Affective factors and student achievement: a quantitative and qualitative study

The affective domain can be used to support the internalization of cognitive content and foster the development of curriculum and industry-related interests, attitudes, values, and practices. During a two-year period, using validated instruments, the authors measured student interest, value, effort, perceived competence, lack of pressure, student-peer belonging, and student-faculty belonging. Initial findings included a positive correlation between each affective factor and course grade, a significant decrease in the levels of affective factors over the course term, and a lessening of those decreases with the use of specific affective objectives and instructional strategies. The current study built upon these initial results by incorporating new quantitative and qualitative data for each affective factor. The paper reports on the results of these analyses and offers practical suggestions and instructional guidelines based upon the findings. These findings appear to be broadly applicable throughout our curriculum and could extend to other science, mathematics, engineering, and technology disciplines.