Affective field during collaborative problem posing and problem solving: a case study
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Affective field during collaborative problem posing and problem solving: a case study Maike Schindler 1,2
& Arthur Bakker
3
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
Educators in mathematics have long been concerned about students’ motivation, anxiety, and other affective characteristics. Typically, research into affect focuses on one theoretical construct (e.g., emotion, motivation, beliefs, or interest). However, we introduce the term affective field to account for a person’s various affective factors (emotions, attitudes, etc.) in their intraplay. In a case study, we use data from an extracurricular, inquiry-oriented collaborative problem posing and problem solving (PP&PS) program, which took place as a 1-year project with four upper secondary school students in Sweden (aged 16–18). We investigated the affective field of one student, Anna, in its social and dynamic nature. The question addressed in this context is: In what ways does an affective field of a student engaging in PP&PS evolve, and what may be explanations for this evolvement? Anna’s affective field was dynamic over the course of the program. Her initial anxiety during the PP&PS program was rooted in her prior affective field about mathematics activities, but group collaboration, the feeling of safety and appreciation, together with an increased interest in within-solution PP and openness for trying new things went hand in hand with positive dynamics in her affective field. Keywords Affect . Affective field . Problem posing . Problem solving
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-02009973-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Maike Schindler [email protected]
1
Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
2
Present address: University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
3
Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Schindler M., Bakker A.
1 Introduction This article introduces the notion of “affective field” to denote the complex of students’ emotions, attitudes, interests, beliefs, etc. that are at stake during activity. We propose this notion as a way to compensate for the dominant trend to treat each affective construct in its own separate body of literature (as observed, e.g., by Hannula, 2011; Renninger & Hidi, 2016). We have chosen the field metaphor because of the parallel we see with magnetic fields. First, magnetic fields have positive and negative poles, just like the attractions and repulsions that are typical of affect. Second, fields tend to be open, not purely tied to one body, as affective factors can spread across groups (de Freitas, Ferrara, & Ferrari, 2019). Third, the field metaphor allows us to talk about bundles of affective factors involved in learning activity such as mathematical problem solving and problem posing (the topic of this special issue). Affect is an important part of mathematical activity (e.g., of mathematical problem solving) and a relevant predictor for students’ future mathematical behavior (Hannula, 2019). Becau
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