Description of Interest Theory - Outlines

Interest Definitions

• Interest: a topic-specific motivational state that arises from attraction to a particular domain of activity
• When piqued, enhances one’s attention, effort, and learning
• Situational interest: triggered by external factors and exists as a short-term attraction to a learning activity
• Something sparks the student’s interest, and the short-lived interest sparks spontaneous engagement
• Individual interest: more stable and content-specific
• Develops over time as a personal disposition
• The student’s unique developmental history creates a clear preference to direct his attention and effort toward a particular activity, situation, or subject matter
• Several factors explain what happens when students develop an interest:
• Something about the presentation of that activity can catch students’ interest
• Students harbor needs and preferences-when class activities involve these inner resources, students feel interest; when class activities neglect these resources students feel little or no interest
• Prior knowledge in a subject area is also a particularly valuable antecedent to high interest-the more knowledge one has about a topic, the more interesting it becomes; the more interesting it is the more likely one is to attend to, process, comprehend, and remember information about that topic

Interest Theory Outline

1. Main motivational patterns:
1. Individual interest
• Emerging
• Well-developed
2. Situational interest
   • Triggered (catch facets/factors)
   • Maintained (hold facets/factors)
2. How they affect learning:
1. Attention-the more students pay attention to the topic, the more likely they will attain/keep interest
2. Effort-students’ effort (participation) will initiate more interest
3. Learning-students must learn about the topic: the more they know and can draw from previous knowledge, the more interest they will have
4. Likes/dislikes: preferences: choices
5. Sparking curiosity
6. More knowledge: more interest (pre-existing)-knowing the students’ preferences will allow teachers to increase interest on individual levels
3. How interest is undermined:
1. Too many rewards = lower intrinsic motivation/seen as annoying
2. Irrelevant but interesting features = distraction from main topics/fails to facilitate learning
3. Too much socializing = failure to accomplish mastery of material
4. Refusal to conceptually change = failure to gain interest in resolving disequilibrium
5. Novel task too confusing = interference with attainment of learning objective
6. Novel task lacks multiple motivational attributes = loss of effectiveness
4. Classroom effectiveness:
1. Attention: use catch and hold factors; engage in activities relative to daily life/personal experience
2. Effort activities: implement student-directed activities
3. In books/stories, spark curiosity by making the author present (visible author-a.k.a. 1st person point of view)
4. In lectures/conversations, enhance social interaction by sharing appropriate personal info (visible author) and asking the students about their interests, etc.
5. Learning: give students choices, incorporate student involvement, use hands-on tasks
6. Preferences: teachers have no control over students’ preferences, but can gear lessons towards student preferences; give students choices for assessment/projects
7. More knowledge: relate lessons to students, use crosscutting themes; experience with topic-not necessary but exposure/awareness is

Situational Interest Outline