Instructional Activities Predicting Epistemic Emotions in Finnish Upper Secondary School Science Lessons: Combining Experience Sampling and Video Observations

This study investigates how different instructional activities relate to epistemic emotions in science classes. Study data were collected during the implementation of a project-based learning unit in five Finnish upper secondary school classes using experience sampling, video observations and stimulated recall. From the videos, the excerpts prior to timings of experience sampling enquiries were analysed using a thematic analysis, and five different instructional activity categories were found: (1) orienting and engaging activities, (2) conducting investigations, (3) analysing data and developing models, (4) teacher talk and (5) tasks for skills and content. A multilevel regression analysis was conducted to determine how different instructional activities predicted the reported levels of epistemic emotions (n = 1500 experience sampling observations). Our results show that orienting and engaging activities are related to positive epistemic emotions, such as excitement and curiosity. Furthermore, analysing data and developing models, and tasks for skills and content are related to epistemic emotions that are more negative, such as confusion, anxiety, and frustration. These findings can help educators identify ways of promoting beneficial epistemic emotions and discouraging adverse ones in educational settings, thus helping teachers to design emotion-aware learning environments.