The Differences and Similarities between Curiosity and Interest: Meta-analysis and Network Analyses

Three studies on the relationship between curiosity and interest are reported. The first study was a meta-analysis that examined the Pearson correlations between scales assessing curiosity and interest. Based on 24 studies (31 effect sizes), we found that the curiosity scales correlated with the interest scales at a moderate level (r = 0.53), but they had extremely high heterogeneity. The second and third studies applied network analyses (i.e., co occurrence analysis and correlation-based analysis) to data that was collected using experience sampling method. Across the studies, we found that while the feelings of curiosity reflected feelings of inquisitiveness, the feelings of interest were aligned with positive affect such as enjoyment and happiness. Importantly, an asymmetrical pattern also was found in curiosity-interest co-occurrences: when feelings of curiosity occurred, the co occurrence of feelings of interest was highly likely, but not so vice versa. Overall, our findings suggest that feelings of curiosity are special cases of feelings of interest that pertain to knowledge acquisition. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.Peer reviewe

The power of interest for motivation and engagement

Comprend des références bibliographiques et un index

Interest, the Self, and K-16 Mathematics and Science Learning

Interest in Mathematics and Science Learning, edited by K. Ann Renninger, Martina Nieswandt, and Suzanne Hidi, is the first volume to assemble findings on the role of interest in mathematics and science learning. As the contributors illuminate across the volume’s 22 chapters, interest provides a critical bridge between cognition and affect in learning and development. This volume will be useful to educators, researchers, and policy makers, especially those whose focus is mathematics, science, and technology education.Using a wiki and videoconferencing, this conference brought together researchers from the fields of motivation, mathematics education, science education, learning science, and developmental psychology, to think together about the role of the motivational variables of interest and self-efficacy/self-concept of ability/self-concept in K-16 students’ learning of mathematics and science. Issues considered included but were not limited to the following: (1) the alignment of approaches to conceptualizing, measuring, and generating interest; (2) conceptual and empirical differences among constructs of academic self-efficacy and academic self-concept, even when studied within the same academic domain; and findings indicating that academic self-concept influences academic self-efficacy but not vice-versa; (3) the role of the achievement context in student learning; and (4) the possibility that findings from studies of motivation and learning in other disciplines may not apply to hierarchical domains such as mathematics and science

Interest in mathematics and science learning /

Comprend des références bibliographiques et un index