Adv Physiol Educ 33: 196201, 2009;

How We Teach doi:10.1152/advan.00038.2009.

The situational interest of undergraduate students in zoophysiology

Niels B. Dohn,1 Peter T. Madsen,2 and Hans Malte2
Departments of 1Science Studies and 2Biological Sciences, Zoophysiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Submitted 14 May 2009; accepted in final form 18 June 2009

Dohn NB, Madsen PT, Malte H. The situational interest of Two types of interest have been the primary focus of
undergraduate students in zoophysiology. Adv Physiol Educ 33: educational research to date: situational interest and individual
196201, 2009; doi:10.1152/advan.00038.2009.Situational interest interest (17, 20, 22). Situational interest is generated by certain
has been identified as an important motivational variable that has an conditions and/or stimuli in the environment that focus atten-
impact on students academic performances, yet little is known about tion, and it represents an immediate affective reaction that may
how the specific variable of the learning environment might trigger
or may not last over time (16, 20). Individual interest is
students situational interest. The purpose of this study was to inves-
tigate sources that stimulate the interest of students in an undergrad-
conceptualized as a relatively stable motivational orientation or
personal disposition that develops over time in relation to a

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uate course in zoophysiology. Observations, informal conversational
interviews, and responses to a survey were used to identify sources of particular topic or domain and is associated with increased
interest. Five situational variables and one predominantly individual knowledge, value, and positive feelings (34, 35, 37). Whereas
variable are documented to influence the catching of interest of the situational interest approach tends to focus on a response to
students. The situational variables are live animals, Ah-ha! experi- environmental factors that promote interest in a particular
ences, meaningfulness, social involvement, and humor, whereas the context, the individual interest approach centers on enduring
predominantly individual variable is background knowledge. We preferences (3, 14, 25).
conclude that the situational variables are largely under the control of Individual interest refers to an interest that people bring into
the faculty and should be considered when planning instruction. By the learning environment. For example, undergraduate biology
focusing on the enhancement of situational interest in physiology students typically have a long-term individual interest in biol-
lessons, faculty members can find ways to foster students involve- ogy. Some students will come to a physiology lecture already
ment in specific content areas and increase levels of academic moti- interested in the subject, whereas others may have little indi-
vation.
vidual interest in physiology but have preferences for other
academic motivation; sources of interest; instructional strategies biology-related subjects (biotechnology, for example). When a
student focuses on something (a personal anecdote told by a
faculty member or a spectacular laboratory demonstration, for
AS EDUCATORS, we are concerned with motivating our students example), his or her interest has been triggered by the situation.
to learn physiology. A key aspect of fostering motivation for Although situational and individual interests are distinct, they
learning is to catch the interest of students and to maintain it are not dichotomous phenomena, but rather can be expected to
(12, 25). It is generally accepted that interest plays an impor- interact and influence each others development. The experi-
tant role in the learning process, determining in part what we ence of being interested in a concrete learning situation is the
choose to learn and how well we learn it (22). More specifi- result of an interaction between individual and situational
cally, interest affects attention, goal setting, and learning strat- factors (13, 14, 22).
egies in ways that make it a particularly relevant variable for It has been proposed that repeated experiences of situational
improving educational practice (16, 17). Thus one may ask interest may, over time, have powerful effects on students
How can one stimulate the interest of most students to individual interest regarding the subject (12, 17, 20, 25, 37).
facilitate learning? Unfortunately, theories of interest and Important with respect to learning and instruction is the ques-
motivation provide little specific advice to faculty members tion of how to catch interest and hold it for some period of time
about how to stimulate and maintain students interest in to stimulate a lasting state of intrinsic motivation. For example,
physiology. To alleviate this, we sought to identify situational students who were exposed to an exciting lecture in physiology
sources of interest in physiology education. may be stimulated and pay more attention than they did before.
Interest has been defined in various ways. In recent theories For some students, this interest may evaporate as soon as the
(17, 20, 22), interest is primarily understood as a phenomenon lecture ends. For others, the interest triggered in this situation
that emerges from an individuals interaction with his or her persists over time and may develop into an individual interest
environment. Interest is a content-specific concept, i.e., it is in physiology. Very little is known about this developmental
always related to specific topics, tasks, or activities. The most process even though it carries tremendous educational impli-
important characteristics refer to the persons values and feel- cations for faculty members, who strive to promote a long-
ings. To be interested is to have a subjective feeling for the standing interest in topics such as metabolism, respiration, or
topic (affect), to be drawn to it (conation), and to have some neurophysiology. Faculty members often think that students
degree of knowledge about the object or activity in question either have or do not have an interest in a given topic and may
(cognition) (9, 31, 37, 38). not realize that they could make a significant contribution to
the development of students academic interest. In other words,
although faculty members have little influence over the indi-
Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: N. B. Dohn, Dept. of
vidual interests (or disinterest) students bring into class, they
Science Studies, Aarhus Univ., C.F. Mllers Alle 8, Bldg. 1110, Aarhus can influence the development of such interests by creating
DK-8000, Denmark (e-mail: niels.dohn@ivs.au.dk). appropriate environmental settings that foster situational inter-
196 1043-4046/09 $8.00 Copyright 2009 The American Physiological Society
 How We Teach
SITUATIONAL INTEREST IN PHYSIOLOGY 197

