What makes a modelling problem interesting? Sources of situational interest in modelling problems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48489/quadrante.23861Keywords:
modelling, interest, real-world problems, efficacy beliefs, emotions, contextAbstract
Prior studies have shown that many students have poor modelling competencies. One reason for these results could be a lack of interest in solving modelling problems. Because not much is known about the sources of interest in modelling problems, we designed a qualitative study to investigate sources of students’ situational interest in solving modelling problems. The research questions were: (1) What sources do students report for their interest in modelling problems? (2) Does task processing influence students’ interest in modelling problems and the sources of situational interest? We presented four modelling problems with different real-world contexts to five ninth-graders. We asked the students to rank the problems with respect to their interest and to justify their rankings before and after solving the problems. Qualitative analysis showed two main sources of students’ interest: emotions about the real-world context of the problem and efficacy beliefs. Our results support the importance of task-specific emotions and efficacy beliefs proposed in theories of interest and uncover the role of the real-world context in triggering interest in modelling problems.
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