regarding the quality of reflection, was used to develop effective reflective practice and therefore increase learning for the PSTs. ...
... A protocol, therefore, was in place to ensure that the emotional and motivational climate of the classroom was supportive (e.g., Ritchie et al., 2014;Tobin and Ritchie, 2012). Reflection is important for learning, and a scaffolded approach (e.g., Howitt, 2010), with expectations regarding the quality of reflection, was used to develop effective reflective practice and therefore increase learning for the PSTs. ...
This paper reports the findings from the initial embedding of a process of enhancement and reflection in pre-service teacher (PST) science and mathematics methods units and the influence the process has had on PST confidence. The focus of the embedding was to enhance, through collaboration with practicing mathematicians and scientists, the capacity of PSTs to use local contexts to create situated learning opportunities for their students that would include enhanced scientific/mathematical thinking requirements. The embedding also included a reflective process to enhance PST understanding of the emotional experience of teaching as a means of supporting their sense of confidence and identity. While there were some shortcomings reported by students in the complexity of the process, positive outcomes were reported for both enhanced mathematics and scientific thinking and in PST confidence through reflection.
... Aspects related to science engagement are statistically significantly and positively related to science achievement while science teaching practices as for example, modelling, can offer mechanisms for enhancing aspects of science engagement (Grabau and Ma 2017). In teacher education, as Tobin and Ritchie (2012) the experience of emotions of pre-service teachers are related to their self-efficacy and confidence as future teachers. Yeigh et al. (2016) explored the links between becoming aware of what is being felt (emotions) and trust in teaching, emphasizing that in order to fully understand learning, we must consider affective measures that help identify those cognitive-emotional aspects of learning that impact on aspects such as interest, perseverance in the face of difficulty or the ability to consider the ideas of others and participate in a critical and constructive manner. ...
Background: In response to reform recommendations calling for students’ engagement in scientific practices and the lack of the enactment of such practices in science classrooms, we explored the implementation of scientific practices with special emphasis on model-based inquiry in a secondary science teacher preparation program.
Sample: The participants of this study were 26 preservice secondary teachers who engaged in a specially designed sequence that emphasized scientific practices.
Purpose: Our aim in this study was to examine the impact of this specially-designed sequence on the participants’ views about the usefulness of scientific practices as a pedagogical approach, their intentions in implementing scientific practices as future teachers, and the nature of the emotions they experienced throughout their engagement in the sequence.
Design and methods: Data were collected through a questionnaire, which the participants completed following their participation in the sequence.
Results: The statistical analysis of the data showed that the majority of the participants: (a) perceived that they developed adequate understandings about scientific practices; (b) stated that they would implement scientific practices in their future teaching practices; and, (c) experienced positive emotions throughout their engagement in the sequence.
Conclusion: These findings are discussed alongside implications for teacher preparation and future research in the area of scientific practices and emotions.
... To operationalize the above defined research aims, a multi-method research design was adopted, allowing this research to better understand the phenomena, while operating at different levels of the educational ecosystem (Elliott, 2007;Tobin & Ritchie, 2012;Vittadini, Carlo, Gilje, Laursen;Murru, & Schrøder, 2014). The mixed methods research design included: a) Baseline and endline assessment of preschoolers using Pré-Escolar -Scales of Preschool Diagnosis (Cruz, 1993) to evaluate SR, and semi-structured interviews, to gather data about their perceptions on ICT, media, SR and also on the project itself; b) Observation grids filled in each session, to systematize data about the most frequent expressed behaviors, perceptions and difficulties of children; c) Semi-structured interviews to parents, after the end of the intervention, about their main beliefs on the role of media and ICT in their children's lives, perceived risks and opportunities, and about their experience in cooperating in the project's activities. ...
The present study aims to explore the results of an educational practice that implemented ICT as a promoter of School Readiness (SR) in preschoolers from an economically disadvantaged area. It intends to: a) Document the effectiveness of the practice in terms of concrete and measurable SR outcomes; b) Characterize the possible drivers and
barriers of implementing such practice in preschool, gathering the perceptions of children and their parents. The intervention took place in a public preschool in Lisbon surroundings, during 4 months (16 sessions of 60 minutes each). The final sample includes 22 preschoolers and 12 parents. The mixed methods research design included scales, systematic observation and interviews with both children and parents. Main results emphasize: the improvement of SR in children, with statistically significant results between pre and post intervention assessment; the perception of a high educational value attributed to the intervention by both children and parents; and the beliefs of parents about ICT, mainly grounded on risks, emerging from their notion of being less empowered than their children in using it. These results also highlight the discussion on how to empower parents with lower educational levels to raise children in a highly digital world.
