Positive Emotional Engagement Research Articles

Hands-on climate engagement: principles for effective hands-on activities and demonstrations

Communicating climate change to foster engagement and action is a challenge for science communication requiring novel, creative and diverse methods. In this practice reflection, we explore the potential of climate change related hands-on activities and demonstrations. Following a rapidly implemented COVID-19 project creating climate activities and workshops in the Pacific, we reflect on the underlying qualities of such activities to generate principles to guide design and facilitation of hands-on climate engagement. Through a fusing of theory, literature and practice, five principles are generated: personal and collective relevance, balancing risks/impacts with solutions, deliberative discussion and collaborative/participatory critical thinking, intrinsic motivation and positive emotional engagement, and opportunities for agency and action — with inclusive approaches providing foundation. We then describe applying the principles to refine content and create new activities.

Do AI-powered digital assistants influence customer emotions, engagement and loyalty? An empirical investigation

PurposeDigital voice assistants (DVAs) are revolutionising consumers’ interactions with technology and businesses. Whilst research on the adoption of these devices is rapidly expanding, few have explored post-adoption behaviour. To fill this gap, we investigate how functionality and human-like features shape customers’ emotions, engagement and loyalty towards DVAs.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through a self-administered online survey from 509 DVA users. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis.FindingsThe results reveal that distinct human-like and functional factors of DVA independently explain customers’ positive emotions and engagement with DVAs. Positive emotions and engagement significantly impact customer loyalty to DVAs. The study shows that localisation of DVAs has a significant positive moderating influence on the service experience-customer engagement relationship but a negative moderating influence on the anthropomorphism-customer engagement relationship.Originality/valueUnlike previous research, this study contributes to the literature by delving into post-adoption phenomena. It explains how DVAs’ human-like and functional attributes drive customers’ positive emotional responses, engagement and loyalty towards DVAs. The findings not only unveil new insights into the moderating role of localisation but also provide a crucial understanding regarding the boundary conditions of the influence of anthropomorphism and service experience on customer engagement.

Case-Based Collaborative Learning in Undergraduate Radiology Teaching—Are Essential Conditions for Group Discussions Met?

BackgroundDelivering case-based collaborative learning (cCBL) at scale using technology that both presents the clinical problem authentically and seeks to foster quality group discussion is a challenge, especially argumentation which is critical for effective learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of essential conditions to capitalise on a technology-enhanced cCBL scenario for teaching radiology and facilitating quality group discussion. MethodsA questionnaire was administered to 114 fourth-year medical students who completed a technology-enhanced cCBL scenario for teaching neuroradiology. It consisted of individual online pre-class work and face-to-face in-class work, where group discussion followed individual work at a workstation. Items from the ‚Heedful Interrelating in Collaborative Educational Settings‘ scale and ‚positive emotional engagement‘ questionnaire assessed the quality of social-cognitive processes and emotional engagement during the group discussions. Structured interviews were used to explore the teachers’ awareness of and engagement with the technology. ResultsThe mean scores of most,heedfulness’ items were below 3.5 (7-point scale), suggesting that participants did not enter the debriefing with a mindset conducive for argumentation. However, for the affective states 'interest' and 'enjoyment' the mean scores were above 5. Free text comments suggested participants enjoyed the superficial interactions, but did not necessarily engage in argumentation. Structured interviews revealed teachers were aware of the possibilities of the learning dashboard and used it as a common frame of reference, but didn't really succeed to use it as a springboard for discussion. ConclusionsA technology-enhanced cCBL scenario is useful for teaching radiology in undergraduate medical education, but the added value of acquiring in-depth knowledge will only be achieved when students are aware of the importance of an ‚heedful’ mind-set.

An experience-sampling study of between- and within-individual predictors of emotional engagement in blended learning

As emotional experience is a crucial factor influencing students' learning and performance, it is important to understand what influences their emotional engagement in blended learning. In this study, pretest, posttest, and experience sampling methods were used to capture longitudinal data from 61 preservice teachers from two classes at a university in central China. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were employed to investigate how distal course-level academic motivation, proximal appraisals, and activity types affected emotional engagement. We found: (1) positive emotional engagement in classroom lectures was higher than that in online micro-lectures, while negative emotional engagement in classroom group discussions was higher than that in online group discussions; (2) proximal situational interest and perceived skill had a strong positive influence on positive emotional engagement and a strong negative influence on negative emotions; and (3) distal autonomous motivations positively predicted positive emotional engagement, while controlled motivations positively predicted negative emotional engagement.Educational Relevance and Implications Statement.In this study, the results of hierarchical linear modeling indicated that situational interest and perceived skill positively predicted positive emotional engagement and negatively predicted negative emotional engagement. The distal course-level autonomous motivation positively predicted positive emotional engagement during subsequent learning activities, while distal course-level controlled motivation positively predicted negative emotional engagement. The results also showed that course-level academic motivation and cognitive appraisals of the activity were more important than the mode and type of learning activities for emotional engagement. In practice, to improve students' emotional experiences in blended learning contexts, instructors should enhance students' autonomous motivation, perceived control and value of learning activities in blended learning contexts.

