Situational interest is a powerful motivator for elementary school students and its construct has been articulated as multi-dimensional including attention demand, challenge, exploration opportunity, instant enjoyment and novelty. Situationally interesting learning tasks can attract students to increase engagement time and enhance achievement. Situational interest is sensitive to the learning environment defined by the content, instructional strategies, and learners. Under different lesson environments, it is argued that the role of situational interest in physical education may vary. Using the multidimensionality of situational interest, we designed this study to examine the moderate effect of lesson context on the relationship between situational interest dimensions and in-class physical engagement.
Method:
Participants were 125 4th and 5thgraders (63 females, age range=9-12 years, mean age=10.40 years) in an urban elementary school. Data collection took place during three selected instructional lessons (lesson 1: fitness-oriented; lesson 2: skill-oriented; and lesson 3: game-oriented). In each lesson, situational Interest Scale and Yamax SW-200 Digi-walker pedometers were administered to assess students’ situational interest dimensions and quantify their in-class physical engagement (steps), respectively. System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) was conducted to code each lesson context (i.e., management, knowledge, fitness activity, skill practice, and game play). Three multiple regression analyses (one for each lesson) were conducted with steps as the dependent variable and situational interest dimensions as predictors.
Analysis/Results:
SOFIT coding was consistent with the instructional design. The greatest proportion of class time was devoted to fitness activity (62%) in lesson 1, skill practice (44%) in lesson 2, and game play in lesson 3 (48%). Overall percentage of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) ranged from 44% to 56% in the three lessons. Regression analyses revealed that predictive role of the situational interest dimensions varied in terms of lesson context. In lesson 1, the significant predictors of steps were attention demand (β= .33, P<.01) and novelty (β= .27, P<.01); in lesson 2 were challenge (β= .30, P<.01) and novelty (β= .20, P<.05); and in lesson 3 were enjoyment (β= .28, P<.01) and novelty (β= .27, P<.01).
Conclusions:
Results support that lesson context in physical education can moderate the function of situational interest and its dimensions on student behaviors. There is a strong independent effect of the dimensional sources in different lesson contexts. Physical educators should incorporate situationally interesting learning experiences and consider lesson environment and content specificity when designing effective strategies to enhance students’ learning and physical engagement.