Cause

To teach good content, we also have to keep in mind that we can't accommodate every students interest. More than likely, you are going to have a classroom full of 20+ students at a time. There is not enough time in a day to plan who you should interest and who you shouldn't. Making content interesting doesn't mean that you have accommodate everything everyone wants. It's about an "artistic selection of content" (Pugh, PP Slide #10). This means not teaching unnecessary content just to fill in the time. It means picking out meaningful information that relates to the students life or background.

Another thing to be cautions of is pulling readings from books. It may sound crazy that we have to be careful of what we pull but because of seductive details, the students can easily become uninterested in whats presented before them. Seductive details are "things that trigger interest BUT are totally disconnected from the context. These details distract from learning." (Pugh, PP Slide #6). More than likely, the pictures presented will align with whats being taught, but to be on the safe side, always double check what you're presenting.

What motivates a child to keep them interested?

When looking at interest there are different factors that can get a child's interest and get them into whatever activity needs to be done. There are individual factors that can spark an interest. One of them is the idea of belongingness. This means the idea of having a support group around you and being apart a certain group meaning you belong in a certain group or category.

Another factor can be the idea of connecting with a kids' emotions. If the students emotions are connected with whether its a happy emotion or a sad emotion the interest level still increases.

The next factor is the idea of being competent. When saying this if the student is very fast and efficient with the work that it being done then the interest is there because the student will want to do more if they are able to get things done efficiently.

Is there a meaningful ending?

Many times, when we create large assignments for students to work on over a long period of time, it can become uninteresting if it seems like there is no ending goal. An ending goal should be made clearly from the beginning so that students understand what their working towards. These goals can be anything from a grade to a materialistic reward. When there is a reward present, students interest can stay peaked throughout the entire project/ assignment!

Not only are there individual factors but there are also factors within the context that can spark the students interest. Meaning there are factors within the teachers lessons that can have a student be less or more interested.

Having lessons that are hands-on and gets the students touching and actively doing things makes them more interested. Meaning if there are things students can touch and do on their own they are more into the topic and the lesson. This mainly works for Primary and secondary students.

If teachers mention a discrepancy about the topic that is being taught in class the students tend to be more into it. Discrepancy meaning a myth or a thought that people have that is not correct. Now all students will know the myth but some might so even if it is just mentioned it might hit on some of the students interest.

Another factor is Novelty which has to do with doing things that are different and unusual. It also can be a certain object or something that can be brought to class. It also can be a way that you can decorate your room or have an object in the background of the room that symbolises what the lesson is about.

Another factor has to do with people who are older than them, not only the teacher but also other students who are older than them or other peers in the class. There can be this idea of modeling where if other students and if older students are working hard and doing their work then it pushes other students to want to succeed and complete their work.

The kind of content that is being taught is also a huge factor as to if the student is interested or not. If the content is also connected to something that students can be interested in then the likelihood of kids being into the content are higher. If there is a way that teachers can connect what they are teaching to something most kids are into then they will be more interested. For primary school kids babies, dinosaurs, and animals are a huge interest for kids right now. Of course not all kids are into all of those things but as a majority a lot of kids are into those topics as of right now.