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Affective Factors in STEM Learning and Scientific Inquiry: Assessment of Cognitive Conflict and Anxiety

Cognitive conflict is well recognized as an important factor in conceptual change and is widely used in developing inquiry-based curricula. However, cognitive conflict can also contribute to student anxiety during learning, which can have both positive and negative impacts on students' motivation and learning achievement. Therefore, instructors need to be informed of the impacts of introducing cognitive conflicts during teaching. To get this information, teachers need a practical instrument that can help them identify the existence and features of cognitive conflict introduced by the instruction and the resulting anxiety. Based on the literature on studies of cognitive conflict and student anxiety, a quantitative instrument, the In-class Conflict and Anxiety Recognition Evaluation (iCARE), was developed and used to monitor the status of students' cognitive conflict and anxiety in the Physics by Inquiry (PBI) classes. This paper introduces this instrument and discusses the types of information that can be measured. Research and pedagogical values of this instrument are also discussed.