Situational interest and academic achievement in the active-learning classroom

The aim of the present study was to investigate how situational interest develops over time and how it is related to academic achievement in an active-learning classroom. Five measures of situational interest were administered at critical points in time to 69 polytechnic students during a one-day, problem-based learning session. Results revealed that situational interest significantly increased after the problem stimulus was presented. Subsequently, situational interest gradually decreased but at the end of the day increased again. Testing a path model relating the situational interest measures showed strong (directional) interrelations. Moreover, situational interest was highly predictive for observed achievement-related classroom behaviors. The latter, in turn, proved to be a significant predictor of academic achievement. Aggregating situational interest over the day led to less accurate predictions of achievement-related classroom behaviors and academic achievement. Implications of these findings for situational interest research are discussed.     

Preservice teachers’ ideas about how to enhance pupils’ long-term interest in science

Background: The four-phase model of interest development is a widely accepted theoretical perspective on the development of long-term interest. Our future teachers will be faced with the task of developing their students’ long-term interest in science. Yet it is not known whether they have workable ideas for how to achieve this.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify preservice teachers’ ideas about how to increase students’ long-term interest in science.

Sample: The participants were 235 preservice primary teachers and 33 preservice secondary science teachers.

Design and Methods: Data collection was by questionnaire, interview and classroom observations.

Results: It was found that participants in both primary and secondary groups had very similar ideas about how to develop pupils’ long-term interest in science. These ideas mainly involved the use of hands-on activities, making science relevant, and using student-centred strategies or electronic media to make lessons fun and to enhance engagement. These can be interpreted as representing sources of situational interest (i.e. short-term interest arousal). These ideas broadly parallel the current theory on interest development, such that long-term individual interest is thought to develop from repeated experiences of short-term, situational interest.

Conclusion: The participants’ ideas in this study were intuitive, because they were not derived from an understanding of theory, but rather from their personal experiences of interest arousal at university, school and practicum. Nevertheless, their ideas were workable for a practitioner, because they broadly paralleled current theory on interest development.     

略论初中物理演示实验的教学

实验在物理教学中占据着重要的位置,特别是演示实验,它能活跃课堂气氛,提高教学效果,本文将讨论如何根据教学突出演示实验的趣味兴,可信性和示范性。     

Situational interest,cognitive engagement,and achievement in physical education

Students’ learning has been the center of schooling. This study examined the contribution of situational interest motivation and cognitive engagement in workbooks to student achievement in learning health-related fitness knowledge. Situational interest, performance on solving workbook problems, and knowledge gain in cardio-respiratory fitness and benefits were measured in 670 third-grade students from 13 randomly selected urban elementary schools. Structural equation modeling and regression curve estimation analyses revealed that situational interest contributed little to workbook performance and knowledge gain. Performance on solving workbook problems contributed significantly to knowledge gain. The results also show that skipping workbook tasks had stronger negative impact on knowledge gain than performing the tasks incorrectly, suggesting the importance of engaging students in the learning process by attempting the workbook tasks. The findings reinforced the value of using workbooks to facilitate cognitive knowledge learning in physical education, but raised questions about the direct function of situational interest on engaging students in cognitive learning.     

Interest development: Arousing situational interest affects the growth trajectory of individual interest

Interest has become a central topic in the educational-psychology literature and Hidi and Renninger’s (2006) four-phase model of interest development is its most recent manifestation. However, this model presently enjoys only limited empirical support. To contribute to our understanding of how individual interest in a subject develops in learners, two studies were conducted with primary school science students. The first study (N = 187) tested the assumption that repeated arousal of situational interest affects the growth of individual interest. Latent growth curve modeling was applied and the results suggest that the arousal of situational interest has a positive effect on the development of individual interest and significantly influences its growth trajectory. The second study tested the assumption that engaging students with interest-provoking didactic stimuli, such as problems, is critical to triggering situational interest and increasing individual interest. To test this assumption, four classes of primary school students (N = 129) were randomly assigned to two conditions in a quasi-experimental setup. The treatment condition received four situational-interest-inducing science problems as part of a course whereas the control condition did not, all other things being equal. The results of latent growth curve modeling revealed that only the group receiving problems experienced repeated arousal of situational interest and its related growth in individual interest. Implications for, and amendments to, the four-phase model of interest development are proposed.     

