A Tentative Model on Emotions under Various Levels of Tension in Learning: Perspectives from Chinese I-Ching
Guey, Ching-chung

Abstract
This paper proposes a prediction model on students’ emotional fluctuations under different levels of pressure (from conditions of ease, and tension, to those of pressure, and over-pressure) in the course of learning. The proposed model is based mainly on principles of Chinese I-Ching, a school of thought dealing with changes. The internal attributes (Lower Gua in I-Ching) of individual learners will be defined in terms of three categories (i.e., active vs. passive (student), discovery vs. rote memory mode (materials), and aesthetic vs. knowledge level (objective), whereas the external (or situation-specific) attributes of individual learners will also be classified into three categories (i.e., process vs. product (assessment), constructivist vs. behaviorist (methodologies), and student-centered vs. teacher-centered (teacher). These six categories form a hexagram within which multi-level interactions exist. Principles of I-Ching are borrowed to interpret the uniqueness of each hexagram, and they help predict the changes (or fluctuations) of each corresponding emotional states relevant to learning under various levels of tension/pressure. Finally, this model proposes plausible measures on the bases of the dynamics involved in the hexagram to help learners’ reach optimal learning outcomes.

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