Emergence of college students’ John Henryism during schoolwork: an exploratory study

John Henryism (JH), named after the American folk hero John Henry, is a construct characterised by a behavioural predisposition for high-effort coping with psychosocial stressors. While it has been rigorously studied in the health sciences, little empirical research has focused on how JH emerges within educational contexts, specifically during schoolwork. This exploratory study investigated factors related to JH—race/ethnicity, gender, first-generation college student status, and high-effort coping—on school-based cognitive and emotional engagement. Results revealed that high JH scores predicted positive cognitive and emotional momentary engagement, particularly for racial/ethnic minorities and first-generation college students. Furthermore, in comparing our subsample of first-generation females with our overall sample of female students, we learned that JH had a greater positive influence on first-generation females’ momentary engagement than on that of the overall sample of female students. Findings suggest that historically marginalised groups may regularly rely on JH to cope with systemic inequality in school activities.

Analysis of Students’ Online Learning Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of a SPOC-Based Geography Education Undergraduate Course

With the long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has gradually become one of the mainstream learning methods in Chinese universities. The effectiveness of online learning is significantly influenced by learning engagement, and studies into this topic can help learners by providing them with process-based learning support and focused teaching interventions. Based on the online learning environment, this research constructs an online learning engagement analysis model. Additionally, this study explores the relationship between students’ online learning engagement and their online learning performance by taking the Secondary School Geography Curriculum Standards and Textbooks Research, a small-scale private online course (SPOC) of the geography education undergraduate course at Nanjing Normal University, as an example. The findings are as follows: In the cognitive engagement dimension, only “analyze” is significantly positively correlated with learning performance; in the behavioral engagement dimension, the “number of question and answer (Q&A) topic posts,” the “replies to others,” and the “teachers’ replies” are all significantly positively correlated with learning performance. In terms of the emotional engagement dimension, “curiosity” and “pleasure” are positively correlated with learning performance; as for the social engagement dimension, “point centrality” and “intermediary centrality” are positively correlated with learning performance. The findings of this case study reveal that the student’s engagement in higher-order cognitive learning is obviously insufficient. Students’ online learning performance can be enhanced both by behavioral engagement in knowledge reprocessing and positive emotional engagement. Further research should be focused on finding ways to increase students’ enthusiasm for social engagement.

Preschool children's engagement with a social robot compared to a human instructor

Young children are exposed to new digital technologies, such as social robots. Limited research exists on how children engage with social robots and their role in the preschool classroom. This study observed 35 English-speaking children (M age = 4.60 years) participating in two tasks (Simon Says and iPad drawing) under the guidance of a social robot or human instructor. Children's engagement was measured across behavioural, emotional, and verbal domains. Results showed higher behavioural and positive emotional engagement with a human instructor than a social robot instructor across both tasks. Children uttered more words with the human instructor than the social robot instructor for the iPad drawing task, although there were no differences for the Simon Says task. Children's engagement and utterances were positively correlated during the social robot and human instructor conditions. The findings suggest that child engagement was overall higher with a human than with a social robot and such differences may be important for teachers to consider when using social robots in the preschool classroom.

Promoting fourth-grade students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness through service-learning

The current study examined Connect Science, a service-learning program that incorporates social and emotional learning lessons and science lessons developed around Next Generation Science Standards. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, focus groups with 8 Connect Science classrooms and 8 control classrooms investigated fourth graders’ experience of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and academic engagement in science. Results of a content analysis indicated that Connect Science students reported more frequent cognitive autonomy and more positive emotional science engagement than students in control classrooms. However, Connect Science students reported more mixed feelings about relatedness to their peers. Students from both Connect Science and control classrooms reported similar experiences of competence and teacher relatedness. The findings demonstrate that service-learning is a promising practice for facilitating student autonomy, choice, and emotional engagement in science while also highlighting the relational challenges of such approaches. We discuss future research directions and recommendations for mitigating such challenges in elementary classrooms.

