Going beyond performance scores: Understanding cognitive–affective states in Kindergarteners and application of framework in classrooms

Progression of Cognitive-Affective States During Learning in Kindergarteners: Bringing Together Physiological, Observational and Performance Data

“…Observational Coding: In this study, we used an affect coding index as a reference for coding affect along with the coding of other non-verbal and verbal behavior as used by Sridhar et al [6] and outlined in Figure 3. This included facial expressions, eye contact, head movements and posture as well as six affective states, namely delight, confusion, frustration, boredom, flow and neutral.…”

“…Furthermore, while observations do offer some insights into cognitive-affective states of the learner, such as what concepts may be challenging, easy or boring, they are prone to biases and may not truly reflect states in learning [4,5]. It has been shown that combining a variety of data, including observations, responses, self-reports and physiological information [6], results in more powerful insights [7]. In fact, with the advent of affective computing, physiological sensors are being used in the context of automated affect-aware tutors to infer affect and intervene accordingly [8].…”

“…Drawing inspiration from earlier work [6], we use a combination of physiological, observational and performance measures to understand the patterns and progression of cognitive-affective states in kindergartners as they learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) concepts through constructionist and instructionist approaches and explore key elementary differences across these approaches. Constructionism refers to educational practices that are student-focused, meaning based, process oriented, interactive, and responsive to student interest [9]; it believes that knowledge construction occurs when learners are engaged in building objects.…”

Improving Attention Using Wearables via Haptic and Multimodal Rhythmic Stimuli

“…Future work could explore other ways to improve the comfort of rhythmic stimulation. Apart from enabling users to customize the stimulus intensity and since the effects on attention might depend on the current cognitive-affective state (arousal) of the user, we envision a feedback system that detects these states through physiological signals (e.g., heart rate in BoostMeUp [16], [59,60]) and optimizes the rhythmic stimuli for optimal arousal, attention and cognitive performance following the Yerkes-Dodson curve [68]. Further investigation with "invisible spectral flicker" [2] could reveal it to be an effective and comfortable way to give rhythmic light stimulation.…”