Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2024 Sep;94(3):947-958. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12695. Epub 2024 Jun 9.
Recent research on boredom suggests that it can emerge in situations characterized by over- and under-challenge. In learning contexts, this implies that high boredom may be experienced both by low- and high-achieving students.
This research aimed to explore the existence and prevalence of boredom due to being over- and under-challenged in mathematics, for which empirical evidence is lacking.
We employed a sample of 1.407 students (fifth to ninth graders) from all three secondary school tracks (lower, middle and upper) in Bavaria (Germany).
Boredom was assessed via self-report and achievement via a standardized mathematics test. We used latent profile analysis to identify groups characterized by different levels of boredom and achievement, and we additionally examined gender and school track as group membership predictors.
Results revealed four distinct groups, of which two showed considerably high boredom. One was coupled with low achievement on the test (i.e. 'over-challenged group', 13% of the total sample), and one was coupled with high achievement (i.e. 'under-challenged group', 21%). Furthermore, we found a low boredom and high achievement (i.e. 'well-off group', 27%) and a relatively low boredom low achievement group (i.e. 'indifferent group', 39%). Girls were overrepresented in the over-challenged group, and students from the upper school track were underrepresented in the under-challenged group.
Our research emphasizes the need to openly discuss and further investigate boredom due to being over- and under-challenged.
最近的无聊研究表明，过度挑战和缺乏挑战的情况下都会出现无聊。在学习环境中，这意味着低成就和高成就的学生都可能经历高度的无聊。
本研究旨在探索因数学学习中过度挑战和缺乏挑战而产生的无聊现象的存在和普遍性，因为这方面的实证证据还很缺乏。
我们使用了来自巴伐利亚（德国）所有三个中学阶段（低、中、高）的 1407 名学生（五年级到九年级）作为样本。
通过自我报告评估无聊感，通过标准化数学测试评估成就。我们使用潜在剖面分析来识别具有不同无聊和成就水平的群体，并进一步检查性别和学校阶段作为群体成员的预测因素。
结果显示了四个不同的群体，其中两个群体的无聊程度相当高。一个与测试中的低成就相关（即“过度挑战群体”，占总样本的 13%），另一个与高成就相关（即“缺乏挑战群体”，占 21%）。此外，我们还发现了一个低无聊和高成就的群体（即“舒适群体”，占 27%）和一个相对低无聊和低成就的群体（即“漠不关心群体”，占 39%）。女孩在过度挑战群体中比例过高，而来自高阶段学校的学生在缺乏挑战群体中比例过低。
我们的研究强调了需要公开讨论和进一步研究因过度挑战和缺乏挑战而产生的无聊现象。
