Emotional Engagement, Social Interactions, and the Development of an After-School Game Design Curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session 114
  In Roundtable Session: Emotion and Engagement

Abstract

This study examines how student and teacher emotions influenced engagement in learning activities, and how curriculum design can account for emotions as a resource for establishing successful learning interactions. The context was a year-long implementation of an afterschool game design program for STEM learning at an all-girls middle school. Using Collins’ (1987, 2004) sociology of emotions, our analysis based upon field notes and video data reveals how the original intended curriculum hindered the generation of positive emotions, mutual foci of attention, and feelings of solidarity--factors in generating successful learning interactions. Implications point to the need for curricula to be designed to promote these factors of successful interactions and to engender more emotionally responsive learning environments.

Authors

• Helen Kwah, New York University

• Catherine E. Milne, New York University

• Ricki Goldman, New York University

• Jan L. Plass, New York University