Moderate Concept Summary: Interest

ED 304: Ed Psych and Human Development

Author: Lauren Messenger

Validated by: Emma Canann 1/28/23, Kaleigh Le Vine 2/4/23, Emily Walton 2/14/23, Macey Mattson 3/1/2023, Trista Hunt 3/01/23,

Summary:

Implementing interest into a child’s education is crucial to helping them be more engaged in learning and overall having more academic success. Interest is not something that should be an afterthought in everyday learning in classrooms. Middle school and high school students especially need interest-triggering activities because their academic interests are declining primarily in the STEM areas.

Many students tend to respond well to activities that are made to trigger interest like problem-solving, challenges, and surprises. Students also do well when they can connect academic projects with their interests. Some other examples that trigger interest are hands-on activities, surprise, novelty, group work, physical activity, and social involvement. 

Compared to teaching without implementing interests, success has been found when finding ways to implement the child’s interests into their education. For example, an aspiring musician might not be interested in math, but if a teacher talks about how math and music go together, the child will be more likely to take an interest in it.

Quiz Questions:

What are some ways a teacher could help Preslee, who is already interested in geology, to be more interested in her math class? Select all that apply.

1. Tell her that life isn't fair and that she is just going to have to learn math whether she likes it or not.
2. Create an activity that shows students that geologists measure mountains using trigonometry.
3. Go on a field trip outside and teach students that scientists can measure how big the earth is using math.
4. Have students do a worksheet on calculating lengths of triangles using the Pythagorean theorem

Mr. Moss is an English teacher who wants to trigger interest in his students using their existing interests. He chooses to create an assignment where students have to research a passion they have and write a 5-page informative essay with 3 resources on what it is about. This is a way to spark interest in English using already existing enthusiasm for the topic.

1. True
2. False

Why is interest important in education?

1. Students don’t care about anything unless it is about them.
2. Teachers are tired of coming up with the same kinds of assignments.
3. Students are more likely to seek knowledge inside and outside the classroom.

Read More:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5839644/

https://howdoihomeschool.com/why-homeschool-reasons/interest-based-learning-benefits-theory/