Author:
Paula S. Loures-Elias Ana,L. Bernacki Matthew
Abstract
This study investigates the association between help-seeking behaviors (hints, hints per step, hints with steps requests, and hint to error), affect (boredom, confusion, frustration, happiness, and engagement), and performance in seventh and eighth-grade students using the Cognitive Tutor Bridge to Algebra as a self-regulated learning environment. Analyses focused on correlations between students’ help-seeking behaviors and their affect in units 4 and 14. Affect was also used to predict help-seeking behaviors in the next units (e.g., 5 and 15). Moreover, we examined how associations between help-seeking behaviors and performance differed as a function of affect. The results showed that a pattern emerged in which students showed more executive help-seeking behaviors rather than instrumental ones. Students feeling bored, confused, and frustrated tended to use more hints, and they were less likely to switch to external help-seeking sources. Also, those feeling happy or engaged were less likely to use hints.