The Role of Interest in Learning

What drives you to learn more? What is a hobby or skill not related to work or school that you can do really well? Why does that happen? Ever asked yourself these questions? More likely than not, a secret force sparked by curiosity took you "there", and maybe that force is interest. In this episode, we take a look at the early observations by educators and theorists about the role of interest in our learning process.?

1925 Vocational Education in a Democracy

Former high school teachers and early advocates of vocational education, C.R. Allen and C.A. Prosser publish the book Vocational Education in a Democracy. The book's chapter on vocational education and human resources notes the importance of interest as the prime motivator for learning success.

The goal is to find a balance between boredom and indifference versus hyperactivity and anxiety. - Keller,1984

1979 ARCS Model

The Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS) learning model of motivation by John Keller, addresses the importance of interest in its "Attention" categories. Keller build upon the expectancy-value theories set by Tolman (1932) and Lewin (1938).

2014 The Role of Interest in Learning and Development

This book by Renninger et, al., exposes the rabbit hole of interest research starting from J.F. Herbart's own theory on the subject, and observations/studies by notable educators/psychologists of the past. A distinction between Individual Interest and Situational Interest is made in this book. The former is driven by intrinsic curiosity and the latter by external events or motives.

Wrap Up

The research on interest and learning motivation is quite extensive. It also seems to be cross-disciplinary, but one common theme seems to emerge: Interested learners are far more effective and efficient in their skills. For more and other details, listen to the latest episode. Please like, share, subscribe so you don't miss other exciting topics and their original background. Drop a comment as well, what would you like me to explore next?

Sources

Din?er, S. (2020). The effects of materials based on ARCS Model on motivation: A meta-analysis. Ilkogretim Online, 19(2).

Prosser, C. A., & Allen, C. R. (1925). Vocational education in a democracy. Century Company.

Renninger, K. A., Hidi, S., Krapp, A., & Renninger, A. (2014). The role of interest in learning and development. Psychology Press.

Zuckerman, M., Gagne, M., & Nafshi, I. (2001). Pursuing academic interests: The role of implicit theories. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(12), 2621-2631.