Epistemic emotions during math problem-solving among children with specific learning disorder in mathematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the level of difficulty of mathematical questions trigger the epistemic emotions (confusion, surprise, curiosity, enjoyment, anxiety, frustration and boredom) between students with mathematical disability (MLD) and high achievement (HA) during math problem-solving. The method of this study was causal comparative. The statistical population of this study are all students from the 5th and 6th grade in Shiraz, which according to our purpose was: 15 with math disability (5 girls and 10 boys), and 15 with high achievement (8 girls and 9 boys). The statistical method of this study was repeated measures ANOVA and MANOVA. The results showed that the level of difficulty of the questions increased the anxiety, frustration, and boredom of students with math disabilities compared to HA group while the surprise was decreased, but there was no significant difference in the excitement and curiosity between the two groups. These findings show that the difficulty of the questions is significant, but what is remarkable about the findings is the role of math disabilities in addition to the level of difficulty plays in inducing these emotions.