Overcoming Unpleasant Affective Experiences when Learning: A Latent Profile Analysis of Resilience

Drawing on conceptualizations of affective experience (Seo, Barrett, & Bartunek, 2004) and experiential learning theory (Kolb, 2014), resilience in learning is considered the capacity to initiate, persist, and direct effort towards learning when experiencing unpleasant affective states such as frustration. In this study, factors shown to support learning were reviewed, a four-factor model of resilience was developed and tested, and a latent profile analysis was completed to test the likelihood of resilience based on profiles associated with differences in scores when learning during frustration and learning during progress. The four resilience factors were positive emotional engagement, creative problem-solving, learning identity, and social support. Results provided support for two latent profiles of resilience: A quarter of individuals could activate the four learning resilience factors under both pleasant and unpleasant affective experiential states, while most saw decrements in these factors when faced with unpleasant affect such as frustration. The results support an underlying structure of resilience factors and the view of resilience as a process of buffering and self-regulation when experiencing unpleasant affective states. Further studies are needed on how to buffer the decremental impact of unpleasant affective experiential states.

U.S. Fortune 500’s stakeholders engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence for proactive approaches

In times of a national crisis such as COVID-19, it is important for organizations to show that they are good corporate citizens. At the same time, organizations should carefully select the type of messages that resonate with stakeholders so as to reduce stakeholder skepticism. This study examines how U.S. Fortune 500 companies discussed their COVID-19 pandemic CSR actions on Facebook over 15 months and how the public responded to such messages. We identified three CSR themes: internal stakeholder proactive CSR, external stakeholder proactive CSR, and external stakeholder accommodative CSR. When publics engaged, external stakeholder proactive CSR was significantly associated with better behavioral engagement outcomes, more positive emotional engagement outcomes, and less negative emotions. However, such effects are moderated by industry type. Our findings inform public relations theory and practice and suggest that in times of major crises, organizations should prioritize proactive approaches to engage external stakeholders while being mindful of specific institutional contexts.

Positive School Climate and Emotional Engagement: A Mixed Methods Study of Chinese Students as Ethnocultural Minorities in Malaysian Secondary Schools

Past research on ethnocultural minority students indicates that persistent inequities require greater attention to the multiple learning supports needed to enhance school success. The present study was designed to extend research in this area by exploring school climate and emotional engagement among minority ethnocultural Chinese students in Malaysian secondary schools. We employed quantitative surveys with 724 students ( Mage = 16.1 years; 47.9% female), followed by qualitative interviews with a subset of 25 students ( Mage = 16.1 years; 52% female). Path analysis indicated that feelings of safety, socio-emotional support from teachers and peers, and student voice were predictors of emotional engagement for Chinese students, which further predicted cognitive engagement, academic performance, and school behavior. Thematic analysis further revealed that language and communication barriers and bullying negatively impacted students’ sense of safety and engagement. Caring, respectful relationships with teachers led to students having opportunities to direct their own learning and make decisions on schoolwide activities, promoting students’ feelings of engagement. Support from peers increased students’ emotional engagement by reducing school-related stressors. The findings suggest that a mutually respectful, caring school climate and opportunities for student voice can enhance critical school experiences for ethnocultural minority high school students.

More active lessons: teachers’ perceptions of student engagement during physically active maths lessons in Finland

ABSTRACT The Moving Maths study was conducted to increase third grade pupils’ physical activity and support their learning in Finland. Altogether 397 children (mean age 9.3 years) and 22 teachers took part in an intervention with two types of physically active maths lessons for five months. One group carried out lessons in which PA was integrated into maths learning goals, while another group implemented PA as short breaks. A control group was also allocated. The aim of the current study was to qualitatively examine classroom teachers’ (n = 12) experiences and perceptions of student engagement during the intervention. The results indicated that pupils showed positive emotional and social engagement in both intervention groups. Positive cognitive engagement was indicated by concentration on seated work after the activities, but some teachers reported uncertainty about the learning results. It is concluded that in addition to reducing children’s harmful sedentary behaviour, physically active lessons can positively affect student engagement and may thus enhance learning.

