Socially constructing emotion in stemm university learning and teaching: implications for emotion-informed curricula and engagement
File(s)
Author(s)
Ippolito, Kathryn
Type
Thesis
Abstract
Even in Science-based STEMM disciplines, considered objective and rational, emotion is integral to learning and teaching. Although emotions are individually felt, they are socially constructed between people. This is particularly relevant in collaborative learning. Despite growing attention, emotion-focused research often lacks strong theoretical framing that foregrounds how emotion functions in university contexts. Taking a social constructionist perspective, this thesis investigates emotional interactions, constructions and meaning making amongst student peers and their teachers, and educational implications. It offers a timely and nuanced way to critically consider the complex and contradictory roles of emotion in education, as universities endeavour to address wellbeing concerns, whilst creating challenging and meaningful learning opportunities.
Applying a social constructionist and pragmatic research orientation, qualitative data was collected from seven departmental case studies in a UK STEMM-focused university, from 280 students via in-situ questionnaires and 23 teachers via focus group and follow-up interviews. Data was rigorously analysed to identify themes that capture key connections between participants’ emotional experiences.
The ‘Knowing’ theme revealed that highly variable emotions were socially constructed as individuals interacted to tackle complex and uncertain knowledge and faced challenges to epistemic goals. The ‘Evaluating’ theme captured contrasting emotions being constructed as learners and teachers evaluated their achievement of multiple and conflicting educational goals, using social comparison, and felt and inferred emotion as evidence. The ‘Empathising’ theme evidenced how students and teachers developed awareness of each other’s emotions and responded to contextually relevant emotion information to understand each other’s goals and regulate each other’s emotion.
A model is elaborated to illustrate how socialising agents learn to navigate interacting cognitive and emotional challenges in demanding STEMM academic contexts, and how social construction of emotion contributes. This thesis makes theoretically and empirically underpinned recommendations for developing emotion-informed curricula. The researcher’s educational developer positioning enabled an educational development intervention approach.
Applying a social constructionist and pragmatic research orientation, qualitative data was collected from seven departmental case studies in a UK STEMM-focused university, from 280 students via in-situ questionnaires and 23 teachers via focus group and follow-up interviews. Data was rigorously analysed to identify themes that capture key connections between participants’ emotional experiences.
The ‘Knowing’ theme revealed that highly variable emotions were socially constructed as individuals interacted to tackle complex and uncertain knowledge and faced challenges to epistemic goals. The ‘Evaluating’ theme captured contrasting emotions being constructed as learners and teachers evaluated their achievement of multiple and conflicting educational goals, using social comparison, and felt and inferred emotion as evidence. The ‘Empathising’ theme evidenced how students and teachers developed awareness of each other’s emotions and responded to contextually relevant emotion information to understand each other’s goals and regulate each other’s emotion.
A model is elaborated to illustrate how socialising agents learn to navigate interacting cognitive and emotional challenges in demanding STEMM academic contexts, and how social construction of emotion contributes. This thesis makes theoretically and empirically underpinned recommendations for developing emotion-informed curricula. The researcher’s educational developer positioning enabled an educational development intervention approach.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2024-09-25
Date Awarded
2025-02-01
Copyright Statement
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC)
License URL
Advisor
Kingsbury, Martyn
Sponsor
Imperial College London
Publisher Department
Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)