Aesthetic design of app interfaces and their impact on secondary students’ interest and learning

Abstract

Interest in science topics is an important prerequisite for science learning and achievement. Here, as part of a field experiment, we studied whether teenagers’ interest and learning of physics topics would be influenced by the aesthetics of a multimedia learning app. More specifically, we investigated with the example of learning about energy (types of power plants) how different interface designs of a multimedia learning app would influence aesthetic experience, interest, and learning outcome. In our study Swiss high school students (N = 108) were assigned to one of two conditions (i.e., game-style vs. industrial-style) differing in various aesthetic features. Results indicate that high-quality interfaces support learning and expressive aesthetic design features additionally foster interest in order to engage with the topic. Moreover, our findings on aesthetic experience suggest that deep perceptual processes, such as emotion and cognitive stimulation induced by interfaces, further impact interest and learning. Thus, our study gives implications for the design of interest-generating and learning-supporting science apps for teenagers and emphasizes the significance to consider aesthetic experience in future research.