Do curious students learn more science in an immersive virtual reality environment? Exploring the impact of advance organizers and epistemic curiosity

Past studies have found mixed results of the impact of immersive virtual reality (IVR) environments on students' learning. In this study, we examined the effect of using concept maps, a kind of advance organizer, on students' learning of science via IVR. In this exploratory and immersive learning environment, we also explored the roles played by learners' epistemic curiosity and other affective factors. Seventy-four sixth-grade students participated in this research and were randomly assigned to the advance organizer group (AO; experimental group) and the non-advance organizer group (NAO; control group). Data collection included survey questionnaires and a science test for assessing students' understanding of plants. We examined the structural relationships among students’ curiosity and affective factors (including presence, control and active learning, positive emotional engagement, and negative emotional engagement), and compared the learning outcomes of the experimental and control groups. We used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for the data analysis. The results showed that students in the AO group had significantly higher scores for science concepts than those in the NAO group. In both groups, the interest-type curiosity and control and active learning positively predicted emotional engagement. Moreover, in the AO group, positive emotional engagement positively predicted the scientific knowledge of plant concepts. Implications for future research and instructional design are suggested in the study.

The Use of Humour and Its’ Relation to Motivation in Teaching and Learning Mathematics

The use of humour in teaching mathematics can reduce mathematics anxiety which leads students to feel tension, apprehension, and fear of situations involving mathematics. The aim of this research is to investigate the use of humour in teaching mathematics and its relations with motivation. This study employs a mixed method design which is quantitative in the form of survey (n = 344) and qualitative in the form of an interview (n = 6). The quantitative survey used was a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions and preferences on the use of humour by their Mathematics teacher. In contrast, qualitative data were collected based on semi-structured interviews on the impact of humour in teaching mathematics towards motivation. The quantitative findings indicate that there is a gap between students’ preferences on the use of humour and teachers’ practice of humour in class. Moreover, the findings indicate that students reported a positive correlation between humour and motivation in classroom. Interestingly, qualitative findings illustrate that humour creates a positive classroom atmosphere and generates a positive experience and emotional engagement towards mathematics. In conclusion, this study provides insight for teachers to practice the use of humour in teaching mathematics. It is proven to be a very effective learning tool that can enhance students’ motivation.

Exploring Student Emotional Engagement in Extreme E-service Learning

This article reports on a qualitative study that explored online student emotional engagement experiences during Extreme e-Service Learning program in a higher education institution. There are very few studies providing in-depth perspectives on the engagement experiences of online students, moreover in Extreme e-Service Learning program. This research adopted a case study approach, following 27 online students over one semester. The setting for this study involved undergraduate students who enroll for co-curriculum course that implement Extreme e-Service Learning in one of the public universities in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to explore student's emotional engagement throughout the Extreme e-Service Learning and investigate what makes them engaged emotionally. Data was collected from participant’s reflective journal and analyzed according to engagement rubric meanwhile open-ended question was analyzed using thematic analysis. Researcher found out that participants generally have positive emotions throughout the learning process, and it gradually increased until the end of the course. Main reason for this positive emotional engagement was due to the role of instructors and peers, course design, and personal value practiced by participants. One limitation of this study is that it is relatively small but still its finding provides insight to the instructor of Service Learning that wants to shift to the online platform at the same time achieve successful and engaging learning experiences.

Exploring fluctuations in the relationship between learners’ positive emotional engagement and their interactional behaviours

This study investigated the nature of learners’ positive emotional engagement during a task-based interaction and its relationship with their interactional behaviours. Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL; n = 74) performed a communicative task in dyads in 15 minutes. Their positive emotional engagement was gauged using an Experience Sampling Method via a questionnaire that the participants completed after every five-minute interval of the interaction, capturing three timepoints of learners’ emotional engagement. Learners’ cognitive and social interactional behaviours were examined in light of the amount of second language production (words and turns), language-related episodes (LREs), and the degree of collaboration. Results showed that learners’ positive emotional engagement fluctuated over the course of a 15-minute interaction. Also, learners’ levels of positive emotional engagement were positively correlated with the amount of second language production and the degree of collaboration, but these relationships varied across the three intervals. No relationship was observed between learners’ emotional engagement and LREs. The results indicate that although learners’ positive emotional engagement may not be linked with their attention to form, relationships exist between learners’ positive emotional engagement and their language production, as well as their social relationships. These relationships can be, however, subject to change over the course of a short interaction.

Assessing the Impact of an Original Soft Communicative Robot in a Nursing Home in Japan: Will Softness or Conversations Bring more Smiles to Older People?

