Support for the second assumption, i.e. that the authentic character of the problems
results in higher levels of student interest, can be found in a study by Rotgans et al. (2010).
In their study they examined whether there are differences in students’ interest between a
problem-based learning and a conventional, direct-instruction, primary school mathematics
classroom. The results showed that the problem-based group, which worked on an
authentic problem, was significantly more interested in a particular subject than the directinstruction
group that worked on more abstract mathematical examples and definitions of
the same subject.