The application of interest: Suzanne Hidi’s educational research sparks questions of motivation

In this three-part series, OISE outlines the groundbreaking research of adjunct faculty Dr. Suzanne Hidi.

Dr. Hidi, a leader in educational psychology at OISE’s Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, has delved deeply into understanding interest, a concept widely researched in the field of educational psychology.

This second installment examines how Hidi’s collaborations have led to different applications of educational interest and motivation, with new models of understanding. The first and third stories on defining interest and research recognition are also available. 

Dr. Suzanne Hidi’s theories interest started to gain broader application through the four-phase model she co-developed with Professor K. Ann Renninger, providing a gateway to answer new academic questions.

Introduced in a 2006 paper, the model revolutionized perspectives on interest development. It “set the way for people to look at how interests develop,” Hidi says. It challenged conventional vocational interest literature, which argues that you either had interest or you didn't, and educators should match interest with appropriate school work and activity.

Hidi’s research placed a focus on what triggers interest and how that is evolves over time for learners. Interest can be triggerered later in life, or stagnate and disappear over time. “The main thing is that they can be assisted to develop from school education,” Hidi argues. “As you develop the interest, you become more knowledgeable about the subject or about whatever the activity involves, and you are valuing it more and more.”

Curiosity vs. interest

One significant applications of the four phase model is its distinction between interest, curiosity (the desire to understand what is not yet known) and motivation (the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviours). While these conceptions are similar psychologically, they play distinct roles in educational development. 

“If you are only interested in triggering curiosity, there is no net long term engagement involved,” Hidi explains. “If you trigger curiosity and you encourage further questions related to that particular information – you can support the triggering and maintaining of longer-term interests.

“It is very important in our opinion to recognize this in a school setting,” she adds, “because if the teacher keeps on thinking about curiosity questions – trivia questions – you can get an answer and it's gone. The kid is curious, but you he or she got the answer that doesn't result in a longer-term effort to engage.”

Preparing teachers for the classroom

Hidi has taught courses on interest and motivation at OISE through occasional summer courses. She believes that all psychology and teacher education students would benefit from learning and applying these concepts.

“Unless we train teachers in teacher colleges and universities that this is a very critical issue, they are not going to be the ones who are going to deal with interest in their classes,” she said.

Educators can apply these concepts in creative ways. Hidi’s research explores methods to trigger interest in early learning, such as using group activities.  She also cites the example of triggering motivation in children by encouraging them to teach others at a science museum. “They will go to a science museum, stop in front of an exhibit, and instead of running around for one minute to each exhibit, they will actually stay for 10 minutes in one place – because the children might have a chance to teach others.

“This is kind of a motivational thing that is based on giving them a chance to develop interest in a particular topic,” explains Hidi. “The point is that in order for these to be effective, I think that teacher educators need to recognize the importance of motivation.”

What motivates child learners?

When asked how her theories have had impacts on the field, Dr. Suzanne Hidi sought the chance to talk about something that is very dear to her.

Hidi, along with Professor Ann Renninger from Swarthmore College, has challenged the dichotomy of motivation types — extrinsic versus intrinsic, situational versus individual, and performance versus mastery — in the literature.

This is based on the psychological theory of self-determination “that emphasizes that everything that is external [to the person] is dangerous and bad, and everything that is internal or intrinsic is good,” she says. “In our paper, we argued that to motivate academically unmotivated children,” we need to move beyond these dichotomies.”

Hidi argues that this is simply because children are sometimes not academically motivated – they prefer to play soccer in a schoolyard, rather than tackle with math questions. “And if you don't use some kind of external triggers, such as performance goals or triggering for situational interests – you are not going to be successful or as successful as you could be.”

In a 2016 paper, she wrote about this idea of rewards in education. When this paper became cited hundreds of times by others, she knew that her conceptualizations were starting to resonate more broadly.

“I was recently asked to be a special guest editor for the Journal of Learning and Instruction on the topic of all seven papers that I organized on rewards and competition in education. This came out of all the other stuff, and I find that it's the most important thing I've ever done.”