Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Qualitative Examination of Science Teachers’ Emotions, Emotion Regulation Goals and Strategies

  • Published:
Research in Science Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine science teachers’ emotions, emotion regulation goals and strategies during instruction, and the role of teaching experience, teacher efficacy beliefs, and teacher goal orientations in their emotions and emotion regulation using the control-value theory of emotions and the process model of emotion regulation. We employed a multiple-case holistic design with three in-service science teachers. Data were collected from teacher diaries, video recordings, fieldnotes from non-participant observations, and semi-structured interviews. For data analysis, the deductive method, content analysis, and the constant comparative method were employed. Results showed that the most frequently experienced emotions during the instruction were enjoyment and contentment as positive emotions and worry and anger as negative emotions. The teachers mostly used antecedent-focused emotion regulation strategies for hedonic reasons. The most frequently used emotion regulation strategy was situation selection, which was mostly employed for classroom management issues. In addition, findings indicated that the teachers differed in their emotions, emotion regulation goals, and emotion regulation strategies based on their years of teaching experience, self-efficacy beliefs, goal orientations, and pedagogical content knowledge. Results suggest the importance of teacher emotions in science education to nurture effective science pedagogies and to enrich science teaching.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Anonymized transcripts available upon request.

Code Availability

Custom code available upon request.

References

  • C Ames 1992 Goals, structures, and student motivation Journal of Educational Psychology 84 261 271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A Bandura 1986 Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • ES Becker MM Keller T Goetz AC Frenzel JL Taxer 2015 Antecedents of teachers’ emotions in the classroom: An intraindividual approach Frontiers in Psychology 6 Article 635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M Brígido D Couso C Gutiérrez V Mellado 2013 The emotions about teaching and learning science: A study of prospective primary teachers in three Spanish universities Journal of Baltic Science Education 12 3 299 311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • I Burić AC Frenzel 2019 Teacher anger: New empirical insights using a multi-method approach Teaching and Teacher Education 86 102895

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burić, I., & Moè, A. (2020). What makes teachers enthusiastic: The interplay of positive affect, self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Teaching and Teacher Education, 89.

  • R Butler 2007 Teachers’ achievement goal orientations and associations with teachers’ help seeking: Examination of a novel approach to teacher motivation Journal of Educational Psychology 99 2 241 252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EA Butler TL Lee JJ Gross 2007 Emotion regulation and culture: Are the social consequences of emotion suppression culture-specific? Emotion 7 1 30 48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ML Chang 2009 An appraisal perspective of teacher burnout: Examining the emotional work of teachers Educational Psychology Review 21 3 193 218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ML Chang 2013 Toward a theoretical model to understand teacher emotions and teacher burnout in the context of student misbehavior: Appraisal, regulation and coping. Motivation and Emotion 37 4 799 817

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M Chang HA Davis 2009 Understanding the role of teacher appraisals in shaping the dynamics of their relationships with students: Deconstructing teachers’ judgement of disruptive behavior/students PA Schutz M Zembylas Eds Advances in Teacher Emotion Research: The Impact on Teachers’ Lives Springer Dordrecht 95 127

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • J Chen 2019 Exploring the impact of teacher emotions on their approaches to teaching: A structural equation modelling approach British Journal of Educational Psychology 89 1 57 74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C Day Q Gu 2011 Teacher emotions: Well being and effectiveness PA Schutz M Zembylas Eds Advances in Teacher Emotion Research Springer Heidelberg 15 31

    Google Scholar 

  • P Ekman 2004 Emotions revealed. Understanding faces and feelings Phoenix London

    Google Scholar 

  • A Ellis 1962 Reason and emotion in psychotherapy Lyle Stuart New York

    Google Scholar 

  • S Farouk 2012 What can the self-conscious emotion of guilt tell us about primary school teachers’ moral purpose and the relationships they have with their pupils? Teachers and Teaching 18 4 491 507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M Flávia S Teixeira E Mortimer 2003 How emotions shape the relationship between a chemistry teacher and her high school students International Journal of Science Education 25 9 1095 1110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J Fraenkel N Wallen H Hyun 2012 How to design and evaluate research in education (8th) McGraw-Hill Higher Education Columbus

    Google Scholar 

  • AC Frenzel 2014 Teacher emotions R Pekrun L Linnenbrink-Garcia Eds International handbook of emotions in education Routledge New York 494 519

    Google Scholar 

  • AC Frenzel T Goetz EJ Stephens B Jacob 2009 Antecedents and effects of teachers’ emotional experiences: An integrated perspective and empirical test P Schutz M Zembylas Eds Advances in Teacher Emotion Research Springer Boston 129 151