est. From an educational point of view, situational interest is from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and frogs (Rana pipiens).
the real topic of concern because it can be a potentially The human exercises were conducted on the students themselves.
powerful way to help students who have little or no preexisting Data collection and analysis. The first stage of this study involved
interest in a subject (1, 10, 16, 18). By focusing on the a naturalistic inquiry approach (23, 30, 41) based on observations and
enhancement of situational interest in classrooms, faculty informal conversational interviews. The intention was to identify
members can find ways to foster the involvement of students in students perceptions of interest within the lessons. The underlying
specific content areas and increase levels of academic motiva- idea of choosing a naturalistic inquiry approach was to study interest
in classroom contexts to ensure the ecological validity of the results
tion (3, 25).
(42, 43). The observations and interviews were conducted in succes-
Although the importance of stimulating situational interest
sive intervals by N. B. Dohn and took place in the fourth laboratory
has been acknowledged for some time, it has primarily been
exercise in the second quarter. In each observed session, the observer
investigated within other fields, such as reading. The potential slightly altered the focus of analytic attention compared with the last
sources of situational interest have rarely been measured in session, attending to some features of what was occurring and not to
empirical studies of science education. Some instructional others. Field notes were taken and reworked by adding comments and
strategies that, in general, may create situational interest have questions to the notes so that they could act as focal points in
been described in the literature (3, 17, 28, 36, 38, 39). These subsequent interviews. Students were interviewed within their respec-
strategies include the following: 1) use of original materials

