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This research examined the influence of subject-matter knowledge on students’ recall of and interest in scientific exposition. Two forms of subject-matter knowledge were assessed: topic knowledge (i.e., specific subject-matter knowledge referenced in text) and domain knowledge (i.e., knowledge pertinent to a particular field of study). Two hundred and nine college students read two popular-press passages from the domain of physics. Tests of topic knowledge and domain knowledge were administered to students prior to reading the passages. During reading, students rated how interesting they thought each passage and each of its paragraphs were. After reading, students completed a recall measure. Regression analyses showed that subject-matter knowledge, particularly domain knowledge, predicted both recall and interest. Findings tend to support a three-stage model of domain learning that proposes an interactive picture of student knowledge, recall, and interest. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Dewey (1913) suggested some time ago that trying to find out what is of interest to students is an important part of schooling; on the other hand, “making things interesting” is artificial and often unsuccessful. Two studies investigating the placement of interesting detail in a text about a physicist and his scientific work are reported here. In both studies, undergraduate students were asked to read the science text under a variety of conditions and then to recall important information on a set of measures. Results indicated that attention of students was diverted from important generalizations in text to interesting, sometimes irrelevant, detail. Placement of the detail did not affect recall, but overall interestingness of the text did, particularly if students knew little about the topic of the text. Implications for instruction are discussed.