Interest in the role of emotion within mathematics education has increased in recent decades. Within a case-study framework, I explored how an Affective Instructional Design (AID) supported an early years teacher develop the capacity to change her instructional approaches, influenced her mathematic affect, and the affective experiences of her students. My conceptualisation for AID is based on an integrated framework approach drawing from emotion-learning theory, instructional design theory, and teaching and learning mathematics theory to integrate affect and cognition throughout the instructional process. Participants included 15 kindergarten children and their class teacher from a K-12 school in Tennessee, USA. Measures included teacher interviews, video recordings of 13 mathematics lessons, and field notes. Findings from this small study suggest instructional supports such as AID influence teacher capacity to bridge new learning and enacted practice; preliminary findings indicate AID contributed to a rise in positive teacher and learner affect, and improved teacher capacity to plan and implement quality mathematics learning environments.

This study explores the relationship between an Affective Instructional Design (AID), children’s attitudes toward math, and math learning. Participants included 15 kindergarten children at a university K-12 laboratory school located in East Tennessee. This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest-intervention (AID)-posttest design. Data, including pretest/posttest attitude surveys, and baseline and intervention non-participant video observations of math learning and math attitudes, during 13 math lessons were coded and analyzed. As hypothesized, a significant positive correlation (r = 0.936, p = 0.000) was found between attitude and math learning. Additionally significant differences were found between the baseline (pre-intervention) mean score and the final intervention lesson for both math attitude, t(14) = -12.39, p = 0.008, and math learning, t(14) = -8.40, p = 0.002.These findings suggest AID could be one route to supporting educators in establishing quality learning environments that promote positive attitudes and meaningful learning in mathematics.