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20 - The Costs and Benefits of Boredom in the Classroom

from Part IV - Curiosity and Boredom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2019

K. Ann Renninger  and
Suzanne E. Hidi
By
Jhotisha Mugon ,
James Danckert  and
John D. Eastwood
K. Ann Renninger
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
Suzanne E. Hidi
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Boredom has traditionally been viewed as detrimental to learning. We present an alternative perspective. The vast majority of past research on academic boredom has examined judgments about the boringness of a situation and the propensity to feel bored, rather than actual state boredom. While retrospective judgments about the boringness of a task may be a cause of later disengagement, we argue that in-the-moment state boredom is a consequence of disengagement. This claim flows from our definition of boredom as the uncomfortable feeling associated with the unfulfilled desire to be mentally engaged.We propose that in-the-moment feelings of boredom can be an aid to learning. First, boredom is an immediate process indicator of a failure in learning, which can signal the need to correct disengaged, ineffectual learning. Second, boredom is an uncomfortable feeling, so it motivates an engagement of mental resources as a means of eliminating boredom. We believe our theoretical analysis points towards fruitful future empirical inquiry, clarifies the interpretation of existing findings, and highlights areas where theory development and conceptual precision are needed.

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The Cambridge Handbook of Motivation and Learning , pp. 490 - 514
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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