3. Study 2
The second study examined the extent to which situational interest
increases as a result of students’ awareness of a knowledge
gap about a particular topic. The subject was Geography and the
topic the causes of coastal erosion which was presented by means
of a problem describing Singapore’s shoreline declining rapidly
despite the calm waters surrounding it. Participants had to explain
why this is happening.
Measures of situational interest and self-reported knowledge
were administered before and after the problem was presented. If
the hypothesis that a perceived knowledge deficiency leads to
increased situational interest was true, one would expect to find a
negative correlation between the difference in knowledge (DK)
before and after the problem (i.e., DK ¼ K2 K1) and the difference
in situational interest (DS) (i.e., DS ¼ S2 S1). If, under the
confrontation with a problem, self-reported knowledge decreases,
then situational interest is predicted to increase. If self-reported
knowledge does not decrease, that is: if students are not
becoming aware that they have a knowledge deficit, then situational
interest is predicted not to increase. This would be considered
evidence that conscious awareness of a knowledge gap is a
precondition of situational interest to arise