Mechanisms of Collective Knowledge Advancement in Knowledge-Building Communities: A Perspective from Epistemic Emotion

Abstract

This study investigates how epistemic emotions and discourse moves interact to support collective knowledge advancement in a university-level Knowledge Building environment. Thirty-five undergraduate students participated in a ten-week interdisciplinary course using Knowledge Forum®, where they collaboratively engaged in progressive inquiry and tagged their notes with self-reported epistemic emotions. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining learning analytics and content analysis to compare high and low contributors, alongside thematic analysis of high-engagement discourse episodes. Quantitative results showed that high contributors expressed significantly more epistemic emotions of challenge, neutrality, and enjoyment, and employed more advanced discourse moves, including sustained inquiry and explanation improvement. Qualitative analysis revealed three affective–discursive mechanisms: (1) emotion-driven inquiry that stimulated conceptual expansion, (2) emotionally positioned theorizing that supported conceptual deepening, and (3) emotion-regulated synthesis that enabled collaborative integration of ideas. These findings suggest that epistemic emotions are not peripheral to learning but act as cognitive resources that shape the development of progressive discourse.