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tive working groups (3 4 group members) when they had waiting
(these materials often have interesting content or details that time in the laboratory schedule. This way, the interviews did not
get left out of more generic texts and therefore can help spark interfere with the flow of the practical itself. Informal conversational
situational interest), 2) creating surprise (presenting material interviews, as used here, are a method of interviews where questions
that goes against expectations or background knowledge can emerge from the immediate context and are asked in the natural
create a cognitive disequilibrium for the students; they may course of things; there is no predetermination of question topics or
then attempt to figure out why their beliefs are discrepant, and wording (30). The advantage is that the salience and relevance of
then they may become more engaged and involved), 3) use of questions increases, because interviews are build on and emerge from
variety and novelty (introduction of a variety of activities and observations; the interview can be matched to individuals and circum-
novel ideas, content, tasks, and activities may facilitate situa- stances. A total of 51 students was interviewed across the 3 days of
tional interest and prevent boredom), 4) provide some choice laboratory work (85% of the students present). Students were asked
of topics based on individual interest (motivation theories about specific events (for example, the situation where one of the
suggest that providing some choice and autonomy increases authors explained to a group of students how one, in theory, could
make the leg of a crab move to the rhythm of the music by stimulating
interest and motivation), and 5) integrate students individual
the nerve with a voltage modulated by the rhythm of music). They
interests in designing lessons (when teachers connect the les-
were also asked to reflect back to situations of the laboratory lesson
son content to individual interests or common interests of the where they had been interested and to describe what it was that had
students, it can facilitate attention and situational interest). interested them. In addition to this, they were encouraged to describe
However, we still have very little idea about the specific what had caught their interest in previous lessons (lectures, theoretical
variables that might trigger situational interest in physiology exercises, and laboratory exercises). The primary goal of the interview
lessons. The purpose of this study was to investigate sources data was to explore the diversity in students perceptions about
that promote interest in a second-year animal physiology sources of interest. Students responses were recorded as notes and
course. Although this article does not examine the influence of categorized.
interest on actual learning, we write under the assumption that In the second stage, we developed a survey instrument to access the
interest generally, but not always, promotes learning (13). tenability of the situational interest found through the first stage. The
interest questionnaire was designed to measure individual and situa-
METHODS tional factors that influence situational interest. The questionnaire
consisted of 19 Likert-type items plus an open-ended question. The 19
Description of the course. The Zoophysiology course is a second- Likert-type items all began with the same phrase: To what ex-
year, two-quarter basic course in biology held at the Department of tent. . .?. Students responded on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from
Biological Sciences of Aarhus University (Aarhus, Denmark). A total very much (7) to very little (1). All the items were randomly
of 70 undergraduate biology students were enrolled in the course. The placed in the scale. At the end of the questionnaire sheet, students
first quarter involves 2 h of lectures in 7 wk, 2 h of theoretical were requested to describe the most interesting experience in the
exercises in 6 wk, and 4 h of laboratory exercises in 4 wk. The second physiology course in their own words and declare why it was inter-
quarter involves 2 h of lectures in 7 wk, 2 h of theoretical exercises in esting.
7 wk, and 4 h of laboratory exercises in 4 wk. The lectures, theoretical The interest questionnaire was administered for 15 min within the
exercises, and laboratory exercises of the course use traditional
2-h colloquium on the week after the students were interviewed.
curriculum and instructional methods.
Students responded anonymously. A total of 60 questionnaire re-
The course included four comprehensive laboratory exercises in-
volving measurements of 1) human pulmonary ventilation, gas ex- sponses were completed and returned. A total of 41 written responses
change, and ECG at rest and during exercise (treadmill and cycle to the open-ended question were obtained, which represented 68% of
ergometer); 2) environmental and physiological factors affecting car- the total responses. These written responses were analyzed, and
diac muscle force development in fish and frogs; 3) extracellular sources of interest were categorized.
stimulation and measurements of action potentials from neurons in a The reliability of the instrument was verified by Cronbachs ,
crab leg; and 4) thermal relations on metabolism in mammals at rest which is a reliability coefficient based on the average covariance
and in toads at rest and during exercise. These laboratory exercises among items in a scale. Cronbachs expresses how well a set of
involved the noninvasive use of living specimens of guinea pigs items measures a single one-dimensional latent construct (here, sit-
(Cavia porcellus) and cane toads (Bufo marinus) in addition to fresh uational interest). The reliability coefficient was calculated to be
prepared legs from crabs (Carcinus maenas) and fresh prepared hearts 0.7362, which is considered as acceptable (8).

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198 SITUATIONAL INTEREST IN PHYSIOLOGY

RESULTS interest that is generated due to relevant background knowl-

edge. This category has much in common with the category of
Live animals. One of the main sources of interest was the Ah-ha! experiences but is much more persistent and of more
use of living animals in the laboratory. During the inter- individual character. Background knowledge as a source of
views, it was evident that the animals had created a lot of interest was confirmed by written responses such as When
interest (n 48). The category of live animals included the you get in depth with a subject and can link topics together or
guinea pig, cane toad, and crab (not alive, but a fresh The overall understanding where we can link the various
prepared leg). This finding was confirmed by two question- topics together. Knowledge as a source of interest was veri-
naire items: To what extent was it interesting to work with fied by the questionnaire item To what extent does your
living animals? (mean 6.35, SD 0.97) and To what interest depend on whether you understand the content of the
extent was it fun to work with living animals in the labo- lesson? (mean 5.53, SD 1.34).
ratory? (mean 6.15, SD 1.08).
Ah-ha! experiences. Another main source of interest was
DISCUSSION
Ah-ha! experiences. Ah-ha! experiences refer to a knowl-
edge-based interest that manifests itself suddenly, such as The purpose of this study was to investigate situational
understanding of how to solve a difficult problem. Written factors that stimulate students interest in physiology. The

