Present problems before explanatory texts to arouse curiosity and situational interest in learners lacking prior knowledge¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

This strategy sequences instruction so learners encounter a problem they cannot yet explain before receiving the explanatory text, arousing both epistemic curiosity and situational interest through the knowledge gap. The article's experiment showed that "Only for the treatment group receiving the problem first, epistemic curiosity and situational interest were aroused and decreased after the explanatory text was studied." Presenting the explanation first eliminates the gap and prevents arousal, so the ordering matters for motivation.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Learners must lack the prior knowledge needed to explain the problem
• The problem must be comprehensible enough for learners to recognize what they are missing

Constraints¶

• If learners already have appropriate prior knowledge, the problem will not trigger arousal
• The article notes that if a problem is not understood at all, students cannot see they are missing something

Target Learners¶

• secondary-school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• arousing epistemic curiosity and situational interest
• motivating engagement with explanatory material

Affordances¶

• Knowledge Deprivation Account

Claims¶

• In the treatment condition, both epistemic curiosity and situational interest increased after problem presentation and decreased after the explanatory text [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Pre Questioning
• Predicting

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Henk G. Schmidt & Jerome I. Rotgans. (2021). Epistemic Curiosity and Situational Interest: Distant Cousins or Identical Twins?. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09539-9