Full book available here: https://www.eselx.ipl.pt/sites/default/files/media/2019/e-bookalteracaofinal.pdf
... In our case, adopting V-Note to support multiple interpretations of the same data provided a more attractive application consistent with our interpretive/constructivist paradigmatic persuasions (Tobin and Ritchie 2012) and polysemic understandings of social phenomena (Tobin 2018). Rather than employing the inter-coder functionality, three of us independently analyzed videos of a group of three female 10th-grade science students conducting a science investigation. ...
Amy Goods’s software review article V-Note: A video analysis tool for teacher | researchers stimulated our interest in adopting this software to understand social bonding dynamics in a group of 10th-grade science students’ during a science inquiry project. Three of us employed V-Note to analyze two video files for the same lesson in which the student group completed an inquiry about the effects of mass on speed using a marble and ramp. Subhashni provides her perspective as teacher | researcher, James offers an analysis as an independent researcher, and Alberto is the classroom researcher who designed a larger project investigating the interplay of social bonds with science learning of which this study is a part. Alberto also drew upon a more extensive set of data sources including social bond diaries completed by students, and reflective dialogs with the class. Rebecca interprets the three video analyses, as an independent researcher who did not access the video data. Our independent analyses and additional data sources produce diverse understandings about the impact of shifting social bond status on science learning and science inquiry. Outcomes include differentiation between social bonds and social roles adopted by students during the inquiry. Data analyses also reveal the researchers’s different ontologies and epistemologies. We also showcase V-Note’s capabilities, affordances, and constraints for social inquiry. Implications for further research on social bonds in science education are presented.
... Affect here refers to the external signs of internal emotion-related activity or experiences (Yeigh et al. 2016). As emotional energy (or affect) has been found to be related to teaching confidence in prospective teachers (Postareff and Lindblom-Ylänne 2011;Tobin and Ritchie 2012;Trigwell 2012;Yeigh et al. 2016), the PANAS was used in this study to measure whether the participants' emotions/affect impacted on their propensity to feel more confident. That is, if the participants felt more positive about the experience, did they then feel more confident? ...
Mathematical modelling is increasingly becoming an integral component of mathematical curricular in primary and secondary schools throughout the world. However, in Australia modelling skills are currently rarely found in university teacher preparation courses. Limited experience with modelling processes, as well as a lack of confidence and personal efficacy in the field of mathematics, limits the ability for prospective teachers of mathematics to develop into effective high school educators and thus concomitantly adversely affects student learning outcomes. To address the problems related to the lack of experience that prospective teachers have with mathematical modelling and the associated lack of confidence and personal efficacy that can result, this paper presents a case study of a strategy—the enhancement, learning, reflection (ELR) process—designed to improve prospective teachers’ confidence and personal efficacy in teaching mathematics, with a focus on the modelling process as a teaching strategy.
... The study is broadly informed by an interpretive paradigm with a focus on the first-person perspectives of individual students (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). Consistent with an event-oriented approach to social inquiry, hermeneutic phenomenology was an important methodological influence. ...
... Many of the class participants, including me, had been introduced to the tenets of cogenerative dialogue (hereafter cogen) previously. In cogen, the discourse is dialectical and there is careful equitable distribution of talk among participants always maintaining focus on the topic of dialogue and carefully listening with the purpose of learning rather than opposing what is being said (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). The mere fact that students were practicing mindfulness, contributed to the soft tone of voice used, the choice of words, and even facial expressions of class participants as they provided opinions on the presentations. ...
... Many of the class participants, including me, had been introduced to the tenets of cogenerative dialogue (hereafter cogen) previously. In cogen, the discourse is dialectical and there is careful equitable distribution of talk among participants always maintaining focus on the topic of dialogue and carefully listening with the purpose of learning rather than opposing what is being said (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012). The mere fact that students were practicing mindfulness, contributed to the soft tone of voice used, the choice of words, and even facial expressions of class participants as they provided opinions on the presentations. ...
Contemplative/mindful education focuses on practices that enable class participants to develop awareness of the events that transpire in the moment in the classroom. Breathing meditation, radical listening, awareness of own and others’ emotions, compassion for self and others, reflection and conversation, are practices used as interventions to manage and ameliorate diverse emotions that often arise in the science classroom.
... With this in mind, established protocols have been developed in conjunction with a research psychologist in order to assess attitudes and interests of the PSTs (e.g., Rothman et al., 2012). These protocols included assisting PSTs working within the project to identify and consider affective states in their teaching in order to assess their own emotions and motivations, and to ensure that the emotional and motivational climate of the classroom is supportive (e.g., Tobin and Ritchie, 2012;Yeigh et al., 2016). Feedback and reflection is important for learning, and the scaffolding approach of Howitt (2010), with its expectations regarding the quality of reflection, was used to develop effective reflection in order to increase learning. ...
Motivated and well-trained science and mathematics teachers are a requirement for sustaining an industrialised economy. The Australian government has funded several projects to satisfy this requirement designed to improve pre-service teacher (PST) education in regional and rural Australia. One such project uses a collaboration nexus model with lesson feedback and Reflection Module in an iterative process using a repeated sequence comprised of an Enhancement Module, a subsequent Teaching Lesson and a Reflection Module. This paper reports on qualitative investigations of the effectiveness of the collaboration nexus in the Enhancement Module and comments on the value of the iterative process. Results from small-scale trials with PSTs indicate that the module positively engages participants, PSTs, university scientists and specialist educators. The module and its iterations appear to be effective in grounding PST education in targeting regional contexts relevant to the daily lives of both PSTs and their classroom students.
... In this instance of developing local theory the collective generation took place in multiple ways: an inservice teacher educator and teachers co-teaching mathematics lessons; the researcher working alongside the teachers in peer-focused group work; and reflective discussion between the researcher, the inservice teacher educator, the teachers, and the students. We see the collective generation as emergent and contingent; that is emerging in multiple situations, with multiple players bringing multiple meaning (Tobin & Ritchie, 2012); the evolving local theory contingent on preceding events. In other words including the voices of participants reflects our commitment to polyphonia (multiple voices) and polysemia (multiple meanings). ...
Developing local theories about what best works for Māori students is of critical importance to Aotearoa New Zealand. This discussion paper focuses on grouping as arranging for learning, by examining multiple ways in which grouping as pedagogy appears in practice settings and associated literature. We take the stance of interpretive bricoleurs to generate understandings of group work in light of a new moment in New Zealand’s pedagogical history, that of practice-based teacher education. We explore three examples of local theory cogenerated in English-medium education settings with predominantly Māori learners. We identify the emergence of an expanded set of practices that illuminate multiple internal contradictions within government, school-based, and practice-based discourses about group work as arranging for learning.
... Once identified, a spike can be contextualized in relation to the episode in which it is situated/contained. Over a relatively short period of time event-oriented inquiry became a core component of our multilogical research methodology (Tobin and Ritchie 2011). It is to be noted that identifying events is a multilevel exercise that can be focused on micro, meso, and macro levels. ...
Even though humanity faces grand challenges, including climate change, sustainability of the planet and its resources, and well-being of humans and other species, for the past 60 years science educators have been preoccupied with much the same priorities. Adherence to the tenets of crypto-positivism creates problems for research in the social sciences (e.g., over reliance on statistical analyses leads to oversimplified models that strip away context and are reductive). Hypotheses and associated statistical tests support causal models that rarely predict social conduct or blaze pathways for meaningful transformation. In contrast to the mainstream of research in science education, I advocate a multilogical methodology that embraces incommensurability, polysemia, subjectivity, and polyphonia as a means of preserving the integrity and potential of knowledge systems to generate and maintain disparate perspectives, outcomes, and implications for practice. In such a multilogical model, power discourses such as Western medicine carry no greater weight than complementary knowledge systems that may have been marginalized in a social world in which monosemia is dominant. I describe research methodologies that have the potential to transform science education and our ongoing research in urban science education. I show how our research evolved to include studies of science for literate citizenry – expanding foci to address birth through death and all settings in which learning occurs – not just schools. Our research aims to be transformative since it includes interventions developed to use what we learned from research to ameliorate intense emotions, improve learning, and enhance the well-being of participants. I explain how we incorporated Jin Shin Jyutsu, a complementary medical knowledge system, to ameliorate intense emotions, become mindful, and improve well-being of participants. I also address research on meditation and mindfulness and their potential to improve learning, emotional styles, and wellness. In a final section I address three of the most important questions raised by colleagues, including scholars from Asia, as I exhort science educators to address grand challenges that threaten the Earth and its social institutions – the alternatives are catastrophic.
Contemporary social science research is at a pivotal juncture amidst the era of transformative change. The exponential advancement of the new generation of information technologies represented by artificial intelligence has engendered in education, a pivotal domain within the realm of social sciences, the emergence of an entirely novel research paradigm. From the perspective of scientific history and philosophy, this article endeavors to elucidate the transformative influence of “computational pedagogy” as an emerging interdisciplinary field and scrutinize how artificial intelligence has revolutionized the landscape of educational research. In light of this inquiry, it becomes evident that artificial intelligence has profoundly expanded and refined the purview of educational research, through both large and small. Furthermore, it has pioneered methodological innovations within educational research by leveraging modeling and simulation. In addition, AI has galvanized the underpinnings of ethical reconstruction by supporting and empowering learning, thus positing human development as an intrinsic and cardinal value metric. Nonetheless, in the epoch of technological advancements, educational research must underscore the potency of intellectual acumen to avert the peril of “abundance-induced destitution” in the realm of computational pedagogy.
Events that unfolded in the past decade- the ease of new entrants into the South African banking sector, uncertain economic outlook, the 2008 global financial crisis, competition within the South African banking sector, have changed the retail banking landscape in South Africa. Retail banks are under tremendous pressure to realign their banking operations to meet these global challenges. Conforming to the mounting pressure in the South African banking sector, Barclays PLC a major shareholder in Barclays Africa Group now (Absa bank) announced its departure from the bank. A move that made it lose its strategic partner with over 100 years of experience working in Africa. The departure was received with mixed reactions across the banking landscape. Research on customer engagement in South African banking sector is still in its infancy and no study has been undertaken to determine the impact of customer engagement on organisational change communication during episodes of organisational change. To address this research gap, this study seeks to determine the impact of customer engagement on organisational change communication at Absa bank in the greater Durban area. The study adopted a quantitative research paradigm, with a pre-coded structured closed ended questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale administered to a target population of 650 000 Absa customers in the greater Durban area. Sekaran statistical table was used for sample selection. A sample of 384 customers was selected using convenience sampling a non-probability sampling technique. Some notable conclusions resulted from the extensive statistical analysis, which were also validated by national and international studies undertaken by various researchers, who also demonstrated concordance or discordance with the current findings and were appropriately referenced.
This chapter explores children’s interactions in a multilingual classroom to examine the different ways plurilingual students used communicative resources in interaction during science investigations. The aim of this research is to illuminate how these culturally and linguistically diverse young students drew on numerous resources during science investigations on the topic of worms, using a variety of approaches including digital microscopes. This ethnographic study draws upon video data collected in a mixed-age kindergarten class (4–6-year-old students) to analyze children’s participation whole class dialogue and small group interactions around worm investigations and to consider the ways in which children engaged as they made and expressed meaning. We position science learning as embodied cultural enactment, and we aim to work towards new understandings of the complex processes within translanguaging spaces in science education. The claims from this research underscore the value of dialogic, open-ended classroom structures for facilitating spaces for culturally and linguistically diverse students to draw on their many resources, and to agentically participate in science investigations.KeywordsTranslanguagingMultimodalAgencyEarly childhood sciencePlurilingualMultilingualDialogic
The present work had the objective of investigating the emotional engagement of children between 2 and 5 years of age in an experimental science activity and the fluency of non-verbal student-student, student-teacher interactions. We adopted qualitative methods associated with Emotions Microsociology for the analysis of facial expressions, body language and visual contact between the children and the teacher throughout the application of the activity. We have identified that non-verbal interactions progressively and in a positive way have contributed to the participants’ shared attention and shared mood, resulting in positive individual Emotional Energy (EE) and increased children’s emotional engagement. We also consider there to be implications of these results for the training of the teachers of Early Childhood Education in the identification of microprocesses of successful social interactions. These interactional processes have revealed children’s emotional engagement in observation and development of explanations at different stages of the activity and may inform other teachers of new ways to create and maintain a more positive emotional climate in science classes.
