Towards Recognition of Students' Epistemic Emotions in a Student Knowledge Building Design Studio

Abstract

When students build knowledge and apply critical thinking to real ideas and problems around them, their expressed emotions are important to recognize as drivers of knowledge acquisition of themselves and the world. These epistemic emotions are also critical for knowledge generation and cognitive performance. In this pilot study, we attempt to examine and recognize students' epistemic emotions in an informal learning environment, student Knowledge Building Design Studio (sKBDS), that was designed for cultivating collaborative knowledge creation and enhancement of student agency. A sensing module was developed to collect students' facial and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data, before using machine learning algorithms and models that are trained on students' data to recognize the different types of epistemic emotions that students exhibit during an empirical knowledge building study. Initial findings are promising and shows the possibility of recognizing students' epistemic emotions in real-time.