Triggering Interest in Optics through a Science Center Visit: Evidence from the panOPTICUM

Interest is widely considered an important prerequisite for students’ engagement with physics content. Out-of-school learning environments such as science centers may be particularly relevant in this regard because they provide opportunities for autonomous exploration, hands-on engagement with phenomena, and encounters with physics content outside regular classroom instruction. This study investigated whether a visit to the panOPTICUM science center can trigger short-term interest-related activation in the domain of optics and which learner- and setting-related factors predict students’ post-visit curiosity state toward optics. We conducted an exploratory pre-post study without a control group with (N=145) adolescents aged 11 to 18 years. Participants visited the panOPTICUM for approximately two hours and explored experimental stations on optical phenomena. The curiosity state toward optics was assessed immediately before and after the visit; perceived characteristics of the setting were assessed in the post-test. The results showed a significant increase in curiosity state toward optics from pre-test to post-test, (z=-4.38, p<0.001), with a moderate effect size (r=0.43). A multiple regression model explained a substantial proportion of variance in post-visit curiosity state toward optics ( adjusted R^2=0.65). The strongest significant predictors were pre-visit curiosity state toward optics, perceived tinkering support, and perceived helpfulness of the visit. The findings suggest that an open science center setting such as the panOPTICUM can activate students' curiosity state toward optics in the short term. The findings suggest that short-term interest-related activation in science centers depends not only on the hands-on and open nature of the setting, but also on learners’ prerequisites and their perceptions of support and usefulness during the visit. This repository contains the data collected during the study, as well as the R scripts created during the analysis.