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fried, L. (2011). Teaching teachers about emotion regulation in the classroom. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(3). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2011v36n3.1

  • A Garritz 2010 Personal reflection: Pedagogical content knowledge and the affective domain of scholarship of teaching and learning International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 4 2 Article 26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • S Gong X Chai T Duan L Zhong Y Jiao 2013 Chinese teachers’ emotion regulation goals and strategies Psychology 4 11 870 877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JJ Gross 1998 The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review Review of General Psychology 2 271 299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JJ Gross 1998 Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74 224 237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JJ Gross 2002 Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences Psychophysiology 39 281 291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JJ Gross 2015 Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects Psychological Inquiry 26 1 1 26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G Hagenauer T Hascher SE Volet 2015 Teacher emotions in the classroom: Associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal teacher-student relationship European Journal of Psychology of Education 30 4 385 403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A Hargreaves 1998 The emotional practice of teaching Teaching and Teacher Education 14 8 835 854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • A Hargreaves 2005 Educational change takes ages: Life, career and generational factors in teachers’ emotional responses to educational change Teaching and Teacher Education 21 8 967 983

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • J Jiang M Vauras S Volet Y Wang 2016 Teachers’ emotions and emotion regulation strategies: Self- and students’ perceptions Teaching and Teacher Education 54 22 31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • E Labone 2004 Teacher Efficacy: Maturing the construct through research in alternative paradigms Teaching and Teacher Education 20 4 341 359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • RS Lazarus 1991 Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion American Psychologist 46 8 819 834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linnenbrink, E. A. (2007). The role of affect in student learning. In P. A. Schutz, & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotion in education (pp. 107e124). New York: Academic

  • EA Linnenbrink PR Pintrich 2002 Achievement goal theory and affect: An asymmetrical bidirectional model Educational Psychologist 37 2 69 78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • S Magnusson J Krajcik H Borko 1999 Nature, sources, and development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching J Gess-Newsome NG Lederman Eds Examining pedagogical content knowledge: The construct and its implications for science education Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht 95 132

    Google Scholar 

  • D Matsumoto 1990 Cultural similarities and differences in display rules Motivation and Emotion 14 3 195 214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L Melo-Niño F Cañada V Mellado 2017 Initial characterization of Colombian high school physics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge on electric fields Research in Science Education 47 1 25 48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FC Murphy SI Nimmo AD Lawrence 2003 Functional neuroanatomy of emotions: A meta-analysis Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 3 207 233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • S Park JS Oliver 2008 Revisiting the conceptualisation of pedagogical content knowledge (Pck): Pck as a conceptual tool to understand teachers as professionals Research in Science Education 38 3 261 284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MQ Patton 2015 Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice Sage Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • R Pekrun 2006 The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice Educational Psychology Review 18 4 315 341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Pekrun L Linnenbrink-Garcia 2014 Introduction to emotions in education R Pekrun L Linnenbrink-Garcia Eds International handbook of emotions in education Routledge New York 11 20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • R Pekrun RP Perry 2014 Control-value theory of achievement emotions R Pekrun L Linnenbrink-Garcia Eds International handbook of emotions in education Routledge New York 120 141

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • R Pekrun PA Schutz 2007 Where do we go from here? Implications and future directions for inquiry on emotions in education PA Schutz R Pekrun Eds Emotion in Education Elsevier Academic Press Amsterdam; Boston 313 331

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • R Pekrun T Goetz W Titz RP Perry 2002 Academic emotions in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research Educational Psychology 37 91 106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Pekrun AC Frenzel T Goetz RP Perry 2007 The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education PA Schutz R Pekrun Eds Emotion in Education Elsevier Academic Press Amsterdam; Boston 13 36

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • J Retelsdorf R Butler L Streblow U Schiefele 2010 Teachers’ goal orientations for teaching: Associations with instructional practices, interest in teaching, and burnout Learning and Instruction 20 1 30 46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SM Ritchie K Tobin P Hudson WM Roth V Mergard 2011 Reproducing successful rituals in bad times: Exploring emotional interactions of a new science teacher Science Education 95 4 745 765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SM Ritchie K Tobin M Sandhu S Sandhu S Henderson WM Roth 2013 Emotional arousal of beginning physics teachers during extended experimental investigations Journal of Research in Science Teaching 50 2 137 161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SM Ritchie P Hudson A Bellocchi S Henderson D King K Tobin 2016 Evolution of self-reporting methods for identifying discrete emotions in science classrooms Cultural Studies of Science Education 11 3 577 593

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M Rosaldo 1984 Toward an anthropology of self and feeling R Shweder R Levine Eds Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion Cambridge University Press New York 137 157