计算机基础课程的“情境”教学实践与分析

本文针对当前计算机基础课程教学中面临的突出问题,结合具体教学实例探讨在教学中如何采用以“情境式”的活跃课堂教学方法来激发学生的学习兴趣,实行教师指导下的学生自主性学习。     

Classroom discussion and individual problem-solving in the teaching of history: Do different instructional approaches affect interest in different ways?

In this study, 100 Italian eighth graders were divided into two groups to compare the effects of two instructional interventions – the first based on problem-solving through discussion, the second on individual problem-solving – on students' learning of two historical topics (World War I and the economic boom), interest and self-perception of competence in history. The intervention based on discussion produced greater situational interest and understanding of the historical inquiry. The topic of World War I turned out to be an effective source of situational interest. Structural equation models showed that situational interest elicited by the use of discussion and by World War I impacted both on students' individual interest and on self-perception of competence in history.     

美学笔记：情趣论

情趣是一个洋溢着诗意的美学语汇。人类生活的许多活动,由于情的注入,情的浸透,遂生出深浓的趣味。     

“热学”课堂教学多样性的途径与方法探讨

本文探讨了应用物理学专业基础课程＂热学＂课堂教学的多样性,介绍了丰富＂热学＂课堂教学的多种具体实施方法,这些方法提高了学生的学习兴趣及能力,取得了较好的教学效果。     

光学演示实验在理论课教学过程中的实践与探究

阐述了演示实验在理论教学课堂中对学生学习的重要性,探究大学课堂中波动光学演示实验的实施方案与过程以及存在的问题。     

How situational interest affects individual interest in a STEAM competition

ABSTRACT

Interest in educational research can be categorised into situational interest (SI) and individual interest (II); the sequential phases of interest development for learning have long been recognised as triggered SI, maintained SI, emerging II, and well-developed II. This study proposes an interest development model which involves SI and II mentally developed during students’ preparation for and participation in annual ‘PowerTech’ STEAM contests in Taiwan. In July 2015, data were first collected to examine students’ triggered SI, and 4 months later in the world contest to examine the local contest winning students’ maintained SI. Also, during the contest, data were collected on-site to examine the students’ emerging II. Finally, the same measurement tool was administered again for the world contest winning students 2 months later in February 2016. The results of this study showed that triggered SI is positively related to maintained SI. Maintained SI is positively related to emerging II, but it is not significantly related to well-developed II. Emerging II is positively related to well-developed II. The implication of this finding is that a well-designed competition may raise students’ SI so that emerging II and well-developed II could mature due to the effect of maintained SI.     

浅谈职业兴趣的内涵及其培养

职业选择需要考虑三个前提条件：即职业兴趣的确定、职业素质的具备和就业环境的准备.而笔者认为三个条件中职业兴趣的作用最为显著.许多研究指出,单独具备职业素质和就业环境并不能决定人职业生涯的成功,任何想在事业上取得成功的人,关键必须对自己的事业有强烈的兴趣.本文从职业兴趣的内涵入手,尝试阐述职业兴趣的定义、分类、影响其形成的因素,进而探讨职业兴趣的培养方法.     

论构建和谐社会利益协调的原则

解决利益矛盾、缓解利益冲突是构建社会主义和谐社会的前提和基础,因此,能否依据马克思主义的利益原则认识和处理当代中国社会的利益矛盾和利益冲突,使当代中国社会的各种利益能够在彼此协调的基础上快速地得到实现,已经成为关系改革开放进一步健康发展的重大课题。     

大学物理演示实验教学探索和实践

本文简述了大学物理演示实验在教学中的重要作用,着重结合我校演示实验教学内容的实际,介绍了大学物理演示实验的教学模式,对提高学生的学习兴趣、增强创新精神取得良好的教学效果。     

提高初中生写作效能感的教学实验

通过兴趣实验和策略实验两个教学实验,初步探讨了提高初中生写作效能感的教学策略。针对1196名初中生的九周的实验结果表明,激发写作兴趣和指导写作策略都能显著提高初中生的写作效能感,并对高低写作效能感组或男女生产生不同的效应。