Associations between students’ situational interest, mastery experiences, and physical activity levels in an interactive dance game

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of previous experiences on students’ situational interest and physical activity (PA) levels, as well as the relationships between situational interest and PA levels in Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). A total of 135 seventh through ninth graders participated in DDR unit for two weeks, and reported their previous DDR experiences. Students’ PA levels were measured by ActiGraph accelerometers for three classes with percentages of time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as the outcome variable. They also responded to the Situational Interest Scale (including novelty, challenge, attention demand, exploration intention, and instant enjoyment) at the end of each class. The Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) yielded a significant main effect for experience. Follow-up tests revealed that students with DDR experiences scored significantly higher than those without experiences at following dimensions: challenge; exploration intention; instant enjoyment; and attention demand. Regression analysis yielded that novelty emerged as the only significant predictor for MVPA. The findings suggested that four dimensions of situational interest differed between students with and without previous experiences. Novelty emerged as the only predictor for MVPA, suggesting that students would have higher PA when they feel the activity provides new information.