Subramaniam, P. R. (2010) Unlocking the power of situational interest in physical education. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 81:7, 38-49, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2010.10598507
Pritwi Raj Subramaniam discusses ways in which teachers can create an environment that will foster situational interest in the classroom. A lack of student interest has been shown to be one of the largest barriers to student motivation (Subramaniam, 2010). Individual interest, or a person’s interest in a certain subject area, is not always possible and so situational interest is instead used to help motivate students. Situational interest is the. Subramaniam lists and discusses ten different ways that can physical educators can evoke situational interest in their classrooms including different ways of structuring the classroom environment. These include but are not limited to creating a mastery learning environment, including students in the decision making process, using exploration based, instant enjoyment, or novel or challenging tasks, using tasks with high cognitive engagement, and providing content that is meaningful to the students. Structuring classrooms as interest based learning environment will help to foster engagement and motivation in students.
Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. A. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist, 41, 111-127.
“The level of a person’s interest has repeatedly been found to be a powerful influence on learning.” (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). Hidi and Renninger discuss a 4-phase model that explains how to begin creating interest, fostering it, and then maintaining the interest through the development of personal individual interests. The article discusses how it is the interaction between the individual and the content that creates the interest. “The potential for interest is in the person but the content and the environment define the direction of interest and contribute to its development. (Hidi & Renninger, 2006, p. 112).” The article identifies the importance of and key areas that the development of interest can help contribute to, and also highlights areas of focus and difficulty with implementing interest development.
Hidi, S. & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2000). Motivating the academically unmotivated: A critical issue for the 21st century. Review of Educational Research, 70:2, 151-179.
Hidi and Harackiewicz discuss the importance of multiple motivational aspects to enhance children’s learning. Included within this, individual and situational interest, intrinsic motivation, and also intrinsic motivation are all looked at as a base for creating motivation. Interest is used to increase motivation. While some researchers dismiss a focus on performance goals in place of mastery goals, Hidi and Harackiewicz note the contribution and importance of using both types of goals and the interconnectedness. As well, external motivators are used towards the goal of student engagement. The article looks at interests and goals as ways to impact academic performance and how exactly these constructs should be used in the students’ learning.
Shaw, R. (2015, November 18). How to teach purposeful physical pursuits with a physical literacy outcome [Web log message]. Retrieved from https://www.physical-literacy.org.uk/part-1-assessment-in-physical-education-for-a-physical-literacy-outcome/
Robert Shaw’s blog focuses on physical literacy in physical education classrooms. Specifically he discusses “how [ ] physical education assessment [can] be linked to a physical literacy outcome.” Included within his own discussions he delves into just what physical literacy means today and how we can assess it. In the past, physical literacy focused almost exclusively on fundamental movement skills; today it has a far more expanded definition including cognitive, affective, and motivational aspects that all work towards lifelong physical activity. The new terminology, “purposeful physical pursuits” helps to more accurately encompass these ideas. Shaw also looks at how it is possible for those teaching physical education and activity to facilitate physical literacy in their students by “providing [ ] experiences in meaningful situations” (Shaw, 2015).
Jarmo Liukkonen , Vassilis Barkoukis , Anthony Watt & Timo Jaakkola (2010) Motivational climate and students’ emotional experiences and effort in physical education, The Journal of Educational Research, 103:5, 295-308, DOI: 10.1080/00220670903383044
This study explores the effect of a self-determination motivational learning environment on students’ responses and effort in physical education classrooms. It focuses on aspects of the climates including autonomy, student relatedness, and task involvement, and ego-involving environments which are shown to have (Liukkonen et. al., 2010). The findings of the article indicated positive effects on “pupils’ affective responses” (Liukkonen et. al., 2010) using task-involving environments combined with student autonomy and relatedness as opposed to environments using an ego-involving climate. While ego involving climates were shown to have positive effects on students, those who lacked confidence in their abilities tended to have less success in such climates. This negative effect was not felt within the task-involving environments. This article helps to define an environment that will encourage intrinsically motivated students.
Follow