UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO

PHINMA EDUCATION NETWORK

EDU 324 CURRENT TRENDS/ISSUES IN SCIENCE

RUTCHELL P. MALERIADO Dr. MA. ANAVI ECHAVARRI

DISCUSSANT PROFESSOR

EMOTIONAL ASPECT OF SCIENCE LEARNING

The idea of science as a dispassionate and emotionless pursuit is belied by the fact that science is a
human endeavor. Students often come to the science classroom with ideas that conflict with those
they are learning which can create anxiety, curiosity, and surprise, alternatively enjoyment and
interest.

At a moment in time when we are confronted with such complex and dynamic challenges as the
threat of climate change, demands for sustainable energy, and global pandemics, measures of
science achievement show U.S. students lagging behind their peers in European and Asian
countries (National Center for Education Statistics, 2007).
Moreover, the pipeline demands for new scientists to enter the workforce are not being met
(National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). It is important to explore all avenues that influence
learning and achievement in science, including those that may widen the pipeline by making
science more attractive to more students, particularly women and minorities who have been
traditionally underrepresented in science careers.

In order to broaden participation in science, we must capitalize on student emotions that are
adaptive for science learning and those that promote sustained interest and pursuit of science
careers. We must also understand what emotions serve as barriers to learning about science and
may discourage engagement in the scientific enterprise and science careers.

Developing interest in science through emotional engagement

Paul McCrory    Updated 17/6/21

• The text of this article formed a draft of a chapter for the ASE Guide to Primary Science
Education (2011). The principles of how to hook the interest of learners, though, apply to all
educators.
• Discusses important questions and offers a practical toolkit of some techniques that teachers can
use to increase interest in their science lessons through fostering positive emotional reactions.

The Importance of Emotional Engagement in Science Education

There is a vast range of positive emotions which teachers can foster through the way they teach
science – for example, curiosity; anticipation; uncertainty; surprise; intellectual joy of
understanding; wonder; sense of imagination; amusement; sense of beauty; and amazement. The
principal justification given for the importance of these affective qualities to science education is
simply that by increasing the emotional reward pupils gain from learning science, they will be more
motivated to study science in school and also more likely to engage with science in their everyday
lives.

Developing positive emotional responses in the classroom also helps to cultivate effective
relationships between the teacher and the pupils. There are, however, several other reasons why
affect is increasingly being considered a powerful ingredient in modern theories of learning, e.g.
the value of emotional responses in their own right, and the role emotions play in attention,
interest, and cognition.

The dominance of this practical justification, however, has had an unfortunate consequence;
compared with the more personal arguments often made for education in the arts and humanities,
science education appears to have lost its soul. The emotional responses a child can have to a
beautiful work of art or a moving poem, rarely have to be defended or measured in terms of how
 useful they are to the child’s future career, society’s ability to make democratic decisions, or the
economic well-being of the nation.

Curiosity and a sense of wonderment at the way the world around us works are precious parts of
being human. These powerful feelings are just as valuable outcomes of engagement with science as
they are of the arts. The positive emotional reactions that children can experience from science are
surely an essential part of their cultural entitlement and are important in their own right.

Attention is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for any learning outcome. This statement
seems so obvious that it is easy to take it for granted when teaching. In fact, many psychologists
argue that the most important role of attention, and perhaps one of the most significant functions
of our brains, is the ability to filter out the deluge of competing sensory stimuli and memories to
focus our scarce attention on the information which is really important to us at any one time.
Without this one skill it would be impossible for our brains to make any sense of our conscious
experiences. Neuroscience has proven that one of the main criteria that the brain uses to sift
information is the emotional value it holds. So embedding emotional stimuli throughout a lesson
will immediately capture and help to maintain the attention of pupils.

The fundamental question of what pupils actually find interesting about science is, surprisingly, an under-
studied area. Psychologists recognize two different types of interest:

1. Individual interests: the narrow enduring interests which each pupil will already have developed, often
from their previous experiences e.g. insects, cancer treatments.
2. Situational interests: stimuli from the content or the way that it is presented which spontaneously
create short-term interest for almost all pupils e.g. forensic science contexts; explosive demonstrations.

Situational interests are generally more effective in the classroom because they are more likely to engage
the largest number of students at once and are more under the control of the teacher than individual
interests. Research has shown that one of the most effective sources of situational interest is any sort of
emotional response.
 5 Ways to Use Social and Emotional Learning in the Science Classroom
Steven Smithwhite

 The skills we want to help young students develop don’t just include those directly connected to
the subjects being taught. The Next Generation Science Standards give guidance on how students
should investigate matter, forces, and living things, of course, but they also emphasize skills like
working in teams, collaboration, and engaging in argument from evidence. These skills are
important parts of students’ social and emotional learning (SEL), but why is SEL so important and
what makes it ideal for bringing into science lessons?
 Science lessons provide great opportunities to give students investigative problems they must work
together to solve. The engineering design process is a perfect opportunity to encourage students to
team up, develop and test ideas, appreciate each other’s creativity, and talk about their successes
and failures.
 As students work in teams, they’re learning to communicate, to respect the ideas of others, and to
understand why everybody’s role is important. These are essential aspects not only of classroom
collaboration, but also of being part of society. Good teamwork improves students’ social skills. It
makes them more self-confident. It even reduces bullying. And it helps children to go on to become
successful adults.

1. Student-agreed Science Expectations

– Children hate being told what to do when they don’t understand why they’ve got to do it.
2. Team-building exercises
– Prepare students for just about every situation they’ll ever encounter in their professional and personal lives.
3. Reflection points
– Students review and discuss their work as a form of self-assessment.
4. Real-world connections
– Get students acting out behaviors that they’ll be able to use again and again throughout their lives.
5. Language routines
– Communication is a fundamental component of teamwork.

REFERENCES:
https://twigeducation.com/blog/5-ways-to-use-social-and-emotional-learning/

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-09239-021

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290484379_Emotions_in_science_education

https://www.hooktraining.com/interest-emotional-engagement/

Damasio, A. (2006) ‘Descartes’ error.’ London: Vintage Books

Osborne, J. and Dillon, J. (2008) ‘Science Education in Europe: critical reflections.’ Nuffield Foundation