Do students learn from video lessons presented by pedagogical agents of different racial and gender types equivalently to those delivered by a real human instructor? How do the race and gender of these agents impact students' learning experiences and outcomes? In this between-subject design study, college students were randomly assigned to view a…

Gamification is usually defined as the use of game structure components in circumstances that are not commonly associated with games. In engineering studies, Gamification and its sub-concept of Serious Games are rather widespread pedagogical models. Just like in other application scopes, the approach to their utilisation or analysis is always…

Past studies of emotion and mood on memory have mostly focused on the learning of emotional material in the laboratory or on the consequences of a punctate catastrophic event. However, the influence of a long-lasting global condition on memory and learning has not been studied. The COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately offered a unique situation to…

Anxiety is a common affective state, characterized by the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over an anticipated event. Anxiety is suspected to have important negative consequences on cognition, decision-making, and learning. Yet, despite a recent surge in studies investigating the specific effects of anxiety on reinforcement-learning, no…

Objective: To better understand the current perspectives of Black college and university students in the U.S., it is important to consider the system of injustice they navigate throughout their lifespan characterized by oppression and discrimination. This dissertation examined the impact of racism and discrimination on coping ability, sense of…

Using a positive psychological framework, Broaden-and-Build Theory, we investigated whether and how positive and negative emotions (affective factors) and cognitive flexibility are related to flourishing. Participants are 151 bilingual adults from diverse backgrounds enrolled in a local community college. Results showed that both positive and…

Language learners' positive and negative emotions were integrated with their social anxiety and their suppression in technology-enhanced learning environments. A total of 878 Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners participated in this study. They completed a Computer Technology Integration Questionnaire (CTIQ), an Emotion Regulation…

It is well documented that exercise plays a critical role in maintaining physical health. More recently, a growing body of research has begun to focus on the mental benefits of exercise ranging from reducing depression to enhancing various cognitive abilities like memory and attention. These abilities are paramount for learning to occur, and thus,…

We surveyed a convenience sample of 362 Italian university physics students, asking them to retrospectively assess their experience of emergency remote instruction due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We looked at their psychological well being, motivation for physics, academic orientation, attitude towards physics and physicists, and tried to link these…

People thrive in compassionate environments. For autistic people, their environments are often non-conducive to care and support. We propose that cultivating autistic people's self-compassion may be an antidote to the mental health difficulties arising from environmental causes. The current study aimed to pilot a self-guided online self-compassion…

Background: Multiple interventions have been tested to promote well-being in high school students, often focusing on depression prevention. Aims: To test the impact of a one-semester active learning curriculum covering the modern science and philosophy of well-being and happiness on attitudinal measures related to the curriculum and standard…

This study examined the extent to which students' perceptions of social-emotional instructional support (autonomy-support, competence-support) from teachers is associated with their perceived social-emotional competence and, in turn, behavioural and emotional well-being outcomes. Two types of perceived competence were examined: perceived…

The role of motivation, temperament, personality and well-being as predicting propensity factors for mathematical abilities was investigated in 30 adults. By embedding these predictors in the Opportunity-Propensity framework, this study aimed to reveal their unique contribution in math development, which is important to improve mathematics…

In-person field education through exploration is fundamental in geoscience, but equal access is limited by time, cost, safety, distance, physical ability, and instructor variability. Technology advances allow students to explore pedagogically rich but inaccessible places through virtual field trips (VFTs). Studies show that VFTs result in…

There is a dearth of research on how alternative models of grit predict well-being outcomes. In this research, we examine associations among the "Triarchic Model of Grit" dimensions (i.e. perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and adaptability to situations) and positive and negative emotions. We also explore the mediating…