Description:

Co-Principal Investigators: Amanda Durik (Northern Illinois University) and Jess Zimmerman (University of Puerto Rico)

Purpose: Although interest and learning are believed to be intrinsically linked, a gap exists between research on learning and research on interest. Researchers specializing in cognition rarely consider in detail the processes related to interest, and researchers specializing in interest rarely consider in detail the processes related to learning. Variables that hold promise for promoting interest may be detrimental to learning whereas variables that hold promise for advancing learning may be detrimental to interest. Hence, both variables need to be understood together. The purpose of this project is to test the effects of task features within a web-based learning program on both learning and interest in order to address this gap, and to test whether these effects vary depending on pre-existing knowledge and interest.

Project Activities: This project aims to investigate variables that hold promise for promoting interest and learning in the context of an existing intervention, Journey to El Yunque. This intervention is a web-based, middle school ecology curriculum that was designed to promote both learning and interest in science. However, results from a previous experiment suggest that although these curriculum materials improve learning, they may not improve interest. This exploratory project will examine the possible interrelationship between the strategies for increasing cognitive development and the strategies for increasing interest in science that underlie Journey to El Yunque. This exploratory work will take place in two studies, both of which will manipulate variables related to sequencing based on the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model and variables related to text genre and task role found to affect interest based on the Four Phase Model of Interest Development. The research team will also develop and pilot test measures (e.g., reading comprehension quizzes for reading materials to be used) and coding schemes.

Products: Products from this project will include a description of the factors that lead to improved learning and interest in science and guidance on how to balance cognitive and affective features when designing or refining course materials. Peer-reviewed publications will also be produced.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The study will take place in Chicago-area middle schools and at an Illinois university.

Population: Participants include 280 urban and suburban 7th grade students from the Chicago area. The students will represent a mix of gender, race, and socio-economic backgrounds. A sample of undergraduate college students will pilot the materials but are not the focus of the exploration study.

Intervention: The researchers will use two theoretical models, the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model and the Four-Phase Model of Interest Development, to inform the design of the studies and to guide the creation of experimental materials intended to support both learning and interest. Both models provide prescriptive recommendations about instructional experiences and have implications for the interaction between interest and achievement.

The Cognitive Apprenticeship model, used to develop the original Journey to El Yunque, encompasses four primary components intended to support increasing learners' mastery of content and skills. For example, the aspects of sequencing that will be explored include: sequencing from global to local skills, sequencing in order of increasing complexity, and sequencing in order of increasing diversity.

The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development distinguishes between two forms of situational interest ("triggered" and "maintained" interest both of which are supported primarily by the environment) and two forms of individual interest ("emerging" and "well-developed" interest, both of which are driven by internal characteristics of the individual). In this model, the sequential phases of situational interest are followed by the two sequential phases of individual interest. According to this model, the educational supports for situational and individual interests are not the same. Therefore, the instructional enhancements will only be applicable if the enhancement is customized to learners' existing level of individual interest.

Research Design and Methods: In the studies, the researchers will use between-subjects randomized experimental studies to explore the effects on student outcomes of one component of each model. In both Studies 1 and 2, the component of the Cognitive Apprenticeship model will be Sequencing by Complexity, where the reading materials will vary across four levels: all easy materials; all difficult; increasing level of difficulty; and decreasing level of difficulty. The component of the Four-Phased Model of Interest Development will differ between the two studies: in Study 1, the component will be Text Genre, where the two levels will present either narrative or expository reading materials; in Study 2, the component will be Participant Role, where the two levels will assign students to engage in the study as either as a junior scientist or as a student. In both studies, the factors will be fully crossed, resulting in eight conditions. The researchers will also examine how two potential moderating factors, pre-existing individual interest and pre-existing knowledge, may affect performance.

Key Measures: Researchers will measure general knowledge of ecology and individual interest as pre-/posttest variables. The measures of knowledge will align to the topics of the lessons. Some of the assessments will be embedded in the lessons and will be used to measure students' interim understanding of ecosystems. To test general knowledge, the researchers will use tests that were previously formed and validated for Journey to El Yunque and a performance task in which students will analyze the impact of fire disturbance on an ecosystem in the Great Plains to provide a measure of the extent to which students can apply their knowledge to other ecosystems. To assess reading ability, researchers will use two researcher developed middle-school MAZE assessments. They will also use comprehension quizzes that will be aligned to the topics presented during the experiments. To assess situational interest and engagement, they will use on-line and self-report measures. The measures will examine the dynamics of learners' motivation during the program and may include measures of flow, cognitive interest, affective interest, and situational interest. These measures will be piloted by students enrolled in college-level introductory psychology classes to establish convergent validity across self-reported and behavioral measures of interest and to establish the coding schemes and reliability of the comprehension measures.

Control Condition: There is no control condition.

Data Analytic Strategy: Ordinary least squares multiple regression will be used to test the effects of initial individual difference variables and the manipulations on task interest, learning, and transfer. A basic regression model will test the effects on each outcome variable (learning, transfer, and interest at the end of the session) as well as variables measured during the program to provide insight into the process (e.g., behavioral measures of engagement, note taking during reading, hypothesis generation, reports of situational interest). The basic model will include initial individual interest, initial knowledge, identification with Puerto Rico, the set of contrast codes, the key interaction terms, and reading comprehension skill, race, and gender.

Products and Publications

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

McGee, S., and Zimmerman, J.K. (2016). Taking Students on a Journey to El Yunque. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 7(1): 86–106.