Pupils' Interest Before,During, and After a Curriculum Dealing With Ecological Topics and its Relationship With Achievement

We surveyed interest in ecology prior, during, and after an ecological unit of 14 lessons (“Ecosystem Lake”). Achievement was assessed in a pretest (T-1), a class test (T-2; used for grading), and a retention test (T-3). We found a main effect of stratification on the level of interest in ecology after the educational unit (pupils from the highest stratification were more interested) but not of gender. As expected, the pre-treatment interest scores showed a highly significant influence on the post-treatment scores. Apart from interest prior to the study, situational interest measured during the educational unit also significantly influenced interest after the treatment. Positive correlations between all 3 interest scales and between interest scales and achievement scores were found. Thus, both predisposition and situational interest influence achievement. However, using regression revealed that prior interest had the strongest impact on achievement.