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The reason I asked the question in the first place was because it can be very difficult to make lessons interesting all the time and all the way through. I'm a Science teacher and there are many aspects of science where you cannot use practicals and cannot be interesting all the time. 

When I ask students what they would find interesting, they comment the usual - bangs, explosions etc., and a few say that an interesting experiment would help them to learn as they would be more involved. However, I've found that many students still don't really care regardless of how interesting you make it. I think it really has to do with the culture of today which is "I want variety and I want it now". 

I try and put as much variety  into a lesson as possible, but the pupils still need to be able to understand what they are being taught and one has to therefore repeat what is being taught in a variety of ways. Pupils have commented that it makes the lesson 'dry'. I've seen this in many different subjects and with many different teachers. Are there strategies (in any subject) that are used to make sure the lesson isn't dry which I have not come across?

coolasacucumber:

I think if you come across as energetic and interested it will capture a lot of their attention.

   "Why are you interested in science?  Are you a nerd?"

  A lack of intrinsic motivation (wanting to learn about a subject for its own sake) in the student can be dealt with through enthusiasm.  But if a student is opposed to learning in a particular subject or in general, then actually being interested in something boffins do is a severe character flaw.

  So I do not think this is enough.

SueCowley:

Not in and of itself.  But surely it stands to reason that classes are more likely to behave if the students are engaged and interested in the lesson?

You appear to be confusing the lesson being interesting with the students being interested. When it comes to the worst behaved students these things are rarely connected.

Within a class at any given moment, you will have a wide range of behaviours on display. no matter how interesting the lesson, it is the mind of each individual that decides at that moment as to whether it is interested or not. Therefore lesson content and delivery is only a very small factor in the cause of pupil behaviour.

A well planned interesting lesson can easily fail due to other circumstances eg last lesson of the day, snow starts to fall, or thunder and lighting storms overhead, stifling hot weather, etc etc

Studies show that one of the major causes of poor pupil behaviour is the excessive amount of target setting and monitoring that they have to endure. It is a serious switch off for many students.

 So, to answer the question, i think that interesting lessons and pupil behaviour are linked, but not to the great extent as some people think they are. 

How much you made sellling your books Sue?