Emotions influencing learning are often overlooked in engineering education, which emphasizes rationality and technical competence. However, recent studies highlight the impact of emotional experiences on outcomes such as academic achievement, engagement, and persistence, particularly for first-year engineering students facing transitional challenges. This study explores how emotional factors, specifically valence and arousal, affect the early transformative experiences of these students. Drawing on the Circumplex Model of Affect and Transformative Learning Theory, it examines how these affective dimensions intersect with the transformative learning journey. Data were collected through surveys including a validated emotion scale and the Learning Activities Survey (LAS) instrument. Results reveal a strong match between students’ affective measures and their transformative learning experience. Findings highlight the need for emotionally intelligent teaching practices to support students’ transformative experience, resilience, personal growth, and academic development. Integrating emotionally responsive pedagogical approaches can better prepare students for the complexities of academic and professional engineering environments.
AtiqS.LouiM. C. (2022). A qualitative study of emotions experienced by first-year engineering students during programming tasks. School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications. Paper 75. https://doi.org/10.1145/3507696
BowmanF. M.BalcarcelR. R.JenningsG. K.RogersB. R. (2003). Frontiers of Chemical Engineering: A Chemical Engineering Freshman Seminar. Chemical Engineering Education, 37(1), 24–29. https://journals.flvc.org/cee/article/view/122767.
4.
BrookfieldS. D. (2012). Teaching for critical thinking: Tools and techniques to help students question their assumptions. Jossey-Bass.
5.
CarterP. L.NicolaidesA. (2023). Transformative learning: An emotional (r)evolution. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2023(177), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20476
ChiuY. Y. (2025). Transformative learning: Reflection on the emotional experiences of schoolteachers during and after the pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1486449. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1486449
8.
ChubbuckS. M.ZembylasM. (2008). The emotional ambivalence of socially just teaching: A case study of a novice urban schoolteacher. American Educational Research Journal, 45(2), 274–318. https://doi.org/10.3102/000283120731158
9.
CrantonP. (2016). Understanding and promoting transformative learning edition 3 A guide to theory and practice (3rd Edition). Stylus Publishing, LLC.
10.
FengX.SundmanJ.AarnioH.TakaM.KeskinenM.VarisO. (2024). Towards transformative learning: Students’ disorienting dilemmas and coping strategies in interdisciplinary problem-based learning. European Journal of Engineering Education, 50(2), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2024.2424197
11.
FornerisS. G.Peden-McAlpineC. (2007). Evaluation of a reflective learning intervention to improve critical thinking in novice nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 57(4), 410–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04120.x
JaiswalA.PrinceB.Krishnan JoshiV. (2024). Emotion regulation and academic motivation in first-year STEM students. 2024 Annual ASEE Conference & Exposition.
14.
JoslynC.HynesM. M. (2022). Using transformative learning theory to explore student points of view in a second-year mechanical engineering design course: A collaborative action research approach. European Journal of Engineering Education, 47(5), 698–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2022.2031894
15.
KingK. P. (2006). A guide to perspective transformation learning activities: The learning activities survey (LAS) manual. Leadership, Counseling, Adult, Career and Higher Education Faculty Publications.
16.
KitchenhamA. (2008). The evolution of John Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Journal of Transformative Education, 6(2), 104–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344608322678
17.
LangeE. A. (2015). Transformative learning and sustainability: Moving beyond environmental perspectives. Journal of Transformative Education, 13(1), 43–60.
18.
LaRoweL. R.Connell BohlenL.WilliamsD. M. (2024). There is no happiness in positive affect: The pervasive misunderstanding of the rotated circumplex model. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1301428. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1301428
19.
LiuY.MaS.ChenY. (2024). The impacts of learning motivation, emotional engagement and psychological capital on academic performance in a blended learning university course. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1357936. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1357936
20.
LönngrenJ.BellocchiA.BergeM.BøgelundP.DireitoI.HuffJ. L.Mohd‐YusofK.MurziH.Farahwahidah Abdul RahmanN.TormeyR. (2024). Emotions in engineering education: A configurative meta-synthesis systematic review. Journal of Engineering Education, 113(4), 1287–1326. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20600
21.
MarottaJ. A. (2024). Transformative learning and professional advancement during an EdD program. Impacting Education Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 9(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.5195/ie.2024.402
22.
