Neuroscience Engagement: The Influences of Chemistry Education on Affective Dimensions - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 229

2 The Affective Dimension and Its Importance
in Chemistry Learning

Learning new knowledge is one of the most important and complex cognitive
processes for humans, as a human s willingness to learn new knowledge is the

key point before starting to learn (Ferdenzi et al., 2011 ), including their motivation
and self-efficacy (McInerney & van Etten, 2004 ). A person

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s willingness to learn is
guided by the affective dimension, which is defined as emotions in this chapter.
The categories of emotions, such as positive and negative emotions, have
received an increasing amount of attention in recent years. Caine and Caine
( 1994 ) mentioned that what people learn is influenced and organized by emotions
which are based on expectancy, and which have an important connection to
memory. Ferdenzi et al. ( 2011 ) also mentioned that affection can be defined as a
mental state that is characterized by emotional feeling. Hence, emotions must be an
essential aspect of the affective dimension in chemistry learning. Further, the
emotions could promote a person

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s willingness and motivation to learn.
The emotions of chemistry learning are affected by learners

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life experiences.
The combination of chemistry knowledge from textbooks and life experiences
represents students

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affect in chemistry learning. For example, the experiment of
the manufacture of soap is an important chapter in organic chemistry, which usually
attracts female students

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interest and positive emotions. In contrast, the explosion
which occurs when sodium is dissolved in water usually attracts male students

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interest and positive emotions. In this chapter, firstly, we discuss the influences of
science learning on the affective dimensions, and then focus on the specific
subject—chemistry learning.
These examples show that the affective dimension is important in chemistry
learning. The more positive emotions that are induced, the more interested and
focused is the chemistry learning that occurs.

3 Limitations of Studies Exploring the Affective Dimension

The affective dimension in chemistry learning focuses on emotions which can be
separated into positive and negative emotions (Moridis & Economides, 2008 ). Most
assessments of the affective dimension in previous studies were based on students

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self-reporting via questionnaires and interviews. For example, the State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (Spielberger, 2005 ) is a questionnaire which has often
been used to assess students negative emotions. This self-report inventory includes

20 items. Responses to the items range from 1 to 4, as follows: (1) not at all,
(2) somewhat, (3) moderately so, and (4) very much, according to the students

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feelings. The range of scores is from a minimum of 20 (highest anxiety) to a
maximum of 80 (lowest anxiety). Through this kind of questionnaire, the learners

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negative emotions, such as anxiety, are assessed. Although questionnaires