São evidentes as transformações que os meios digitais causaram no processo educacional no século XXI. Desde o surgimento de novas mídias, recursos de aprendizagem, até os diferentes formatos para ministrar aulas, o mundo digital opera substancialmente. Assumindo este novo contexto, o qual estabelece novas concepções ontológicas e epistemológicas, buscamos com este artigo apresentar reflexões acerca da problemática do saber necessário à prática docente contemporânea, urgente e emergente, que se sobrepõe sob a forma digital e mediatizada naquilo que definimos por Educação 4.0. Além disso, faz-se necessário a introdução de dois novos conceitos no que tange à prática pedagógica, sendo o primeiro relativo ao saber necessário para àquela – saber mediatizado - e, o segundo, a didática digital inerente ao processo, representada sob a forma de um polígono didático. Ademais, partimos de uma construção histórica para entendermos a dinâmica das transformações educacionais de modo a corroborarmos com os paradigmas que foram predominantes ao longo dos últimos séculos. A fim de desenvolvermos o proposto, utilizar-nos-emos de elementos oriundos de pesquisas científicas realizadas com professores tanto de formação inicial como em serviço, bem como de referenciais teóricos que cotejam com as discussões da literatura atual.
This study addresses the need for innovative research approaches in science education for understanding better the inter-relationships between emotion and cognition in learning, using a sociological perspective. Our perspective draws upon the concept of emotional energy that is described as an outcome from successful social interactions during micro-social situations. We apply an intensity model of emotional energy to school science contexts to explore the heterogeneity of emotional energy in terms of its dramatic features, evident through emphatic verbal and non-verbal actions. We also explore undramatic features evident in less obtrusive actions such as silences involving shared observation and glances, and evidence of fluctuations in intensity of emotional energy, and the interplay of emotional energy with discrete emotions over time. Drawing on empirical data from video recordings of classroom interactions in 9th and 10th grade science classes, we adopt an ethnomethodological orientation to develop a fine-grained description of classroom situations involving emotional energy. Subsequent application of the intensity model enables description of intensity variations in emotional energy across time, as a biological-social experience evident through feelings, ideas, and bodily movements. By emphasizing taken-for-granted undramatic emotional energy, the study contributes to science education by extending previous research on emotions from socio-cultural perspectives. The present study finds co-relatedness between intensity fluctuations in emotional energy and students achieving understanding of scientific ideas. Future research may focus on the refinement of the intensity model, with its evaluation and application in different science learning environments.
This chapter describes an emergent practice of using the digital application WhatsApp to transcend the temporal and physical space of an urban science classroom forming a CrossActionSpace. The group communication application afforded the extension of a teacher’s vision of mutual trust and collective success into a sociomaterial space of communication and collaboration. I introduce the notion of critical agentic bricoleur to describe how the teacher used this existing digital resource in new ways and resonant with his teaching identity. I analyzed the discourse generated in WhatsApp to make sense of the unfolding social practices of science learning. I discuss how the agency developed in this CrossActionSpace is transcendant and creates the conditions for all participants to develop identities that are resonant with imaginations and realizations of academic advancement.
In the Fall of 2017, I was introduced to V-Note, a software tool for analyzing audio and video in the classroom. I quickly adapted to using V-Note in research as it is easy to navigate, widely accessible, and most necessary features are included for free. Through this paper, I explore some possible applications of V-Note in education research. I first begin by examining the theoretical perspectives through which I approach using V-Note as a research tool, such as the embrace of reflexivity, hermeneutic phenomenology, multilogicality, polysemia, and polyphonia. Using these theoretical perspectives, I utilize event oriented inquiry to investigate clips from a graduate level class with a special focus on quality of teaching and learning, emotions, and wait time between speakers. As I investigate video vignettes from our class using V-Note, I share these vignettes with class members and invite participants to reflect back upon events together. As we re-watch and analyze the events in the video using V-Note, we learn from each other and in turn, change our practices in the classroom.
Este artigo apresenta uma análise das interações de natureza emocional durante a realização de uma atividade investigativa, denominada “o problema do submarino”, à luz da microssociologia das emoções de Randall Collins (2004). O construto teórico cunhado pelo autor possibilitou um novo roteiro de análise interpretativa das interações entre alunos de 4º do Ensino Fundamental envolvidos na resolução de um problema do Conhecimento Físico. Os momentos aqui analisados, com base na metodologia de pesquisa qualitativa denominada investigação orientada por evento foram definidos inicialmente pela visualização individual dos aspectos salientes da filmagem e, posteriormente, estes foram confirmados pelos pesquisadores envolvidos com o estudo. Identificamos nas interações entre os alunos o efeito de solidariedade grupal, associado nesse caso ao estado emocional positivo compartilhado entre os participantes, que tinham por objetivo a solução do problema de imersão e de submersão do submarino. Os resultados indicam a necessidade de observar o processo de aprendizagem em ciências também pelo viés das emoções e nos encoraja a considerar estas categorias de análise na pesquisa educacional.
In this chapter, a case study in which the manner that community stakeholders are engaged in a school science learning project is analyzed. The educational project was framed within the school agroecological approach as the school food system is changed to a more sustainable and fair system using the vegetable garden management. From an event-oriented perspective, four events that allowed the transformation of the school and its community stakeholders are discussed in order to identify the kinds of difficulties faced and how they could be managed. These difficulties are interpreted through a sociocultural lens as a dialectical relationship between agency and structure.
Mindfulness practices are increasingly used in classrooms to enhance the wellbeing dimensions of learning environments. New Zealand policy documents draw on a bicultural perspective that promotes a holistic framing of wellbeing. This paper will consider the transformative possibilities of a mindfulness-based breathing intervention in two New Zealand classrooms of students aged between 10- and 12-years-old. Operational definitions of mindfulness include awareness of emotional, cognitive and physical experiences rather than a focus on a state of mind. Using authentic inquiry, we draw on multi-theoretical and multi-methodological perspectives to explore observing/noticing/attending to sensations/perceptions/thoughts/feelings associated with a classroom mindfulness intervention. Specifically, we examine students’ increased awareness and evolving understandings of mind | body connections that emerged during cogenerative dialoguing. We found that students puzzled over whether it is possible to separate physical, mental and emotional states. We consider the implications of the mindfulness-breathing intervention in generating participants’ insights into wellbeing and wellness.
Bringing an awareness of emotions to the fore through mindfulness-based breathing and providing a space to discuss them is a way of promoting teacher and student agency in collectively developing structures specific to their learning environment. The authors explore students', teachers', and researchers' collective sensemaking through cogenerative dialoguing (cogen) about a mindfulness-based breathing practice at the start of mathematics lessons in an elementary classroom. They found that the power of cogen as hybridized space enabled the generation of collective understanding and the potential for all cogen participants to become engaged in an authentic and transformative way in discussing classroom life. The authors argue that the mindfulness-based breathing practice itself acted as a heuristic for thinking about learning environments and, during the reflexive process of thinking about the breathing practice, new forms of classroom culture unfolded both expanding classroom structures and the practice itself, and laying bare otherwise taken-for-granted practices.
In this chapter I address mindfulness and wellness as priorities for educators and citizens in a complex, rapidly changing world. The issues I address include the context of everyday life, emphasizing stress and emotions as salient to the quality of interactions and wellness. The importance of educating the citizenry from birth through death is identified as a priority.
Learning science in the middle years can be an emotional experience. In this study, we explored ninth-grade students' discrete emotions expressed during science activities in a 9-week unit on chemistry. Individual student's emotions were analyzed through multiple data sources including classroom videos, interviews, and emotions diaries completed at the end of each lesson. Results from three representative students are presented as cases within a case study. Using a theoretical perspective drawn from theories of emotions founded in sociology, three assertions emerged. First, students experienced frustration when learning new chemistry concepts. Second, frustration was resolved through student-student and teacher-student interactions. Third, frustration was transformed when students were afforded time to revisit new concepts. Furthermore, the teacher's identification of students' emotions enabled differentiation of learning through individualized interactions. Finally, we explain how the temporality of emotions emerged as an important phenomenon and suggest an elaboration to Turner's theorization of emotions.
Apresentamos no presente trabalho uma investigação acerca dos modos pelos quais estudantes de licenciatura em física compreendem a realidade de entidades científicas e de entes que compõem outros domínios, como o religioso e o cotidiano. Como referencial teórico, adotamos uma abordagem sobre cultura que destaca a influência de diversos sistemas culturais nas formas de entendimento do mundo e permite conceber a ciência como um desses sistemas. Cultura é aqui entendida a partir das caracterizações feitas por Sewell (2005), como um conjunto de várias estruturas que se sobrepõem, cada uma delas formada por esquemas e recursos. Nessa perspectiva, a aprendizagem científica seria um tipo de imersão em uma nova cultura, sendo um processo sujeito a influências de outras estruturas culturais, que trazem diferentes abordagens e formas de entendimento do mundo. Essa influência pode se fazer presente inclusive na compreensão de aspectos ontológicos do conhecimento científico, em particular no entendimento da realidade de entidades inobserváveis da ciência. O estudo aqui apresentado se deu por meio de um questionário, onde licenciandos em física atribuíram uma “intensidade da realidade” a entes/entidades pertencentes a diferentes contextos culturais e apresentaram uma justificativa para essa atribuição. Entre os resultados obtidos, destacamos a possibilidade de mais de uma leitura acerca dos critérios usados pelos licenciandos para caracterizar a realidade das entidades científicas, inclusive uma interpretação em que esses critérios parecem ser influenciados pelas estruturas culturais originárias do contexto cotidiano.
