For many students, boredom is part of everyday school life. Scientific studies show that this accounts for roughly half of all teaching time. But this boredom has negative consequences: in a study in which school students were asked several times during lessons, Prof. Kristina Kögler from the Institute of Educational Science at the University of Stuttgart and Prof. Richard Göllner from the University of Potsdam discovered a surprising pattern: It is not only difficult material that causes frustration; tasks that are too easy can also have a lasting negative impact on learning. The two researchers have now published the results of their study in the British Journal of Educational Psychology.
If the learning material is too easy, students quickly become bored.
For their study, the researchers evaluated data from a diary study in which 95 students were monitored over two school weeks. Several times per lesson, they recorded how bored they felt, how interested they were in learning, and how well they understood the material. The results show that learners must first be supported in understanding the content. In actual lessons, they must then be continuously challenged in order to remain active and avoid boredom.
Challenging lessons are a basic requirement for effective learning.
"Particularly critical is the fact that boredom acts as a brake on the learning process,” says Potsdam-based educational scientist Richard Göllner. “Those who are bored at the end of a lesson show less interest and have a poorer understanding afterwards, resulting in a downward spiral of inattention,” adds his Stuttgart colleague Kristina Kögler. Challenging lessons are therefore not an educational option, but a basic requirement for effective learning.
It is also noteworthy that excessive demands occur far less frequently than commonly assumed. "The main risk in the classroom is not that lessons are too challenging and demanding, but that they are not challenging and demanding enough,” the two researchers emphasize.
The study:
Richard Göllner, Kristina Kögler: Control-value appraisals and the emergence of students' boredom: An in situ perspective within lessons, British Journal of Educational Psychology (2025).
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| Contact | Prof. Dr. Kristina Kögler, Institute of Educational Science, tel: +49 711 685 83181, email |
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