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We propose a model delineating the role of control, value, and cognitive disequilibrium in elementary students' experience of emotions during mathematics problem solving. We tested this model across 2 studies. In Study 1, using an explanatory mixed-methods design, 136 students from Grades 3 to 6 worked on a complex mathematics problem appropriate for their grade level. A think-aloud protocol was used to capture cognitive processes, and trend analyses were applied to students' transcriptions to assess convergence or divergence of the quantitative results and to provide a richer account of students' experiences. Results revealed that cognitive disequilibrium mediated relations between control and emotions but not value. In addition, curiosity and frustration predicted enactment and metacognitive strategies, which directly predicted mathematics problem-solving achievement. Trend analyses revealed that confusion following a failed attempt at impasse resolution led to frustration for 33% of the instances of a failed attempt. Interestingly, 35% of those instances resulted in students seeking help, and 32% resulted in students trying again or moving on. Additionally, trend analyses provided evidence that curiosity following surprise was a function of high resolution expectancy, whereas confusion following surprise was because of low resolution expectancy or high complexity. In Study 2, a new sample of 80 Grade 5 students completed a multiday complex mathematics problem and self-reported their emotions and cognitive appraisals of control and value (pretest and posttest). Results revealed reciprocal relations between control and curiosity and control and frustration. No reciprocal effects were found for value. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Educational Impact and Implications StatementImpasse-related emotions play a critical role in learning tasks, as they act as feedback to students for how well they are comprehending the content and progressing through the task. However, when these emotions are not fully understood, they can cause students to divert valuable cognitive resources away from the learning task, resulting in negative outcomes. Our research provides a useful model for how impasses, emotions, and learning strategies unfold during a learning task, and highlights potential targets for intervention during classroom learning.

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When thinking critically about socio-scientific issues, individuals’ expectations about the nature of knowledge and knowing, as well as their emotions when these expectations are met or not, may play an important role in critical thinking. In this study, we examined the role of epistemic emotions in mediating the effects of epistemic cognition on critical thinking when contending with conflicting information about genetically modified foods. Two hundred four university students completed a prior knowledge test on genetically modified foods, and then reported their epistemic beliefs about genetically modified foods. Participants then read a text that presented advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified foods, and reported the epistemic emotions they experienced during reading of that text. Participants then composed an argumentative essay about genetically modified foods, which were coded for critical thinking. Results from path analysis revealed that a belief in complex knowledge predicted less surprise and confusion, but more enjoyment. For the source of knowledge, a belief in the active construction of knowledge predicted less surprise and enjoyment. For justification for knowing, a belief that knowledge should be critically evaluated positively predicted curiosity, and negatively predicted confusion and boredom. Moreover, beliefs that knowledge about genetically modified foods is complex and uncertain positively predicted critical thinking. Confusion and anxiety also positively predicted critical thinking, whereas frustration negatively predicted critical thinking. Lastly, confusion mediated relations between epistemic beliefs and critical thinking. Results suggest complex relations between epistemic cognition, epistemic emotions, and critical thinking that have implications for educational practice as well as for future research on epistemic cognition and epistemic emotions.

In this paper, we examined how kindergarteners' self-evaluation biases are related to behavioural self-regulation (SR) and learning goal orientation (GO). According to educational research and practice, fostering high and optimistic academic self-concepts promotes the setting of challenging goals and initiates effective behavioural SR processes. However, research on metacognition states that it is a match between academic self-concept and abilities that provides the optimal conditions for behavioural SR and a learning GO. There is theoretical and empirical evidence in favour of both positions, yet the correlates of self-evaluative tendencies may differ with children's different levels of achievement, which are rarely considered. This cross-sectional study used response surface analysis, an innovative research methodology capable of assessing the complex interaction of academic self-concept and academic abilities on the behavioural SR and GO of 147 kindergarten children (M = 6.47 years, SD = 0.39 years). Polynomial regression models were used to test the presence of a fit pattern in empirical data and offer a new perspective on the interaction of academic self-concept and academic abilities. Results showed that a fit is generally associated with better behavioural SR and a learning GO but that correlates of academic self-concept differ with different achievement levels and outcome measures. This study extends current knowledge, as it offers important insights on how to conceptualise and pursue questions regarding self-concepts and behavioural SR. At an applied level, the findings indicate that interventions with kindergarteners that target SR should take the interactions between self-evaluation biases and ability level into account.