In this manuscript we bring to focus student perceptions of salience (or lack of thereof) of emotions in the undergraduate conceptual physics course (in the teacher education program) and their relevance to teaching and learning. Our analysis of student responses to the Mindfulness in Education Heuristic constitutes a feedback loop affording the teacher reflection over his instructional practices. Hence, we ponder pedagogical tools employed by the class instructor (second author) that students identify as evoking emotional responses (both positive and negative). Furthermore, we highlight this teacher’s dispositions and his value system (axiology) that appear to bring to balance his passion for science (understood in a traditional Western way as a canon-based epistemology) and his approach to teaching that is driven by compassion towards his students many of whom perceive physics as challenging. We argue that adopting mindful disposition affords engaging in practices that assist in regulating emotions and attention that mediate learning of canonical science content. Likewise, we maintain that the instructor and his mindfulness-driven practices become a model to be replicated in his students’ future careers. In such context, mindfulness may be perceived as part of what is referred to as a hidden curriculum. It is our position, however, that the science classroom is a site where wellness-promoting practices (such as mindfulness) should receive an overt attention by becoming science content to be learned and practiced by all citizens throughout everyday life thus contributing to its improved quality. In recognizing that such position may be challenging to adopt by science educators, we present the way the second author has been grappling with reframing his thinking around teaching science. We encourage educators to utilize heuristic methodology towards reflecting on and informing their practice and as one way of exposing their students to social constructs such as mindfulness.
This article reports two studies investigating the relationship between emotional feelings and respiration. In the first study, participants were asked to produce an emotion of either joy, anger, fear or sadness and to describe the breathing pattern that fit best with the generated emotion. Results revealed that breathing patterns reported during voluntary production of emotion were (a) comparable to those objectively recorded in psychophysiological experiments on emotion arousal, (b) consistently similar across individuals, and (c) clearly differentiated among joy, anger, fear, and sadness. A second study used breathing instructions based on Study 1's results to investigate the impact of the manipulation of respiration on emotional feeling state. A cover story was used so that participants could not guess the actual purpose of the study. This manipulation produced significant emotional feeling states that were differentiated according to the type of breathing pattern. The implications of these findings for emotion theories based on peripheral feedback and for emotion regulation are discussed.
This ethnographic study of teaching and learning in urban high school science classes investigates the ways in which teachers
and students talk, gesture, and use space and time in interaction rituals. In situations where teachers coteach as a means
of learning to teach in inner-city schools, successful teacher-teacher collaborations are characterized by prosodic expressions
that converge over time and adapt to match the prosodic parameters of students’ talk. In these situations our ethnographic
data provide evidence of solidarity and positive emotions among the teachers and also between students and teachers. Unsuccessful
collaborations are associated with considerable differences in pitch between consecutive speakers participating in turns-at-talk,
these being related to the production of negative emotions and conflicts at longer time scales. Situational conflicts are
co-expressed by increases in pitch levels, speech intensities, and speech rates; and conflict resolution is accelerated by
the coordination of pitch levels. Our study therefore suggests that prosodic alignment and misalignment are resources that
are pragmatically deployed to manage face-to-face interactions that have solidarity and conflict as their longer-term outcomes.
KeywordsProsodic variation-Power-Conflict-Emotions
This commentary reflects on the articles in this Special Issue. The appearance of this group of articles underscores the important idea that a major target of mindfulness practice is on emotion. Transformation in trait affect is a key goal of all contemplative traditions. This commentary addresses several key methodological and conceptual issues in the empirical study of mindfulness. The many ways in which the term "mindfulness" is used in the articles in this Special Issue are noted, and they include its reference to states, traits, and independent variables that are manipulated in an experimental context. How the term "mindfulness" is conceptualized and operationalized is crucial, and for progress to be made it is essential that we qualify the use of this term by reference to how it is being operationalized in each context. Other methodological issues are considered, such as the duration of training and how it should be measured, and the nature of control and comparison groups in studies of mindfulness-based interventions. Finally, the commentary ends with a consideration of the targets within emotion processing that are likely to be impacted by mindfulness. This collection of articles underscores the substantial progress that has occurred in the empirical study of mindfulness and it is a harbinger of a very promising future in this area.
