Developing Interest

Angela Duckworth suggests that developing interest in a subject is a gradual process that unfolds over time, rather than something innate or immediate. She identifies several key stages and factors:

1. Discovery through Exploration:
   • Interest often begins with exposure to a variety of activities or subjects.
   • Individuals may not feel passionate at first but discover an interest through curiosity and experimentation.
2. Initial Spark:
   • A sense of enjoyment or fascination with the activity serves as an initial "spark" that captures attention.
   • This is often influenced by supportive environments or inspiring mentors.
3. Deepening through Practice:
   • Interest deepens as individuals engage more and develop competence in the subject.
   • Positive feedback and small successes reinforce motivation and curiosity.
4. Integration with Personal Values:
   • Over time, the interest becomes tied to a sense of identity and personal meaning.
   • Individuals begin to see the subject as a reflection of their values and aspirations.
5. Sustained Effort and Passion:
   • Long-term interest involves persistence, even through challenges.
   • Passion is cultivated as the subject becomes a source of intrinsic motivation.

Duckworth emphasizes that interests are nurtured, not simply discovered. This process requires time, encouragement, and the willingness to engage in exploration and practice. She ties this to her broader concept of grit, as developing and sustaining interest is an essential component of pursuing long-term goals.

Developing Interest in Coding

The standard way that nearly all coding classes start is with the classic "Hello World" task, where the student learns to output a simple phrase, usually to a console. While this may have been a good place to start in the past (especially when the main interface between users and machines WAS the console), with students now growing up in a world dominated by computers, the "Hello World" task seems a little, well – boring.

Instead, imagine starting to learn a programming language with a guided exploration of pre-written and functional code. Students could experiment with changing certain parts of the code and observing how their changes affect the code’s functioning.

In the task below, for example, students see the code that makes the superhero speak, but get to make changes that allow him to say different things.