Analyzing Emotional and Cognitive Responses in Engineering Students: A Study in Blended Laboratory Learning Environments
2025 AIChE Annual Meeting
Analyzing Emotional and Cognitive Responses in Engineering Students: A Study in Blended Laboratory Learning Environments
Students’ emotional and cognitive responses strongly shape their motivation, engagement, and persistence in challenging coursework. This within-subjects (repeated measures) pilot study leaned on Control-Value Theory (CVT) to explore how students describe their perceived learning as it emerges through authentic, relational, and tool-mediated learning activities in blended laboratory settings (online and in-person).This mixed-methods study followed 11 mechanical and biomedical engineering undergraduates through four weeks of online instruction using small-scale laboratory kits for fluid flow (FLU) and heat exchanger (HEX) experiments (designed after traditional Unit Operations Laboratory) and one week of in-person replication of the same experiments in a traditional lab environment. Data was collected through surveys and focus group discussions conducted before, during, and after the conclusion of presented materials. The qualitative data was analyzed through deductive thematic analysis based on CVT.
Preliminary analysis suggests that positive emotions such as curiosity and enjoyment enhanced cognitive engagement and increased the students' perceived value, while negative emotions, particularly frustration, often hindered attention and confidence in remote settings. Students also described how tool-mediated activities fostered a sense of authenticity but required additional peer and instructor support to mitigate cognitive overload. These findings provide insight into the relationship between emotions and cognition in laboratory learning environments and how they change over time in the given setting allowing the future development of more efficient blended learning environments.