It has been reported that robotics-aided care can contribute to enhancing older people’s social participation and quality of life in nursing homes, while simultaneously reducing the burden on care professionals at nighttime. Due to increasing demand for social care and the relative workforce shortage, it is likely that a greater number and variety of robots will be introduced and implemented in the future. While the benefits of applying robots and assistive technologies are recognized, the current limitations and weaknesses have also been identified. One of these is the difficulty associated with a user-centered design, involving older adults with impaired cognitive and sensory abilities in nursing homes. In order to overcome this challenge, a project was carried out to develop a soft and compact bedside communication robot with an input/output device, connected to existing technologies (e.g. monitoring camera, biological sensor). Drawing on the principle of gemba (deference to frontline professionals’ experience, expertise and skills), users’ feedback was reflected in the iterative steps of robot development. The original soft and communicative robot was introduced and its effectiveness was tested by measuring older people’s reactions and changes in their behaviors and engagement levels. The article reports the development process and results of a small-scale evaluation study, comparing the impact of this original soft-type robot with and without its communicative functions. The human–robot interactions were captured on video, and the analysis revealed that while communicative robots reduced the psychosocial burden on older adults, positive emotional, verbal, visual and behavioral engagement was generated with the help of the non-verbal plush toy.

Motivational and Emotional Orientation, Engagement, and Achievement in Mathematics. A Case Study With One Sixth-Grade Classroom Working With an Electronic Textbook on Fractions

Interactive and adaptive scaffolds implemented in electronic mathematics textbooks bear high potential for supporting students individually in learning mathematics. In this paper, we argue that emotional and behavioral engagement may account for the effectiveness of such digital curriculum resources. Following the general model for determinants and course of motivated action, we investigated the relationship between students’ domain-specific motivational and emotional orientations (person)—while working with an electronic textbook on fractions (situation), their emotional and behavioral engagement while learning (action), and their achievement after tuition (outcome). We conducted a case-study withN= 27 students from one sixth-grade classroom, asking about the relationship between students’ motivational and emotional orientations and their emotional and behavioral engagement, and whether emotional and behavioral engagement are unique predictors of students’ cognitive learning outcomes while working with an e-textbook. For that, we designed a four-week-intervention on fractions using an e-textbook on iPads. Utilizing self-reports and process data referring to students’ interactions with the e-textbook we aimed to describe if and how students make use of the offered learning opportunities. Despite being taught in the same classroom, results indicated large variance in students’ motivational and emotional orientations before the intervention, as well as in their emotional and behavioral engagement during the intervention. We found substantial correlations between motivational and emotional orientations (i.e., anxiety, self-concept, and enjoyment) and emotional engagement (i.e., intrinsic motivation, competence and autonomy support, situational interest, and perceived demand)—with positive orientations being associated with positive emotional engagement, as expected. Although the correlations between orientations and behavioral engagement (i.e., task, exercise, and hint count, problem solving time, and feedback time) also showed the expected directions, effect sizes were smaller than for emotional engagement. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that emotional engagement predicted cognitive learning outcomes uniquely, while for behavioral engagement the interaction with prior knowledge was a significant predictor. Taken together, they accounted for a variance change of 44% in addition to prior knowledge. We conclude that when designing digital learning environments, promoting engagement—in particular in students who share less-promizing prerequisites—should be considered a key feature.

Pupils’ experiences and perceptions of engagement during the Moving Maths programme

ABSTRACT This study investigated pupil experiences and perceptions of two kinds of classroom-based physically active math lessons during the Moving Maths programme in a Finnish primary school context. Qualitative data were gathered in focus group interviews with 16 nine-year-old pupils. Pupils in the group with physically active breaks during math lessons expressed mixed experiences, while pupils in the group with physical activity (PA) integrated into math curriculum experienced increased positive emotional and cognitive engagement. It is concluded that integrating PA into mathematics lessons is a feasible pedagogical method, especially in the form of PA integrated into math curriculum goals.

Primary and lower secondary students’ perceptions of representational practices in science learning: focus on drawing and writing

ABSTRACT The study examined students’ perceptions related to emotional and cognitive engagement of linguistic and diagrammatic representational practices in science learning. Altogether, 251 Japanese sixth-grade (11–12 years old) and 187 ninth-grade students (14–15 years old) participated. The students' recognitions were measured by a self-report questionnaire and were scrutinised using the Rasch Rating Scale model. All participants valued both representational practices as important in science learning. Drawing was seen as a useful cognitive tool. However, participants did not have positive self-efficacy for either writing or drawing. While they lacked a confidence in their ability to write in science, had more positive beliefs of cognitive engagement in writing. Compared to the explanation activity, the students did not engage in representational practices in a metacognitive and communicative way, implying that they were not in a multimodal learning environment. The female students had less positive emotional engagement in science and representational practices than male students. The findings imply that diagrammatic conventions and procedural knowledge of using diverse representational forms should be emphasized in science curricula. Further research on the relationship between self-efficacy for representational practices, motivational engagements, and academic achievement is recommended, as well as cultural differences in student engagement in representational practices.