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Table 2 Scales used to measure different situational interests in the studies
Scale description
Item example
Topic-related situational interest (value)
I think today
s topic is of personal importance to me
'
Topic-related situational interest
(emotion)
After I had read the task, I was very interested in the
topic
Topic-related situational interest in
learning chemistry (value)
To learn the chemistry behind today
'
s topic is of
personal importance to me
Topic-related situational interest in
learning chemistry (emotion)
After I had read the task, I was very interested in the
chemistry behind the topic
Activity-related intrinsic motivation
Doing the activity was great fun
During the activity, I did not think about anything
else
Although the literature on emotion- vs. value-related valences of situational
interest predicts that the two can hardly be extracted empirically (Rheinberg,
2004
), this assumption was only confirmed in two of our studies (Fechner,
2009
;
K¨ lbach
2011
). However, different scales could be extracted in the two studies
although they used the same items on situational interest: while Fechner could
extract an activity-related vs. a topic-related scale,
this was not possible in
K
¨
lbach
s study.
In the third study (Van Vorst,
2013
), factor analysis extracted emotion- and
value-related scales (see Table
2
). Students had to rate their interest in learning
chemistry knowledge starting from a presented context. As this situation was rated
without an explicit reference to content knowledge, items asked for interest in the
introductory context as well as if it was used in the chemistry classroom. Because
situations did not include an explicit learning activity, activity-related interest
scales could be excluded. A reason for the extraction of both valences can be
seen in the procedure which combined a large sample with a variety of situations
to be rated with regard to different characteristics.
The results of the studies are presented in close connection to each other in order
to make tendencies evident that may form the basis for general educational rules,
further research challenges, or classroom practice.
'
5.5 Results: Different Characteristics—Variations in Interest
In 2007, the first study was designed and evaluated (Fechner,
2009
). Although the
aim of the study was primarily to further the evidence on context-based
vs. traditional learning in a controlled setting rather than focusing on selected
contexts, it was possible to detect differences in effects between the contexts. The
learning environment in this study consisted of five consecutive inquiry tasks with
different problem-oriented contexts in the area of acid-and-base chemistry. As the
learning environment was developed in an open and student-oriented way, the
motivational variables with respect to the activity were supposed to be high in the
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