Interests and Learning Strategies in Primary School Age

Project: Interests and Learning Strategies in Primary School Age

With this project, we investigate school-related interests and learning strategies among fourth-grade primary school students—based on the theoretical framework of Krapp’s educational interest theory (2003) and Self-Determination Theory by Deci & Ryan (2002)—as well as established models of learning strategies (Pintrich, 1989; Artelt, 2000):

• Which areas of interest do primary school students prioritise?
• How do school-related interests develop, in particular interest in mathematics and reading?
• How are school-related interests (interest in reading and interest in mathematics) related to different learning strategies?

Interests are assessed using a questionnaire and a structured interview. Learning strategies are measured in a “task-related” manner (cf. Artelt, 2000), immediately following a reading or mathematics task.

Project contributors: Klaudia Kramer, Michael Jäger, Margit Jarolim, Vanessa Knorr, Andrea Scherret, and participants of the field research practicums SS05 and SS06