What are the factors affecting the academic performance of elementary pupils?

People are interested in things which pertain to them. Everybody has special interests and hobbies, and those are always going to be more interesting than a dry textbook. However, people are also going to pay more attention to something which has some sort of personal meaning.

For example, when studying science, the students are more likely to be interested if they see how learning how to research information will make their grades better. When studying math, they are more interested if they see how this will help them to save up and buy a new computer or a car.