The comedian Robin Ince, in his role as co-presenter of the popular science show The Infinite Monkey Cage with Prof Brian Cox, styles himself as “the stupidest person in the room… not always good for the ego but very good for my education”. In The Importance of Being Interested he gathers together conversations with authors and astronauts, neuroscientists and quantum physicists. This is not to impart what he has learned as much as to celebrate the meaning and humanity of science as a discipline. In so doing Ince makes profound – and funny – reflections on our tiny lives in a massive universe. Small Things Like These In this book, there's a whole chapter on how the mind works, complete with memory distortions, cognitive biases and false assumptions. Robin seems entirely happy to frame the world through the distorting filter of his BBC bubble, never once realising that the water in which he swims doesn't reflect about 50% of the population’s view of reality. The underlying message is that the world would be much better if everyone saw the world like Robin. Perhaps it would, for all I know. Sansone C, Thoman DB. Interest as the missing motivator in self-regulation. European Psychologist. 2005; 10:175–186. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040.10.3.175. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

The Importance of Being Interested – Atlantic Books

I found my love for science through curiosity and I’m now a scientist so, guess anyone can overcome their preconceived high school dislike of science. Paul Silvia of the University of North Carolina has researched interest deeply. He highlights how interest gets us exploring and interested in new things, but also how it focusses our attention rather than being distracted by the huge number of possibilities and things going on around us. The term interest can describe two distinct (though often co-occurring) experiences: an individual’s momentary experience of being captivated by an object as well as more lasting feelings that the object is enjoyable and worth further exploration. Interest is, therefore, both a psychological state characterized by increased attention, effort, and affect, experienced in a particular moment ( situational interest), as well as an enduring predisposition to reengage with a particular object or topic over time ( individual interest; Hidi & Renninger, 2006). This duality not only highlights the richness of the interest concept but also contributes to the complexity of defining interest precisely. Situational interest combines affective qualities, such as feelings enjoyment and excitement, with cognitive qualities, such as focused attention and perceived value, all fostered by features of the situation ( Hidi & Renninger, 2006). For example, a student might enjoy an entertaining lecture about tsunamis, become fascinated by their power, engage more in the class, and appreciate the subject’s personal relevance. Thus, being in a state of interest means that affective reactions, perceived value, and cognitive functioning intertwine, and that attention and learning feel effortless ( Ainley, 2006; Dewey, 1913; Hidi, 2006). Situational interest relates to self-regulation, task engagement, and persistence ( Sansone & Thoman, 2005; Smith, Wagaman, & Handley, 2009; Thoman, Smith, & Silvia, 2011). It claims to be popular science. Written by a man who confesses to not understand science, yet tells us to accept what science teaches us, because you know science is fact. Well, it isn't really, is it? But Ince thinks it is even though he is incapable of proving or understanding anything science tells him. Meanwhile he summarily and harshly disparages other schools of thought such as theology, religion, conspiracy theory and accuses those writers and thinkers of blinding people with lies and mistruths to confuse the listener to a point where they accept without understanding, and Ince is very clear on his distaste for such thinking. Yet, he accepts the science he is told even though he fails to understand it. This is very much a case of "Listen to what I say, but don't listen to anyone else, everyone else is wrong, I am right but I cannot prove it".Interest interventions include attention-getting situations, contexts evoking prior individual interest, problem-based learning, and enhancing utility value. Robin Ince is an English comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox. Thanks for this beautifully written post, Michelle! The distinction you draw between “being interested” and “being interesting” is one I find useful. We’re often encouraged to think of our work as a unified whole, and to draw connections between our teaching and our research and our writing and our tutoring. In many ways, these projects mutually support and enrich each other. That said, it’s just as useful to consider how our different roles as graduate students require different intellectual stances. Thanks for articulating this important tension. I found this book super interesting. I wasn't sure what I was getting into before reading apart from some classic Robin Ince comedy.

