Context Personalization and Example Choice Increase Situational Interest in Mathematics for Students With Low Individual Interest

• In Event: 75.050 - On Creating and Maintaining the Experience of Interest

Abstract

Objectives and Framework
Declining academic interest among many adolescent students is a major challenge in education, and especially in the domain of mathematics. Interest refers to a psychological state of engagement, and can either be brought by an enduring individual interest or by situational factors in the environment. With low individual interest in mathematics, students may be more dependent on situational factors in order to experience interest. The aim of the present study was to examine different dimensions of situational interest in mathematics among middle school students. These dimensions included triggered situational interest (TSI), which is a short-term affective reaction to the learning materials; maintained situational interest -Feelings (MSIF), which includes the affective experience related to leaning, and maintained situational interest – value (MSIV) which is based on the cognitive appraisal of value of learning. In two experimental studies we examined the effect of context personalization and example choice on situational interest in mathematics. Both instructional formats build on students’ out-of-school interests or preferences (López & Sullivan, 1992; Reber, Hetland, Chen, Norman, & Kobbeltvedt, 2009).

Data Sources and Methods
In Study 1 (N = 736) we examined personalization and example choice built on middle-school students’ interests from popular culture. In Study 2 (N = 721) we examined personalization to everyday life, as well as group personalization and an enhanced example choice condition (here based on dominant interests from Study 1). In both studies, participants worked with written materials in one of the instructional conditions. Individual interest was examined as a moderator of the effect TSI, MSIF, and MSIV. Although situational interest was correlated with both effort and achievement, personalization and example choice influenced only effort but not achievement for low interest students.

Results
In Study 1, personalization increased all measured of situational interest among students with low individual interest but did not benefit students with higher individual interest. Similar results were obtained for example choice, with the exception of MSIV, in which the intervention did not have an effect. Experimental conditions promoted effort for students with low individual interest, but we observed no effect on performance in seven mathematical word problems. In Study 2, only group personalization increased MSIV among students with low individual interest but did not benefit students with higher levels of individual interest. Group personalization also promoted effort for low interest students.

Theoretical Significance
Findings show that context personalization and example choice can increase situational interest, but the effects depend on both the initial interest of the learner and the context in which the material is presented. While personalization affects the appraisal of value, example choice seems to influence the affective experience related to learning.

Authors

• Sigve Høgheim, University of Bergen

• Rolf Reber, University of Oslo