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(n 10) and verbal responses (n 21) were coded in this results show that several sources within the course did stimu-
category if they indicated that the students had an immediate late the situational interest of the students. During the data-
insight that prompted interest. For example, a student stated in gathering process, some individual factors that influence inter-
the open-ended questionnaire item that it was really fascinat- est also appeared. These individual sources are not the focus of
ing when I suddenly realized how muscles function. this article and will not be discussed further. However, back-
Meaningfulness. Meaningfulness refers to students percep- ground knowledge, which we categorize as an individual
tion of the topics under study in their physiology class as factor, will be discussed in this section because the knowledge
meaningful to them in their present life. In the open-ended of the individual is influenced by the situation of instruction.
item, 11 students (18%) stressed the exercise laboratory (pul- Research shows that interest is not static but changes as a
monary ventilation, gas exchange, and ECG at rest and during function of the way a task is perceived. Studies have indicated
exercise) as the most interesting experience in physiology, that background knowledge is more closely related to individ-
because they could relate it to their own body. For example, ual rather than situational interest, even though it is signifi-
one of the students wrote the following: The best way to keep cantly related to both (3, 16, 38).
up the interest in the subject is that you can relate it to Five sources of situational interest were identified and will
yourself. Similar comments were obtained from 18 students in be discussed in the following sections. These situational
the interviews. sources are largely under the control of the faculty. The order
Social involvement. This category refers to interest that is in which they are listed does not reflect their priority in terms
stimulated by interpersonal interactions during group work. of frequency or relative significance, nor should the list be
According to student responses in the interviews, this was a regarded as a complete taxonomy for instructional use.
minor source of interest (n 6). Two questionnaire items Live animals. Live animals was an important source of
investigated the correlation between positive feelings, interest, situational interest in this study. Even though guinea pigs are
and group work in the laboratory. The item To what extent did common pets, students comments suggested that the animals
physiology become more fun when you were working in did represent real science in the laboratory for them and were
groups? confirmed the relation between positive feelings and thus not just pets. It was obvious that the living specimen of
social involvement (mean 5.21, SD 1.46). The positive guinea pigs and cane toads offered the students highly personal
feelings were apparently not correlated with interest since the hands-on experiences. For example, one of the students stated
item To what extent did the group work influence your that sprinkling the toad with fresh water [at the end of the
interest? could neither confirm nor deny the relation between laboratory] was the most interesting because Im more inter-
interest and social involvement (mean 3.85, SD 1.72). ested in zoology than physiology.
Humor. Humor as a source of interest was not mentioned in Even though the practical concerning extracellular stimula-
the interviews. In the open-ended item, however, eight students tion and measurements of action potentials from neurons in a
(13%) stated the humor of the faculty as the main source of crab leg did not involve live specimens but only freshly
interest in the physiology course. Students commented on prepared legs from crabs, the students found it exciting and
humor like this: that the faculty have humor and use it in the interesting. Almost all of them labeled the practical exciting
lessons to make it fun and to bring it down to a level we or cool. Some of the students stated in the interviews that the
understand and find fun, instead of just talking boring theory animal laboratory exercise provided an opportunity for them to
or interesting lectures, especially because funny stories made find out things they didnt know: for example, what a nerve
the theory easier to understand. The last comment also relates bundle really looks like. Another comment was The lab was
to the category of meaningfulness, since narratives intend to great because it visualized something that is hard to understand
create meaning. and you normally cant see. Such comments are also related to
Background knowledge. One of the most common interview the category of Ah-ha! experiences.
responses was related to interest caught by acquiring knowl- Although interest research so far has not investigated live
edge in physiological processes and how these processes are animals as a source of interest, hands-on animal laboratory
expressed in different living animals compared with human experiences have been suggested as an important factor of
beings (n 48). The responses refer to a knowledge-based engaging students in physiology (7, 32, 44). Hands-on experi-

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SITUATIONAL INTEREST IN PHYSIOLOGY 199

ences in general (i.e., not necessarily related to live animals) example, some students noted in the interviews that they were
have been reported as important sources of interest, because more willing to pose questions among peers than to risk
the manipulation of objects involves perception as well as sounding stupid when asking questions of the faculty members
engagement (24, 25, 26, 29, 45). in front of the entire class. Group work as a source of interest
Ah-ha! experiences. When a person is stuck in a prob- was mentioned by some students in the interviews, and two
lem, he or she sometimes achieves a clear and sudden solution items concerning group work were therefore included in the
through insightthe so-called Ah-ha! experience. The situa- questionnaire. The results suggest that social involvement may
tional category of Ah-ha! experience here refers to a knowl- have been less important than it was found in the studies of
edge-based interest that is triggered by a sudden and unex- Mitchell (25) and Palmer (27). It should be noted, however,
pected flash of insight. Our data showed that 85% of the that Mitchell and Palmers studies were made among K12
students agreed in having recorded Ah-ha! experiences dur- mathematics students and K9 science students, respectively. It
ing the physiology course (85% of the students responses were is possible that social involvement has less impact on interest
in the range from 4 and 7 in the survey, mean 5.73, SD in older students.
1.26). Interview data indicated that an Ah-ha! experience Humor. Humor was found to stimulate interest for some
may trigger interest and have positive effects on the learners students, but our data concerning humor are limited. The
attitudes toward physiology. comments of the students suggest that humor used by the

