Perceived learning environment and students' emotional experiences: A multilevel analysis of mathematics classrooms.

A multilevel approach was used to analyse relationships between perceived classroom environments and emotions in mathematics. Based on Pekrun’s (2000) [A social-cognitive, control-value theory of achievement emotions. In J. Heckhausen (Ed.), Motivational psychology of human development (pp. 143 163)] social-cognitive, control-value theory of achievement emotions, we hypothesized that environmental characteristics conveying control and value to the students would be related to their experience of enjoyment, anxiety, anger, and boredom in mathematics. Multilevel modelling of data from 1623 students from 69 classes (grades 5 10) confirmed close relationships between environmental variables and emotional experiences that functioned predominantly at the individual level. Compositional effects further revealed that classes’ aggregate environment perceptions as well as their compositions in terms of aggregate achievement and gender ratio were additionally linked to students’ emotions in mathematics. Methodological and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

[1]  Reed W. Larson,et al.  Boredom in the Middle School Years: Blaming Schools versus Blaming Students , 1991, American Journal of Education.

[2]  H. Dryler,et al.  The Impact of School and Classroom Characteristics on Educational Choices by Boys and Girls: A Multilevel Analysis , 1999 .

[3]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  The classroom environment and students' reports of avoidance strategies in mathematics: A multimethod study. , 2002 .

[4]  Olaf Köller,et al.  Bildungsverläufe und psychosoziale Entwicklung im Jugendalter (BIJU) , 1996 .

[5]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Emotional Contagion , 1993 .

[6]  W. S. Robinson.  Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals. , 1950, International journal of epidemiology.

[7]  M. Zeidner,et al.  Test Anxiety: The State of the Art , 1998 .

[8]  L. Erbring,et al.  Individuals and Social Structure , 1979 .

[9]  David W. Johnson,et al.  Instructional Goal Structure: Cooperative, Competitive, or Individualistic , 1974 .

[10]  Alexander J. Rothman,et al.  Emotional states and physical health. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[11]  T. Urdan.  Using Multiple Methods to Assess Students' Perceptions of Classroom Goal Structures , 2004 .

[12]  Charles D. Spielberger,et al.  Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research , 1972 .

[13]  Herbert J. Walberg,et al.  Socio‐psychological Environments and Learning: a quantitative synthesis , 1981 .

[14]  T. Goetz,et al.  Academic emotions from a social-cognitive perspective: antecedents and domain specificity of students' affect in the context of Latin instruction. , 2006, The British journal of educational psychology.

[15]  Carolyn Hopp,et al.  Gender Comparisons of Mathematics Attitudes and Affect: A Meta-Analysis , 1990 .

[16]  Barry J. Fraser,et al.  Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire , 1982 .

[17]  Susan Bobbitt Nolen,et al.  Learning environment, motivation, and achievement in high school science , 2003 .

[18]  Rudolf vom Hofe,et al.  Leistung und emotionales Erleben im Fach Mathematik: Längsschnittliche Mehrebenenanalysen , 2006 .

[19]  Rebecca Barr,et al.  How Schools Work , 1991 .

[20]  Anne C. Frenzel,et al.  Girls and mathematics —A “hopeless” issue? A control-value approach to gender differences in emotions towards mathematics , 2007 .

[21]  J. Brophy,et al.  Beyond behaviorism : changing the classroom management paradigm , 1999 .

[22]  Timothy J. Robinson,et al.  Multilevel Analysis: Techniques and Applications , 2002 .

[23]  B. Weiner.  An attributional theory of motivation and emotion , 1986 .

[24]  Herbert W. Marsh,et al.  The big-fish-little-pond effect on academic self-concept , 1987 .

[25]  Andreas Krapp,et al.  Basic needs and the development of interest and intrinsic motivational orientations , 2005 .

[26]  Anthony S. Bryk,et al.  Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods , 1992 .

[27]  Anne C. Frenzel,et al.  Achievement Emotions in Germany and China , 2007 .

[28]  O. Köller,et al.  Statistische Artefakte bei Kontexteffekten in der pädagogisch-psychologischen Forschung , 2002 .

[29]  J. Gill.  Hierarchical Linear Models , 2005 .

[30]  P. Bliese.  Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: Implications for data aggregation and analysis. , 2000 .

[31]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  School Effects on Psychological Outcomes During Adolescence , 2002 .

[32]  Schleyer,et al.  The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect for Academic Self-Concept, Test Anxiety, and School Grades in Gifted Children. , 1999, Contemporary educational psychology.

[33]  T. Goetz,et al.  Academic Emotions in Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program of Qualitative and Quantitative Research , 2002 .

[34]  E. Frydenberg.  Beyond coping: Meeting goals, visions, and challenges. , 2002 .

[35]  Allan Wigfield,et al.  Math anxiety in elementary and secondary school students. , 1988 .

[36]  S. Kozlowski,et al.  Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations: Foundations, Extensions, and New Directions , 2000 .

[37]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Learning to Value Mathematics and Reading: Relations to Mastery and Performance-Oriented Instructional Practices. , 2001, Contemporary educational psychology.

[38]  Stuart A. Karabenick,et al.  Perceived Achievement Goal Structure and College Student Help Seeking. , 2004 .

[39]  Reinhard Pekrun,et al.  A Social-Cognitive, Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions , 2000 .

[40]  Barry J. Fraser,et al.  Teacher Interpersonal Behaviour, Classroom Environment and Student Outcomes in Primary Mathematics in Singapore , 1998 .

[41]  R. Pekrun.  Expectancy–Value Theory of Anxiety: Overview and Implications , 2019, Anxiety: Recent Developments in Cognitive, Psychophysiological, and Health Research.

[42]  Darrell L. Fisher,et al.  Predicting Students’ Outcomes from Their Perceptions of Classroom Psychosocial Environment , 1982 .

[43]  R. Hembree.  Correlates, Causes, Effects, and Treatment of Test Anxiety , 1988 .

[44]  J. Douglas Willms,et al.  Social Class Segregation and Its Relationship to Pupils' Examination Results in Scotland , 1986 .

[45]  Reinhard Pekrun,et al.  Positive emotions in education. , 2002 .

[46]  Herbert J. Walberg,et al.  Educational environments : evaluation, antecedents and consequences , 1991 .

[47]  Dorothy L. Gabel,et al.  Handbook of Research on Science Teaching and Learning Project. , 1993 .

[48]  Charles D. Spielberger,et al.  Anxiety as an Emotional State , 1972 .

[49]  Campbell J. McRobbie,et al.  Associations Between Student Outcomes and Psychosocial Science Environment , 1993 .