Influences on Learning

Triggered situational interest results in short-term attention and engagement which can be helpful in initially getting students involved in the class material. With this triggered interest, students potentially have to opportunity to unlock the learning benefits of a maintained situational interest or an individual interest.

When initiating situational or individual interest, it is important to avoid seductive details within texts and materials. Seductive details are those that are highly interesting but have low importance or are disconnected from the content at hand. These can be distracting although they are the most recalled (Hidi, 1990).

How does Interest Influence Learning?

Increased Attention and Engagement

Being in a state of interest, usually positive affective reactions are produced which allows an increase in student’s attention. Interest promotes the learning strategy of information seeking that also increases engagement within students to learn more or learn new material (Schiefele, 1991).

Higher Comprehension

When interest is involved, it can lead to more complex levels of information processing. "Interest motivates the reader to go beyond the text’s surface and try to understand its meaning and main ideas" (Schiefele, 1991, p.309). It pushes students to go beyond memorization and allows them to connect to the text as well as connect the text to other materials and information.

Persistence

Interest increases motivation which increases students’ persistence in learning content. As students are able to connect to material and content for an extended period of time, they have a sufficient amount of time to learn and continue to learn because they want to (Ainley et al., 2002).

Effort

If students are interested in the content or text, their greater sense of engagement encourages less effort needed to process the information. There is less concentration involved and paying attention and learning become effortless (Hidi, 1990). For instance, when a student reads a text they find interesting less effort is applied to process the information, therefore encouraging faster reading and motivation.

Higher Recall

Research has shown that students don’t remember important information and the "highly recalled information was found to be associated with interest factors" (Hidi, 1990, p.556). Personal feelings and reactions associated to interest creates a higher recall rate. Ultimately, the more interesting the material the more memorable it is.

Others:

Boosted creativity
Positive Reactions, such as enjoyment or happiness
Faster reading and processing

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