Relationships between emotions and learning outcomes in pre-service Primary teachers towards an active Biology practice

Abstract

Students experience a great diversity of emotions in academic settings. These emotions and science learning are reciprocally conditioned, therefore it is important to simultaneously look into affective and cognitive aspects in learning processes. This is particularly important in prospective Primary teachers, since the interplay between emotions and learning can determine its future professional. To deepen these interactions, in this contribution we analyse the relationships between the emotions experienced by a sample of students of the Degree in Primary Education (University of Extremadura), before and after the implementation of an active practice of Biology; and their level of Biology knowledge, both previous and acquired with the performed intervention. Results reveal positive associations between the intensity of joy, enthusiasm, satisfaction and fun experienced during the practice and learning outcomes, as well as negative associations between them and the intensities of frustration and worry. Likewise, results indicate that low levels of previous Biology knowledge are predictors of high intensities of boredom, frustration and worry, as well as the previous intensity of enthusiasm can have predictive value in relation to learning.