Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Akkerman, Dion M.
• Vulperhorst, Jonne P.
• Akkerman, Sanne F.
• Kendeou, Panayiota
• Graham, Steve

Titel

A Developmental Extension to the Multidimensional Structure of Interests

Ist Teil von

• Journal of educational psychology, 2020-01, Vol.112 (1), p.183-203

Ort / Verlag

Washington: American Psychological Association

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

ERIC

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Although interest has been repeatedly identified as a powerful basis for learning and academic achievement, limited empirical work has looked at the structural composition, persistence, stability, and development of interests over time. Such work is necessary to support developmental models of interest empirically. Using 6 dimensions identified in literature as underlying the development of interests (time, value, agency, frequency, intensity, and mastery), the 7,226 interests of 204 Dutch high school students were explored by examining the structure of these dimensions over time. To measure students' multiple interests and their development across contexts and over time, we used experience-sampling methodology through a smartphone application at 2 time points, 3 months apart. Using cross-sectional latent profile analyses, we found that the data best supported 2 nearly identical sets of 6 profiles at both time points. These profiles, consisting of both homogeneous (i.e., similar scores on all dimensions) and heterogeneous (i.e., characterized by interactions across dimensions) patterns of scores across the dimensions, were then investigated longitudinally to evaluate them within developmental theory. The structures of the profiles and the transitions between profiles over time largely align with common descriptions of interest development. However, discrepancies hinting at a novel and separate developmental trajectory were found, requiring further investigation. Educational Impact and Implications Statement Common strategies for identifying and developing students' interest and using these interests in practice may be based on erroneous assumptions. For example, relating instruction to students' specific interests simply because they are older or match students' existing proficiencies, may result in neglecting other, more developed and potentially more suitable, interests. In this study, we demonstrate that the state of development of an interest can be distinguished using patterns across 6 dimensions: time, value, agency, frequency, intensity, and mastery. Contrasting expectations based on interest development theory, our results show at least 2 groups of interests in which these dimensions have not developed in unison, which is why insight into a combination of the dimensions is required to distinguish different levels of interest development. The state of these 6 dimensions together can help inform us about how interests may develop over time, including whether an interest will continue growing, stop or may even stop being considered an interest.