List of Potential Interests

5 Great (&5 Overrated) Extracurricular Activities

Parents,

The article linked at the bottom of this page describes two types of interest;

SITUATIONAL INTEREST and INDIVIDUAL INTEREST.

If I saw a monster truck rolling down the road, it would probably be interesting to me. Seeing the tire to truck body ratio, seeing the lift, hearing the rev, wondering how much money the owner was willing to invest. I would attend to it, but I am not really into monster trucks. That is situational interest.

If I took a walk in a new-to-me park, I will see trees. I have experience with trees, and I know many tree varieties. I notice remarkable trees and not so remarkable trees because I have an individual interest in trees.

We want to encourage students to discover and embrace individual interests.

(Besides, the more stuff you know, the funnier jokes tend to be. Comedian, Steve Martin elaborated this point by telling a joke with the punchline, "I said socket, not sprocket!!" His point was that the joke was not funny to anyone but plumbers.)

Parents, here is an article about the importance of interest.

Also, here is the link to the NC State Learning Style Inventory. Be prepared to print results., and here is the description of the learning styles and strategies to interpret the results in a pdf.

And futher- Asset-based approach to education

White Paper on the importance of student interest-Harackiewicz, et al.