Research Article LUMAT General Issue 2021
LUMAT: International
Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education
Published
by the University of Helsinki, Finland / LUMA Centre Finland | CC BY 4.0
Drawing out emotions in primary grade geometry:
An analysis of participant-produced drawings of
Grade 3–6 students
Ana Kuzle
University of Potsdam, Germany
Research on psychosocial classroom learning environments
has a strong tradition
due to the early discovery of a relationship between positive classroom climate and
academic performance and motivation, engagement, participation, and attitude
towards school and teaching. Yet, more research is needed in this area due to the
rich concept of classroom climate. In this paper, I focus on the emotional classroom
climate in
specific mathematics lessons, namely geometry lessons. The goals of this
paper are threefold: (a) to present an analytical tool to determine the emotional
classroom climate in geometry lessons using participant-produced drawings, (b) to
provide insight into the emotional classroom climate
in primary grade geometry
lessons (Grades 3-6), and (c) to report on the differences and similarities between
the grade levels regarding the emotional classroom climate. In total, 114 German
primary grade students participated in the study. The emotional classroom
climate
was analyzed using participant-produced drawings. The results showed that the
emotional classroom climate in all grades could be described as positive and
relatively stable. However, positive emotional classroom climate dominated in
Grade 3 geometry lessons only. Negative classroom climate was elicited in very few
cases, if at all. Still, an ambivalent classroom climate (both positive and negative
emotions) increased from the lower to the higher grades. Lastly, versatile
implications for theory and practice are discussed regarding the methodology as
well as possible future directions.
