The purpose of this study was to explore affect in small groups learning
together face-to-face in a virtual learning environment. The specific
aims of the study were to establish how affect within groups (valence,
intensity) related to the quality of group outcome (high, average, low),
and to capture individual differences within the groups by using a
multimethod approach. Participants were six groups of three high school
students (N = 18) who achieved distinct outcome levels.
Students’ self-reports of their affect and observed affect
(researcher-coded selected segments from videos) were used to examine
affect during three phases of interdisciplinary science inquiry, namely,
planning the experiment, experimenting in the virtual laboratory, and
concluding and preparing a joint group presentation. The overall results
showed that positive affect was prevalent in both self-reports and
researcher-coded observations across all phases. However, while
self-reports displayed a strong dominance of positive affect, there was
more variation in observed affect. Furthermore, the intensity of affect
was higher in self-reports than in observations, for both positive and
negative affect. Nonetheless, no effect of affect on group outcome was
found. Finally, while within-group consistency in affect was evident in
the extreme groups (high, low performance), it was more ambivalent in
the groups that achieved an average performance. The results are
discussed in light of the literature, and directions for future research
on affect in collaborative learning are proposed.