What makes lessons interesting? The role of situational and individual factors in three school subjects
Tsai, Yi-Miau Kunter, Mareike Ludtke, Oliver Trautwein, Ulrich Ryan, Richard Michael
Tsai, Yi-Miau
Kunter, Mareike
Ludtke, Oliver
Trautwein, Ulrich
Ryan, Richard Michael
Abstract
The present study investigated intraindividual variation in students' interest experience in 3 school subjects and the predictive power of perceived autonomy support and control. Participants were 261 students in 7th grade. After a survey of students' individual interests and other individual characteristics, repeated lesson-specific measures of students' interest experience and perceived autonomy support and control during instruction were obtained over a 3-week period. Hierarchical linear modeling showed 36%-45% of the variance to be located at the within-student level. Moreover, perceived autonomy support and control during lessons, as well as individual interest, predicted students' interest experience in the classroom.
Keywords
interest experience, individual interest, autonomy support, self-determination theory, repeated measurement design
Date
2008
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Educational Psychology
Book
Volume
100
Issue
2
Page Range
460-472
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Positive Psychology and Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts