Drawing out emotions in primary grade geometry

4.1.2: Emotional classroom climate in Grade 4. In total, 14 drawings (42%) by Grade 
4 students represented the emotional climate in the geometry classroom as positive, 
depicting only positive features (e.g., full smile, arms open upwards, wide-open eyes, 
“That is easy.”) with occasionally also neutral ones (e.g., eyes with no expression, 
mouth drawn as a straight line, a mathematical expression such as “a circle”) were 
illustrated. Furthermore, nine drawings (27%) by Grade 4 students represented the 
emotional climate in the geometry classroom as ambivalent since both positive (e.g., 
protagonists smiling, wide open eyes, arms open upwards, “I like it.”, “I can do 
geometry.”), as well as negative features (e.g., mouth turned downward, tears on the 
face, eyes in a downward slant, “boring”, “oh no, not today”, “zzz”), were illustrated. 
Only three students (9% of drawings) represented the emotional climate in the 
geometry classroom as negative since only negative features (e.g., mouth turned 
downward, eyebrows slanted inward, “not again”, “Finally, we get to go home.”) with 
some neutral ones (e.g., arms closed downwards) were illustrated. The drawing shown 
in 
Figure 3
 is an example of a drawing that was rated as negative. The arm posture of 
all three protagonists is neutral (i.e., arms in action). The eyes of child 2 are typical 
with no expression (i.e., round eyes) which were coded as neutral. However, a speech 
bubble contains the word “aua” which reveals a negative state of mind (i.e., “uoch”). 
The teacher’s thought bubble “Finally home.” also reflects a negative condition. The 

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interview revealed that the drawer provided an illustration of an everyday situation: 
some children are bored and his math teacher is happy that it is the end of the lesson. 
Thus, these are permanently valid characteristics of geometry lessons (trait). 
Figure 3. 
A Grade 4 student’s drawing of a negative emotional classroom climate.
In total, five Grade 4 students (15% of drawings) represented the emotional 
climate in the geometry classroom as neutral since only neutral features were 
illustrated or mentioned (e.g., hands on the table, eyes with no expression, mouth 
drawn as a straight line, mathematical statements such as “A circle.”). Two drawings 
were rated as unidentifiable (6% of drawings). In these drawings, there were no facial 
or body expressions, and speech and thought bubbles could not be identified. 
Likewise, the interview did not provide any further information. 
To summarize, in the sample of Grade 4 students’ participant-produced drawings, 
the drawings portraying a positive classroom climate had the highest frequency, but 
they did not predominate. However, in all but one drawing a positive emotional 
climate was a stable condition (trait). Only three drawings showed a completely 
negative emotional classroom climate which, on the downside, reflected a permanent 
child 1 
child 2 
teacher 
child 3 

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condition (trait). The cases of drawings reflecting an ambivalent classroom climate 
were dominated by positive emotional features with a few negative ones. 
4.1.3: Emotional classroom climate in Grade 5. Almost half of the drawings (46%,
n = 13) by Grade 5 students represented the emotional climate in the geometry 
classroom as positive since often only positive features (e.g., full smile, arms open 
upwards, wide open eyes) with occasionally also neutral ones (e.g., eyes with no 
expression) were depicted. The interviews revealed that in all cases but two, the 
drawings represented a stable condition in the geometry lesson (state). More than 
one-third of the drawings (36%, n = 10) were rated as ambivalent with both positive 
(e.g., arms open upwards, full smile, “I understand it.”) and negative features (e.g., 
mouth turned downward, “boring”, “wake up”) being illustrated or mentioned. In 
three cases, the drawings reflected a temporary emotional condition (state), whereas 
in six cases a stable condition (trait). No drawing contained more than one negative 
expression. Furthermore, two drawings (7% of drawings) represented the emotional 
climate in the geometry classroom as negative since only negative features (e.g., “shut 
up”, “zzz”) with some neutral ones (e.g., arms closed downwards) were illustrated, 
which, however, reflected a temporary condition (state). In total, two Grade 5 students 
(7% of drawings) represented the emotional climate in the geometry classroom as 
neutral since only neutral features were illustrated or mentioned (e.g., hands on the 
table, eyes with no expression, mouth drawn as a straight line, mathematical 
statements such as “I’m drawing a prism.”). Only one drawing was rated as 
unidentifiable (4% of drawings). In this drawing, there were no facial or body 
expressions, and speech and thought bubbles could not be identified. Likewise, the 
interview did not provide any further information. 
To summarize, in the sample of Grade 5 students’ participant-produced drawings, 
a positive classroom climate was portrayed most frequently, but did not predominate. 
In most of these drawings, a positive emotional climate was a stable condition (trait). 
The percentage of drawings illustrating an ambivalent classroom climate was slightly 
lower than those illustrating a positive classroom climate. Also, these drawings 
predominantly reflected a stable condition (trait). Only a few drawings illustrated a 
negative or a neutral emotional classroom climate. The former, however, reflected a 
temporary condition (state). 
 

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