Affect in mathematical problem posing: conceptualization, advances, and future directions for research

The importance of this special issue is rooted in the idea that the cognitive and affective fields are interrelated and support each other in the learning process. For example, Pellegrino and Hilton (2012) have pointed out the centrality of both cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions in necessary skills for the twenty-first century. They list complex problem solving and creativity among the basic twenty-first-century cognitive skills that determine intellectual development, career readiness, and adaptation to exponential environmental changes. At the same time, they highlight socio-emotional skills such as positive self-evaluation and collaborative skills, responsibility and commitment, openness and flexibility to a variety of points of view, interest, and curiosity; these are usually considered to be components of affective and social development. From a dialectical perspective, Rothstein (2004) suggested that non-cognitive and cognitive abilities have the potential to mutually reinforce each other to maximize student learning, and Farrington et al. (2012) also maintained that cognitive and non-cognitive factors continually interact in essential ways to foster learning.