    Google Scholar 

  • J Russo J Bobis P Sullivan A Downton S Livy M McCormick S Hughes 2020 Exploring the relationship between teacher enjoyment of mathematics, their attitudes towards student struggle and instructional time amongst early years primary teachers Teaching and Teacher Education 88 102983

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • KR Scherer 1986 Vocal affect expression: A review and a model for future research Psychological Bulletin 99 2 143 165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • KR Scherer 2005 What are emotions? And how can they be measured? Social Science Information 44 4 695 729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • RM Schneider K Plasman 2011 Science teacher learning progressions: A review of science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge development Review of Educational Research 81 4 530 565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • V Schuman KR Scherer 2014 Concepts and structures of emotions R Pekrun L Linnenbrink-Garcia Eds International handbook of emotions in education Routledge New York 13 35

    Google Scholar 

  • PA Schutz M Lee 2014 Teacher emotion, emotional labor and teacher identity J Dios de M Agudo Eds English as a foreign language teacher education: Current perspectives and challenges Rodopi Amsterdam 169 186

  • PA Schutz JY Hong DI Cross JN Osbon 2006 Reflections on investigating emotion in educational activity settings Educational Psychology Review 18 4 343 360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L Shulman 1987 Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the New Reform Harvard Educational Review 57 1 1 22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • L Shulman 2015 PCK: Its Genesis and Exodus A Berry P Friedrichsen J Loughran Eds Re-examining pedagogical content knowledge in science education Routledge New York 3 13

    Google Scholar 

  • G Sinatra S Broughton D Lombardi 2014 Emotions in science education R Pekrun L Linnembrink-Garcia Eds International Handbook of Emotions in Education Routledge New York 415 436

    Google Scholar 

  • A Strauss J Corbin 1990 Open coding A Strauss J Corbin Eds Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques (2nd) Sage Publications Thousand Oaks 101 121

    Google Scholar 

  • RE Sutton 2004 Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers Social Psychology of Education 7 379 398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, R. E. (2007). Teachers’ anger, frustration, and self-regulation. In P. A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotions in Education. San Diego: Elsevier

  • RE Sutton E Harper 2009 Teachers’ emotion regulation LJ Saha AG Dworkin Eds International handbook of research on teachers and teaching Springer New York 389 401

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • RE Sutton KF Wheatley 2003 Teachers’ emotions and teaching: A review of the literature and directions for future research Educational Psychology Review 15 4 327 358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JL Taxer AC Frenzel 2015 Facets of teachers’ emotional lives: A quantitative investigation of teachers’ genuine, faked, and hidden emotions Teaching and Teacher Education 49 78 88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • JL Taxer JJ Gross 2018 Emotion regulation in teachers: The “why” and “how” Teaching and Teacher Education 74 180 189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • K Trigwell 2012 Relations between teachers’ emotions in teaching and their approaches to teaching in higher education Instructional Science 40 3 607 621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • W Tsai AS Lau 2013 Cultural differences in emotion regulation during self-reflection on negative personal experiences Cognition and Emotion 27 3 416 429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CN Tsouloupas RL Carson R Matthews MJ Grawitch LK Barber 2010 Exploring the association between teachers’ perceived student misbehaviour and emotional exhaustion: The importance of teacher efficacy beliefs and emotion regulation Educational Psychology 30 2 173 189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • H Wang NC Hall T Goetz AC Frenzel 2017 Teachers’ goal orientations: Effects on classroom goal structures and emotions British Journal of Educational Psychology 87 1 90 107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EM Yan IM Evans ST Harvey 2011 Observing emotional interactions between teachers and students in elementary school classrooms Journal of Research in Childhood Education 25 1 82 97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • RK Yin 2014 Case study research: Design and methods (5th) Sage Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • M Zembylas 2002 Constructing genealogies of teachers’ emotions in science teaching Journal of Research in Science Teaching 39 1 79 103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • M Zembylas 2007 Emotional ecology: The intersection of emotional knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in teaching Teaching and Teacher Education 23 4 355 367

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by Scientific Research Project Grants Council of Harran University under Grant Harran-BAP: 17220.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Middle East Technical University, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

    Esen Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci & Esra Sarici

  2. Faculty of Education, Harran University, 63190, Sanliurfa, Turkey

    Zubeyde Demet Kirbulut

  3. Faculty of Education, Ataturk University, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey

    Ozlem Oktay

Authors
  1. Esen Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zubeyde Demet Kirbulut
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ozlem Oktay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Esra Sarici
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Esen Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci, E., Kirbulut, Z.D., Oktay, O. et al. A Qualitative Examination of Science Teachers’ Emotions, Emotion Regulation Goals and Strategies. Res Sci Educ 52, 1131–1155 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-020-09986-y

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-020-09986-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation