Synchronization: a framework for examining emotional climate in classes

This conceptual paper stems from a growing body of research examining the roles and functions of emotional climate (EC)—the collective state of students’ shared emotions—in classrooms. It suggests that EC in classrooms can be analyzed as a synchronization phenomenon. Synchronization is a natural phenomenon, in which autonomous objects that produce periodic rhythms adjust these rhythms to one another. The purpose of this article is thus twofold: to position the concept of EC within the broader context of synchronization theory; and to propose a new definition for EC that captures synchronization aspects. This paper first explains the theory of synchronization. It then critically discusses several sociological and biological theories regarding emotions, and the implications of these theories for teaching and learning. It subsequently delves into current conceptualizations of EC, and the descriptors used to characterize EC in classrooms. On the backdrop of this theoretical review, an argument is developed that humans’ produced emotions can be viewed as autonomous rhythmic oscillators that have the capacity to synchronize with one another, and that, consequently, EC can be studied as a form of synchronization within an ensemble of oscillators. Finally, a new definition of EC is proposed that integrates essential synchronization features. Overall, this paper suggests that synchronization theory can provide a framework of analysis of EC as a holistic phenomenon, not reduced to discrete emotional events. This approach may contribute to enhancing explanatory and predictive capacities in the study of EC.