The authors examine the facet structure of mindfulness using five recently developed mindfulness questionnaires. Two large samples of undergraduate students completed mindfulness questionnaires and measures of other constructs. Psychometric properties of the mindfulness questionnaires were examined, including internal consistency and convergent and discriminant relationships with other variables. Factor analyses of the combined pool of items from the mindfulness questionnaires suggested that collectively they contain five clear, interpretable facets of mindfulness. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analyses suggested that at least four of the identified factors are components of an overall mindfulness construct and that the factor structure of mindfulness may vary with meditation experience. Mindfulness facets were shown to be differentially correlated in expected ways with several other constructs and to have incremental validity in the prediction of psychological symptoms. Findings suggest that conceptualizing mindfulness as a multifaceted construct is helpful in understanding its components and its relationships with other variables.
The paper describes the development and validation of a group test of integrated process skills. The test assesses student performance on a set of twelve objectives related to the generic objective: planning and conducting an investigation. Evidence of content validity, construct validity, and reliability are presented in the paper. A range of generalizability coefficients from 0.77 to 0.98 is reported for specific uses of the 24-item test. Since the items measure performance on objectives that can be readily translated into classroom activity, the test has direct applicability to classroom based research, and evaluation of instruction. In addition to sound psychometric properties, the Test of Integrated Science Processes is distincitve because it includes a set of interrelated, cumulative objectives which reflect autonomous problem solving.
There is a growing trend toward emotional intelligence in human–computer interaction paradigms. In order to react appropriately to a human, the computer would need to have some perception of the emotional state of the human. We assert that the most informative channel for machine perception of emotions is through facial expressions in video. One current difficulty in evaluating automatic emotion detection is that there are currently no international databases which are based on authentic emotions. The current facial expression databases contain facial expressions which are not naturally linked to the emotional state of the test subject. Our contributions in this work are twofold: first, we create the first authentic facial expression database where the test subjects are showing the natural facial expressions based upon their emotional state. Second, we evaluate the several promising machine learning algorithms for emotion detection which include techniques such as Bayesian networks, SVMs, and decision trees.
The current state of research on emotion effects on voice and speech is reviewed and issues for future research efforts are discussed. In particular, it is suggested to use the Brunswikian lens model as a base for research on the vocal communication of emotion. This approach allows one to model the complete process, including both encoding (expression), transmission, and decoding (impression) of vocal emotion communication. Special emphasis is placed on the conceptualization and operationalization of the major elements of the model (i.e., the speaker's emotional state, the listener's attribution, and the mediating acoustic cues). In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of research paradigms for the induction or observation of emotional expression in voice and speech and the experimental manipulation of vocal cues are discussed, using pertinent examples drawn from past and present research.
The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions predicts that positive emotions broaden the scopes of attention and cognition, and, by consequence, initiate upward spirals toward increasing emotional well-being. The present study assessed this prediction by testing whether positive affect and broad-minded coping reciprocally and prospectively predict one another. One hundred thirty-eight college students completed self-report measures of affect and coping at two assessment periods 5 weeks apart. As hypothesized, regression analyses showed that initial positive affect, but not negative affect, predicted improved broad-minded coping, and initial broad-minded coping predicted increased positive affect, but not reductions in negative affect. Further mediational analyses showed that positive affect and broad-minded coping serially enhanced one another. These findings provide prospective evidence to support the prediction that positive emotions initiate upward spirals toward enhanced emotional wellbeing. Implications for clinical practice and health promotion are discussed.
The underlying changes in biological processes that are associated with reported changes in mental and physical health in response to meditation have not been systematically explored. We performed a randomized, controlled study on the effects on brain and immune function of a well-known and widely used 8-week clinical training program in mindfulness meditation applied in a work environment with healthy employees.
We measured brain electrical activity before and immediately after, and then 4 months after an 8-week training program in mindfulness meditation. Twenty-five subjects were tested in the meditation group. A wait-list control group (N = 16) was tested at the same points in time as the meditators. At the end of the 8-week period, subjects in both groups were vaccinated with influenza vaccine.
We report for the first time significant increases in left-sided anterior activation, a pattern previously associated with positive affect, in the meditators compared with the nonmeditators. We also found significant increases in antibody titers to influenza vaccine among subjects in the meditation compared with those in the wait-list control group. Finally, the magnitude of increase in left-sided activation predicted the magnitude of antibody titer rise to the vaccine.
These findings demonstrate that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function. These findings suggest that meditation may change brain and immune function in positive ways and underscore the need for additional research.