A sociocultural perspective also guides the design of classroom-based interest research. Emphasis is placed on the importance of studying interest in real life contexts over time, as learners engage in authentic activities. This qualitative study followed the development of interest over a six month period in a fifth grade primary (elementary) science classroom established on learning community principles. The class was situated in a K-12 independent school in Sydney, Australia. It consisted of 26 eight-to-ten year old girls and their teacher, who was relatively experienced in teaching this grade and committed to innovative teaching and learning. The study was conducted as students participated in classroom-based activities as part of two science learning units, one

focused on electricity and the other on eggs and egg-laying animals. In this study, data were gathered through participant observation, videotaping of lessons, semi-structured interviews, student interest trajectories and written student reflections, to investigate the way in which teacher actions, collaborative student activities, and individual

student actions interacted to channel or canalise the emergence and development of interest. In this paper, data relating to students' retrospective ratings of their self-perceived interest in specific classroom activities, interviews with students and classroom observation data are drawn upon. This enables exploration of whole class and small group activities, as well as individual students' interest in relation to on-going participation in classroom activities. As such, the participants and the field of participation can be considered as ‘inclusively separate’ (Valsiner, 1998), thus allowing for consideration of extrapersonal and intrapersonal development while maintaining the study of the total activity. This provides a framework in which the co-occurrence of situational and individual interest can be studied and better explained.

 

The findings reported in this paper have been selected from those of the broader study to illustrate the potential and limitations of a sociocultural approach for explaining the relationship between situational and individual interest. We take two key lessons identified from the broader study and foreground different planes (community, interpersonal, intrapersonal – Rogoff 1998) to focus on the interest of individual students in relation to their participation in classroom and small group activities. Analysis of multiple sources of data reveals the ways in which students’ self-perceived interest may differ while participating in the same classroom or small group activity, particularly in terms of individual patterns that indicate task, topic or domain interest. Consideration is also given to how these differences may be co-created amongst participants through focusing on social interaction in a small group task. The affordances and constraints of a teacher-designed task also are analysed in terms of how this may promote certain pathways for interest development that are valued within the classroom learning community. These analyses provide insights into the co-occurrence of situational and individual interest in relation to development in practice.

 

This paper offers a dynamic conceptualisation of interest that explores the relationship between situational and individual interest and contributes to the small, but growing body of sociocultural research on interest (Nolen, in press; Renninger, 2000; Pressick-Kilborn & Walker, 2002). The findings have implications for classroom practice, particularly in relation to how the design of teaching and learning activities affords and constrains the potential for students’ interest development.

 

 

Hidi, S., & Renninger, K.A. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 111-127.

 

Nolen, S. B. (2007). Young children’s motivation to read and write: Development in social contexts. Cognition and Instruction, (in press).

 

Pressick-Kilborn. K. & Walker, R. (2002). The social construction of interest in a learning community. In D. McInerney & S. Van Etten (Eds.), Research on sociocultural influences on motivation and learning Vol. 2 (pp. 153-182). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

 

Renninger, K. A. (2000). Individual interest and its implications for understanding intrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J. M. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance (pp. 373-404). San Diego: Academic Press.

 

Rogoff, B. (1998). Cognition as a collaborative process. In W. Damon (Ed.-in-chief), D. Kuhn & R. Siegler (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology Vol. 2 (5th ed.) (pp. 679-744). New York: Wiley.

 

Valsiner, J. (1997). Culture and the Development of Children's Action: A theory of human development (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

 

Valsiner, J. (1998). Dualisms displaced: From crusades to analytic distinctions. Human Development, 41, 350-354.

 

Valsiner, J. (2001). Comparative study of human cultural development. Madrid:Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje.

In this presentation we describe the relationship between interest and identity development in the multiple contexts of learning to teach. Beginning early in a graduate preservice program, we used ethnographic methods to capture changes in both teacher identity and interest in various teaching practices. Our first task was definitional: Can interest be distinguished from identity in teachers’ speech and actions related to practice? Is interest appropriate to understanding motivation in professional programs? We used Hidi & Renninger’s (2006; Lipstein & Renninger, 2006) developmental sequence to frame this inquiry, and looked for evidence of both situational and individual interest in teaching practices. Identity development was cast as occurring in social contexts through interaction, relationships, and mutual co-construction of norms in each context (Holland, Jr., Skinner, & Cain, 1998; Lave & Wenger, 1991). Next, we identified evidence of identity development and its processes, and evidence of interest in practices in multiple contexts. Teachers learn their profession in university classrooms, in school practica, and after certification, in their first teaching jobs. We collected observational data in all learning contexts and interviewed beginning teachers after or during each field observation. Based on three years of data, we will discuss how identity and interest develop in and between social contexts, and their relationship to each other, in three possible ways:

1. Current teacher identity opens (or closes off) the possibility to develop interest in contexts

2. Individual interests lead to selection of roles in contexts that in turn influence interest

3. Interests and identity co-develop in social contexts with particular features.

Cross-case analysis of 8 focal students and their contexts will provide evidence for these possibilities, and for the reasonableness of treating identity and interest as separable.

