In self-determination theory, Ryan and Deci (2017) propose that psychological well-being is based on three innate psychological needs: relatedness, competence, and autonomy. The perception of autonomy in particular has positive effects on students' well-being and the quality of experience in educational settings. A positive effect of perceived autonomy on students' interest has already been empirically documented. Still, there is a lack of studies that investigate the positive effects of autonomy-supportive teaching behaviour in the areas they are especially needed such as learning environments with uninteresting topics. In our study, 159 secondary school students (M[subscript age] = 11.49 ± 0.63 years) participated in four biology lessons on the topic "nutrition and digestion." Three of the six investigated classes were taught by an autonomy-supportive teacher while the others were taught in a controlling manner. A comparison of both treatments revealed significant differences in students' perceived autonomy and their psychological state of interest. Furthermore, the students' individual interest in biological topics had an impact on their psychological state of interest. Most interestingly, we found that the autonomy-supportive teaching behaviour was particularly beneficial for the students with low individual interest in biological topics.