MartinJ. P.SteflS. K.CainL. W.PfirmanA. L. (2020). Understanding first-generation undergraduate engineering students’ entry and persistence through social capital theory. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020-00237-0
23.
MezirowJ. (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood. In Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning (pp. 1–20). Jossey-Bass.
24.
MezirowJ. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. Jossey-Bass.
PaigeR. M.GoodeM. L. (2009). Intercultural competence in international education: Assessment and transformation. Intercultural Education, 20(S1-2), S127–S142.
27.
RafieeY.SchachtA. (2023). Sex differences in emotion recognition: Investigating the moderating effects of stimulus features. Cognition & Emotion, 37(5), 863–873. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2023.2222579
28.
RajuG. M.KwuimyC. A. K.LimY. S. (2025). Development and validation of a circumplex-based affective-state scale for first-year engineering students. Education Sciences, 15(12), 1605. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15121605
29.
ReidK.ReepingD.SpingolaE. (2018). A taxonomy for introduction to engineering courses. International Journal of Engineering Education, 34(1), 2–19.
RussellJ. A.Feldman BarrettL. (1999). Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(5), 805–819. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.5.805
34.
ShandliyaS.KwuimyC. (2024). Assessing transformative learning outcomes of a First-Year Engineering Program using TROPOS (Full Paper). In Proceedings from the 15th annual first-year engineering experience conference (FYEE). Boston, Massachusetts: American Society for Engineering Education.
35.
ShandliyaS.KwuimyC. (2026) (In press). Exploring the Transformative Learning Potential of First-Year Engineering Experience. Journal of Engineering Education.
36.
ShandliyaS.KwuimyC.LimY. (Forthcoming) Assessing transformative learning experiences in engineering formation: A modification and validation of the learning activities survey. Journal of Transformative Education.
37.
ShandliyaS.KwuimyC.YoonS. Y. (2024). Exploring the relationship between student characteristics and their transformative experience from short-term study abroad programs. In Proceedings from the 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. American Society for Engineering Education.
38.
ShandliyaS.RajuG.YoonS. Y.KwuimyC. (2023a). Exploring transformative learning from a summer bridge program. In Proceedings from the 2023 ASEE annual conference & exposition. American Society for Engineering Education. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--43659
39.
ShandliyaSukeertiYoonSo YoonRajuGibinKwuimyCedrick A. K. (2023b). Engineering Students’ Transformative Learning Experiences from A Virtual International Collaborative Experiential Program. In Proceedings from the 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1–6). IEEE. https://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343429.
40.
StanisławskiK.CieciuchJ.StrusW. (2021). Ellipse rather than a circumplex: A systematic test of various circumplexes of emotions. Personality and Individual Differences, 181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111052
41.
StanisławskiK.JabłońskaK. E.SkurkaM. (2025). A revised Coping Circumplex Model integrating coping and emotion regulation constructs. Current Psychology, 44, 15723–15744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08142-x
42.
TaylorE. W.SynderM. J. (2012). A critical review of research on transformative learning theory, 2006-2010. In The Handbook of Transformative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice (pp. 37–55). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
43.
TienD. T. K.NamasivayamS. N.PonniahL. S. (2019). A review of transformative learning theorywith regards to its potential application inengineering education. In Proceedings of the International Engineering Research Conference - 12TH EURECA 2019 (2137). AIP Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5121003
44.
TsaiJ. L.KnutsonB.FungH. H. (2006). Cultural variation in affect valuation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(2), 288–307. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.2.288
45.
TsimaneT.DowningC. (2020). A model to facilitate transformative learning in nursing education. International Journal of Nursing Science, 7(3), 269–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2020.04.006
46.
TurnsJ.SattlerB.YasuharaK.Borgford-ParnellJ.AtmanJ. (2014). Integrating reflection into engineering education. In: ASEE annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--20668
47.
WitherbyA. E.TauberS. K. (2017). Monitoring of learning for emotional faces: How do fine-grained categories of emotion influence participants’ judgments of learning and beliefs about memory?Cognition and Emotion, 32(4), 860–866. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2017.1360252
YikM.RussellJ. A.SteigerJ. H. (2011). A 12-point circumplex structure of core affect. Emotion, 11(4), 705–731. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023980
50.
YinH.GohT. T.HuY. (2024). Interactions with educational chatbots: The impact of induced emotions and students’ learning motivation. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 21(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00480-3
