Emotions and participation in non-formal contexts. Cases of weaving workshop and a professional course lifeguard

Abstract

In this paper we set out to discover and describe the emotional dynamics and forms of  participation that are deployed in the development of a learning community. Two case studies were analyzed: Weaving Workshop and Professional Course Lifeguard, both considered as non formal learning contexts. For each case, we discuss the methodology used, referring to the participants and data collection instruments used. Then, we present the main results in relation to how it developed the emotional dynamics of the participants and how they were displaying the different trajectories of participation in each context.    In the final discussions, we highlight the importance of community in the emergence of emotional dynamics of groups, which in turn impacts the community by contributing to cohesion and progress toward achieving shared goals among  participants.