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Ah-ha! experiences have not hitherto been reported as a faculty members helped to develop a positive learning envi-
source of situational interest. The experience of being inter- ronment and reduced boredom and anxiety related to the
ested seems to be the consequence, rather than the cause, of the perceived difficulty of the learning content.
intellectual activity involved in resolving some issue. An Humor is useful in facilitating attention and learning moti-
explanation of why Ah-ha! experiences can trigger interest vation (3, 6). It is generally assumed that humorous stimuli
must be sought in closely related variables like optimal chal- draw very intense attention reactions. The intensity of these
lenge, novelty, and optimal discrepancy between input and reactions is to be expected because of the complexity and
cognitive structure (4, 5, 10). Although an Ah-ha! experience novelty (i.e., unpredictability) of the stimuli (5). This reasoning
involves the knowledge of the individual and thus could be predicts that the comparatively inattentive students exposure
classified as an individual factor, we classify the Ah-ha! to humorous stimuli will increase his or her attention and that
experience as a situational factor because Ah-ha! experi- this increased attention will facilitate academic motivation of
ences are dependent on instructional strategies. The Ah-ha! the individual (46).
experience is situated in the context of problem solving. As Background knowledge. Background knowledge was iden-
such, the first step toward promoting the Ah-ha! phenome- tified as an important source of interest. According to Alex-
non is to present students with interesting and challenging ander et al. (2), there appears to be a reciprocal relationship
problems. between knowledge of a domain and interest in the domain.
Meaningfulness. Our results confirm the findings of Mitchell That is, we pursue learning about things we are interested in,
(25) showing that situational interest can be sparked by envi- and the more we know about something, the more we become
ronmental features of personal relevance. In our study, these interested in it. Previous research has suggested that back-
features are all related to the implications of personal pulmo- ground knowledge is related to both individual and situational
nary ventilation, gas exchange, and ECG measured in the interest, even though knowledge appears to be related more
exercise laboratory. It is difficult to overstate the importance of strongly to individual interest (2, 3, 38, 40). In the study of
a laboratory activity in which the students are themselves the Palmer (27), learning (i.e., the acquisition of domain knowl-
object of investigation. As Randall and Burkholder (32) re- edge) was found to be the most important source of situational
ported, the emphasis on personal applications and implications interest among K9 science students. For us as physiology
(personal pulmonary ventilation, gas exchange, and ECG) educators, the major challenge is how we can help students in
always provides real take-home bonuses. the acquisition of domain knowledge and thus interest. Unfor-
Whereas interest caught by an Ah-ha! experience refers to tunately, background knowledge is a factor that it is difficult to
a predominantly knowledge-triggered interest, interest caught change, because it is predominantly an individual variable. As
by perceived meaningfulness refers to a predominantly value- Dewey (12) cautioned decades ago, transient (i.e., situational)
triggered interest. Value-triggered interests are interests that interest alone will not sustain learning, and such sustained
have the quality of personal significance (20, 33). Value- learning is requisite for proficiency in any complex domain.
triggered conditions do not become relevant unless the infor- Thus, abstract, demanding exposition will probably need to be
mational content can have some personal or universal (cultural) carefully anchored to the goals and long-term interest of
meaning to the individual (14). students (2). Findings from studies of interest have suggested
Social involvement. Social involvement in group work has that educators can help students sustain their attention toward
been reported as a source of interest in the literature (3, 11, 15, tasks even when these tasks are challenging. This could either
19, 25, 27). To the degree that students perceive that a task or mean providing support so that students may experience a
activity will allow them to socialize, they tend to be more triggered situational interest or providing feedback that allows
interested in the task (3). According to the motivation theory of them to sustain their attention, generate their own questions,
Self-Determination Theory, humans have a basic need or drive and select resources that promote problem-solving and strategy
for social contact and that this explains why interpersonal generation (16, 38, 39).
involvement can arouse interest (21, 36). Group work provides Using Deweys (12) definition of genuine interest and
a form of social stimulation by encouraging students to talk to Mitchells (25) distinction between catch and hold facets of
one another about subject-related concerns and ideas. For interest, we assume that sources that only sparked interest but

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200 SITUATIONAL INTEREST IN PHYSIOLOGY

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