Personalized learning is an approach to teaching that focuses on fostering students’ sense-making and engagement in school. A key strategy within this approach is the consideration of students’ interests in the design and implementation of learning activities. This qualitative study explores how a primary school teacher in Spain incorporates students’ interests into a project-based educational practice.
Drawing on a sociocultural perspective of interest and using a single case study design, we analyzed 31 classroom events and identified five teaching strategies for incorporating and transforming students’ interests: Spark, Explore, Center, Deepen, and Evaluate. These strategies illustrate a sequential process through which interests are elicited, shared, refined, and transformed to support meaningful learning experiences connected to the curriculum.
Our findings offer a typology of teaching strategies with specific actions for incorporating students’ interests, highlighting teacher intentionality, the connection to inquiry-oriented projects, and the importance of reflection on personal learning interests.
Membrive, A., Vizquerra, M.I., & Engel, A. (2026). Personalized learning strategies for considering students’ interests. Teaching and Teacher Education, 180, 105663, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2026.105663