ABSTRACT

Educators have a critical stake in supporting the development of interest—as the presence of interest benefits sustained engagement and learning. Neuroscientific research has shown that interest is distinct from, but overlapping with, self-related information processing, the personally relevant connections that a learner makes to content (e.g., mathematics). We propose that consideration of self-related information processing is critical for encouraging interest development in at least two ways. First, support for learners to make self-related connections to content may provide a basis for the triggering of their interest. Triggered interest encourages individuals to search for more information, and to persevere in understanding material that otherwise might feel meaningless. Second, for learners who already have an initial interest in the content, self-related connections can further promote the deepening of interest through sustained engagement and information search. Background regarding both interest and self-related information processing is provided, and implications for practice are suggested.

摘要

教育者在支持兴趣的发展方面有着至关重要的利害关系——因为兴趣的存在有利于持续的参与和学习。神经科学研究表明，兴趣不同于自我相关信息处理，但与之重叠，后者是学习者与内容（例如数学）建立的个人相关联系。我们建议，考虑自我相关的信息处理对于鼓励至少以两种方式发展兴趣至关重要。首先，支持学习者与内容建立自我相关的联系可以为激发他们的兴趣提供基础。触发的兴趣鼓励个人搜索更多信息，并坚持理解否则可能会觉得毫无意义的材料。其次，对于已经对内容有初步兴趣的学习者，自我相关的联系可以通过持续的参与和信息搜索进一步促进兴趣的加深。提供了有关兴趣和自我相关信息处理的背景，并提出了对实践的启示。