In this presentation we describe the relationship between interest and identity development in the multiple contexts of learning to teach. Beginning early in a graduate preservice program, we used ethnographic methods to capture changes in both teacher identity and interest in various teaching practices through the first year of professional teaching.

 

Data come from our longitudinal study of learning to teach in multiple contexts. 60 graduate students, including 8 focal students who were studied in depth, participated in the first two years. Data collected include (1) ethnographic observations of university classrooms, field practica/student teaching, and social events with program peers; (2) seven interviews of focal students, plus interviews of all instructors, cooperating teachers, and supervisors. In the third year, the focal students were followed into their first paid teaching jobs, with three two-day observations, observations of interactions with mentors, and a semi-structured interview at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Data from multiple sources was used to triangulate findings and interpretations.

 

Our first task was definitional: Can interest be distinguished from identity in teachers’ speech and actions related to practice? Is interest appropriate to understanding motivation in professional programs? We used Hidi & Renninger’s (2006; Lipstein & Renninger, 2006) developmental sequence to frame this inquiry, and looked for evidence of both situational and individual interest in teaching practices. Next, we identified evidence of identity development and its processes, and evidence of interest in practices in multiple contexts. Identity development was cast as occurring in social contexts through interaction, relationships, and mutual co-construction of norms in each context (Holland et al., 1998; Lave & Wenger, 1991). Teachers learn their profession in university classrooms, in school practica, and after certification, in their first teaching jobs; having data from all of these contexts enabled us to compare actions and statements related to interest and identity. This, in turn, allowed a look at students’ strategies for dealing with both the complexities of each context and the differences and even contradictions in social definitions of teaching across contexts. The data from the first year of professional teaching provide evidence of continuing interests and identity themes: What is retained, and what is kept, given their new role and (for some) very different school context?

 

Based on three years of data, we will discuss different models of how identity and interest develop in and between social contexts, and their relationship to each other, including

1. Current teacher identity opens (or closes off) the possibility to develop interest in contexts

2. Individual interests lead to selection of roles in contexts that in turn influence interest

3. Interests and identity co-develop in social contexts: All interest is situational, all identities are co-constructed in context.

A cross-case analysis of 8 focal students and their contexts will provide evidence for these possibilities, and for the reasonableness of treating identity and interest as separable.

 

This analysis has implications for the conceptualization of interest and its development.

First, to the extent that individual interests can be considered part of the identity, careful consideration of their relationship across the proposed developmental sequence is important. Research should also address whether developmental differences in the nature of “identity” may mean that its relationship to interest in children may be different.

Second, it may be that interest is less important in certain situations. In a professional program in which students must negotiate multiple norms for multiple evaluators, can interest be considered important for learning teaching practice?

 

There are also methodological implications of our work. Longitudinal designs in contexts provide complex data on how interests develop (Nolen, 2004, 2006, 2007; Renninger & Hidi, 2002). Understanding this development is facilitated by the use of ethnographic methods and open-ended interview questions, which allow individual’s emic perspective to inform the analysis. Finally, there are implications for programs. The data from this study suggest that identity and interest development influence what beginning teachers are willing to learn. Understanding the developmental processes and their relationship to social context can help teacher educators learn how best to support students’ learning.

 

 

 

References

 

Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist Vol 41(2) 2006, 111-127.

Holland, D., Jr., W. L., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lipstein, R., & Renninger, K. A. (2006). "putting things into words": The development of 12-15-year-old students' interest for writing. In S. Hidi & P. Boscolo (Eds.), Motivation to write (pp. 113-140). Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer.

Nolen, S. B. (2004). Theoretical issues in studying the long-term development of motivation, 9th International Conference on Motivation. Lisboa, Portugal.

Nolen, S. B. (2006). The role of social context in the development of motivation to write. In S. Hidi & P. Boscolo (Eds.), Motivation to write (pp. 241-255). Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer.

Nolen, S. B. (2007). Young children’s motivation to read and write: Development in social contexts. Cognition and Instruction, (in press).

Renninger, K. A., & Hidi, S. (2002). Student interest and achievement: Developmental issues raised by a case study. In A. Wigfield & J. Eccles (Eds.), The development of achievement motivation (pp. 173-195). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.