5th International Conference on Neuroscience and Mental Health

TBA

Virtual higher education requires instructional designs that address both cognitive and affective dimensions of learning. This study evaluated an emotion-informed instructional model that combines the nine instructional events of Gagné–Briggs with neuroeducational principles related to attention, active engagement, error feedback, consolidation, multimodal encoding, metacognition, and social-emotional engagement. The intervention was implemented in three theoretical–practical courses at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEMex) over one academic semester (approximately 16 weeks). The eight didactic techniques were deliberately aligned with the instructional sequence: mind and concept maps supported recall and stimulus presentation through visual-spatial and verbal encoding; text- and video-based discussion forums supported guided learning and feedback through collaborative interaction; problem-based learning/problem analysis and case analysis elicited performance and evaluation through active application and metacognitive reflection; and flowcharts and Ishikawa diagrams supported guided learning and retention/transfer through visual modeling of procedures and causal relations. A quantitative, quasi-experimental comparison was conducted using academic records from 169 students: a traditional-instruction control cohort (n = 73, 2023) and an experimental cohort receiving the proposed model (n = 96, 2024). The control condition consisted of one three-hour synchronous session per week delivered through Microsoft Teams, with conventional essays, reading summaries, and individual problem solving, without an explicit emotional criterion for selecting activities. Academic performance was higher in the experimental cohort for practical activities (M = 90.07, SD = 6.01) than in the control cohort (M = 82.91, SD = 12.06), Welch’s t(99) = 4.65, p < .001, and for the standardized final examination (M = 90.10, SD = 5.57 vs. M = 86.61, SD = 8.35), Welch’s t(119) = 3.09, p = .002. In the EDAOM subsample (n = 58; control = 21, experimental = 37), the proportion reporting that they used information-acquisition strategies “always” or “often” increased from 46% in the control cohort to 53% in the experimental cohort; perceived efficacy and orientation toward online learning were also more favorable, although changes were not uniform across all subscales. In the experimental Mood Meter subsample (n = 20), valence was positively associated with activity grades (Pearson’s r = .69, p < .001). This association should not be interpreted as evidence that positive emotion causes higher achievement. The original contribution is a practical, evidence-informed matrix that characterizes the valence and activation profiles of each technique and repositions students’ emotional self-reports as a diagnostic input for instructional selection. The findings support the feasibility of integrating affective evidence into virtual instructional design while recognizing the limits of a nonrandomized, context-specific study.