The Power of Interest for Motivation and Engagement

Renninger and Hidi have given us a great resource. This collection brings together the very best and most current work on Interest. I am creating a graduate course around this book because it is so comprehensive. I can not imagine a better way to introduce the graduate students at University of California, Irvine to the motivational role of interest.

--Jacquelynne S. Eccles is the Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine

"The Power of Interest is an instructive and useful book for anyone interested in the science behind maximizing a student’s motivation student to learn. Renninger and Hidi draw on the latest developments in neuroscience, psychology and education to provide an easy to grasp portrait of what determines student motivation and interest."

--Kent C. Berridge, James Olds Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Michigan

This book is a deep and scholarly dive into a topic that should be top of mind for educators, psychologists, and all those who study the science of how people learn. What is interest? How do we understand motivation and the desire to learn and engage with the world? Within the pages of this book lie answers to how we more effectively engage young people in the enterprise of learning in ways that nurture enjoyment and passion.

--Margaret Honey is the President and CEO of the New York Hall of Science

Although consistently acknowledged as central to learning and behavior, interest has long been misunderstood and inexactly measured. Ann Renninger and Suzanne Hidi’s new book is a comprehensive and compelling primer on the nature of interest; providing rich examples from across the lifespan and placing this historically illusive topic on solid theoretical and empirical foundations.

--John Falk is the Executive Director of the Institute for Learning Innovation and Sea Grant Professor of Free-Choice Learning at Oregon State University

In this volume, two outstanding and well-known researchers portray a comprehensive view of interest as a powerful resource for learning, motivation and development. Their work, based on a thorough analysis of psychological and neuroscience literature, represents a turning point in the conceptualization of interest and an invaluable tool for researchers, teachers, and practitioners.

--Pietro Boscolo is Emeritus Professor at the University of Padova (Italy)