The Importance of Being Interested by Robin Ince | Waterstones

Thoman DB, Brown ER, Mason AZ, Harmsen AG, Smith JL. The role of altruistic values in motivating underrepresented minority students for biomedicine. BioScience. 2015; 65:183–188. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biu199. [ PMC free article] [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] Robin Ince is now renowned as “the science guy” of comedy. From The Infinite Monkey Cage on BBC Radio 4, to his huge cabaret-style shows with Professor Brian Cox and a whole host of scientists and comedians performing at venues as big as the Royal Albert Hall. With all this, he is possibly one of the biggest names in science communication in the UK and has recently written a book, The Importance of Being Interested, where he explains his long journey from being a child bored by science, to a comedian whose interest in science has grown to be career-defining. With razor-sharp wit and insight, Robin slices into the biggest questions of our time. The Importance of Being Interested left me smiling and thinking more deeply.’– Commander Chris Hadfield, astronaut and bestselling author

Walkington CA. Using adaptive learning technologies to personalize instruction to student interests: The impact of relevant contexts on performance and learning outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology. 2013; 105:932–945. doi: 10.1037/a0031882. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

The Importance of Being Interested Robin Ince – The Importance of Being Interested

At several points reading this, my wife asked me what interesting facts I'd just learned and my reaction was usually "Erm..." In November, I helped lead a writing retreat that was co-hosted by the UW-Madison Writing Center and the Center for Culture, History, and Environment (CHE) graduate student group. It took place at the UW Arboretum; the twenty-five graduate students in attendance were from a variety of disciplines, but knew each other through CHE. We started by going around the room so everyone could say what project they were working on. After our four-hour writing session, someone said that, though he knew in general terms about the research projects of other CHE grads, it was great to hear specifically and concretely what everyone else was working on that day. Coots!Progress through these phases requires an environment that supports individual pursuit of interests. For example, a school field trip to an art museum can foster a student’s developing interest in art. As individuals progress through these developmental phases, their connection to the object of interest becomes more stable and generalizable. Interest development begins in a specific situation, but by the time those interests are well developed, individuals make conscious choices and pursue their interests autonomously ( Renninger & Hidi, 2016). Indeed, as interest deepens across these four phases, individuals become increasingly aware of their own interest, as an important part of themselves (e.g., consider themselves Monet enthusiasts). And even writing-center-led writing retreats, which provide quiet, focused time to make progress on a project, are made productive by mutual interest. Each being interested in our own thing together feels different than being interested in your own thing alone in a library cubicle. Robin Ince, as most readers will know, is a comedian who began with little knowledge of science but developed an interest and has now presented over 100 episodes of The Infinite Monkey Cage with Prof. Brian Cox on Radio 4. In The Importance Of Being Interested, he reflects on his and others’ responses to discoveries in science, using the very considerable knowledge he has gained combined with the humility of a non-expert, to try to understand what some of these ideas mean to people. These people include a wide range of scientists, astronauts and the like who have deep knowledge of the subjects, and also ordinary non-scientists. It’s a fascinating, thoughtful and entertaining read. And I think any tutor—even the most non-exclamatory sort—can express interest most essentially by asking good questions. Which is to say, questions that emerge from and engage with the details of the student’s draft, ideas, or talk. Not the questions we routinely ask when opening a conference, not broad questions about the student’s concerns or general questions about the course or assignment, important as those are. But questions that dig in to the nitty-gritty of the student’s thoughts about the topic or rhetorical situation of their writing. Questions we ask without any kind of follow-up advice in mind—questions that are not designed as lead-ins to where the tutor thinks the conference to go next. Questions that we ask because we don’t know the answer, and we’re interested in what it might be. But our curiosity also invites faculty to articulate those concerns more clearly, to be more explicit about generic conventions in their fields, and even to reflect on their own writing processes. In working with more than one instructor on a collaborative lesson plan, I have found that a conversation about student writing, the goals of the lesson, and the conventions of the discipline often turns into a conversation about the instructor’s own writing process. That is wonderful: if she takes an interest in her own writing process, an instructor is more likely to realize how integral writing is to her own thinking and, therefore, how much her students can learn through revision and a thoughtfully planned, multi-stage writing process. Being interested all together