Calvin's Patterns
In this comic, Calvin expresses how his interests are not incorporated or even entertained in the curriculum. He has NO interest in what school has to offer and does not want to attend. This is likely being caused by a great disconnect between the learning material at school and his own values and interests.
Phase 0: No Interest
In this comic, Calvin has triggered situational interest. This is because Calvin is given the task of show and tell (external support), and it initially has his attention, however this interest is soon diminished (short term). This phase is likely seen in Calvin due to its loose personal relevance (his own creative freedom to choose his item/topic).
Phase 1: Triggered Situational Interest
Calvin tends to lie on the extremes of the interest spectrum in either the early or latter phases. Phases 2 and 3 are marked by meaningful personal involvement, external support, positive feelings, stored knowledge, and self-generated curiosity in conjunction. While he demonstrates many of these traits, they are usually in limited quantities or isolated from the other characteristics. Thus, he generally has no developing interests, especially as school and its content does not align with his own personal values.
Meaningfulness and Personal Involvement:
We don’t see this personal involvement in Calvin at school likely because he sees most, if not all of the information as being completely irreverent to himself, his interests and/or his goals.
External Support
We see little to no support from Mrs. Wormwood as she seems to not take any steps to make the material activity based or personally involved.
Positive Feelings, Stored Knowledge, and Self-Generated Curiosity:
We rarely ever see Calvin asking questions in class or valuing the material being shown, likely because he has little to no curiosity about the subjects being taught.
Phase 2 and 3: Maintained Situational Interest and Emerging Individual Interest
In this comic, Calvin creates an entirely new game that has ever-changing rules. This demonstrates the characteristics of Phase 4: Well-Developed Individual Interest as he is choosing to engage with the interest, generating new rules, and showing resourcefulness entirely of his own volition. His interest in the game requires no external support, and his interest is enduring as Calvinball is featured in many comics throughout the series.
Phase 4: Well-Developed Individual Interest
Calvin displays well developed individual interest throughout this comic. This is because the source of interest is internal, as there is no external influence pushing Calvin to go outside and explore. This comic displays phase 4 rather than phase 3 since Calvin is seeking out answers to the question of what he wants to do, as well as taking action. Calvin says "A day full of possibilities!" and "Let's go exploring!" This is showing long term interest and is demonstrates that Calvin is questioning what he wants to do and is seeking out the answers by exploring.
In both examples, we see signs of "Positive Feelings and Extensive Knowledge" as well as "External and Peer Support." We likely see this phase being triggered whilst playing due to Calvin’s vast curiosity and, more importantly, imagination. These two factors seem to lead Calvin and Hobbs to self-generate a loop of searching and discovery when it comes to new ways to play as seen in the two examples above.
While he is Calvin’s imagination, Hobbs can be seen as a massive supporter to Calvin’s seemingly endless interest in play, regularly acting as a friend to bounce ideas off of, compete against, and overcome difficulties in learning with.