Successful teaching and learning at school is characterised in particular by the ability to motivate pupils to participate in lessons and to take an interest in the content of the lessons. International comparative studies such as TIMSS or PISA have provided almost sufficient empirical evidence that pupils' interest in maths and science lessons is low, particularly at lower secondary level (Baumert & Lehmann, 1997; Artelt, Demmrich & Baumert 2001). The recently published results of the IGLU study (as well as the national extension IGLU/E) show that at the end of primary school "the joy of learning and children's curiosity in maths is still unbroken" (Walther, Geiser, Langeheine & Lobemeier 2003, 220). However, a didactic perspective inevitably means that the focus should not be on motivation, but rather on interest due to its object-relatedness. Based on the IGLU findings, it is largely unclear which teaching factors determine the enjoyment of learning or interest in individual subjects in particular.
The aim of this research project is to investigate the interests of primary school pupils with regard to content, contextual and activity-related aspects of maths lessons. This is done with the intention of being able to take into account the empirically determined interests of primary school pupils when planning and implementing maths lessons in the sense of didactic structuring.

Literature:
Artelt, C., Demmrich, A. & Baumert, J. (2001). Self-regulated learning. In German PISA Consortium (Ed.), PISA 2000. basic competences of pupils in comparison (pp. 272-298). Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Baumert, J. & Lehmann, R. (1997). TIMSS - mathematics and science education in international comparison. Opladen: Leske + Budrich.
Walther, G., Geiser, H., Langeheine, R. & Lobemeier, K. (2003). Mathematical competences at the end of the fourth grade. In W. Bos, E.-M. Lankes, M. Prenzel, K. Schwippert, G. Walther & R. Valtin (Eds.), First results from IGLU (pp. 189-226). Münster et al: Waxmann.