Using Interest Approaches in Instructional Design and Delivery

Students in an auditorium classroom.

Most educators know that it can be challenging to get students motivated to learn at the start of a lesson. The importance of student motivation, academic desire, and engagement is well noted as these factors have been directly linked to students’ academic achievement. An interest approach uses a brief activity to stimulate students’ situational interest toward a topic. Although situational interest is typically held by the learner for a short duration, establishing situational interest at the start of the lesson maximizes students’ engagement, motivation, and attentiveness toward the lesson’s topic and student learning objectives. This new 4-page publication of the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication describes components of interest approaches and techniques for integrating them into a lesson, and provides real-world examples. Written by Brianna N. Shanholtzer, Andrew C. Thoron, J. C. Bunch, and Blake C. Colclasure.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc334