Structural Equation Modelling and multivariate analysis of repeated measures were used to analyse the longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between students’ conceptions and perceptions and their developing interest. In line with Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), we predicted and found that opportunities to experiences competence, autonomy, and social relatedness, each representing a basic psychological need, facilitate situational interest. Students’ conceptions about the quality of working in groups changed as a function of their situational interest, but different patterns were noted for learning and social interaction conceptions. The results are discussed with reference to the teacher's role to monitor more closely the facilitating potentials of interest development.

Introduction and aims

Krapp (2002) identified two kinds of factors that determine the development of longer-lasting interest. The first factor refers to cognitively represented judgments or beliefs and the second to feeling-related experiences during on-going actions. These two factors need to be experienced together in a positive way in order for interest to develop. This article examines how students’ conceptions and perceptions of the quality of new learning experiences affect their developing interest in an area of study, namely Education. By identifying and measuring the conceptions that student hold about the quality of a social learning context and their perception of the actual learning conditions during group work, we try to gain insight into the relative contribution of these two aspects to the students’ interest development. This insight might put us in a position to advice teachers on how to design more powerful learning environments in higher education. Entwistle (1991) argued that students’ conceptions about learning tasks, learning situations and learning environments influence how they learn. He also maintained that students’ perceptions and interpretations of concrete learning tasks and situations are the result of their conception and can go far in determining their actions, feelings, and cognitions. In this respect, several researchers showed that effort investment depends critically on whether or not students believe that the recommended strategies truly affect their performance positively (Pintrich, 2003; Pressley, Borkowsky, & O’Sullivan, 1985).

In an attempt to measure interest development in the context of higher education, we systematically examined how students’ conceptions and perceptions of the quality of learning experiences in innovative contexts affect their developing interest (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). By identifying and measuring the conceptions that student hold about the quality of social learning context and their perception of the actual learning conditions during group work, we tried to gain insight into the relative contribution of these two aspects of cognition to students’ interest development over time.

How does an object, topic, or activity that is introduced to a person evolve from an interesting event to a longer-lasting individual interest? Hidi and Renninger, but also Krapp described the growth of an individual interest out of a situational interest as a multi-stage process. They argue that curiosity is necessary for an interest to develop. The learner’s attention should be caught and held long enough to allow experimentation and exploration. Keeping the momentum going after the initial flirtation with the object of interest is essential to proceed from situational interest to a stabilized interest stage that produces deep level learning. Not so much research is, however, available on the potentials that are responsible for the shift from a situational interest to more stable forms of interest. So, the main research question of this contribution is to explore the longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between students’ interest and their conceptions and perceptions of group work.

Method

Participants were 102 first semester sophomores at a Dutch university. These students enrolled in a compulsory, introductory course (lasting 14 weeks) in educational sciences that featured five lesson series and was structured according to a set of principles based on social constructivism. This implied that students were working on explanation-building assignments in self-selected groups of five students. Rotating roles were assigned to the group members, implying that during any learning episode students fulfilled either the role of chairperson, affective leader, written reporter who prepares the flip-over sheet, oral presenter, or essay writer. The students regularly filled in self-report instruments during the respective learning episodes of the introductory course in Education: Students’ conceptions about learning and social interactions were measured with the Student Beliefs Questionnaire (Boekaerts, 2002) and the students’ psychological needs and situational interest were assessed by means of the Quality of Working In Groups Instrument (Boekaerts & Minnaert, 2003). Structural Equation Modelling and multivariate analysis of repeated measures were used to analyse the longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between students’ conceptions and perceptions and their developing interest.

Results

Analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that both the learning conception and the social interaction conception yielded significant within-subjects effects over time. Post-hoc comparisons with Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons revealed that the students’ learning conception was significantly higher at the end of the course compared to the beginning of the course. These results indicate that the students’ conception about working in groups as beneficial for their own learning process increased at the end of the course. Analysis of variance with repeated measures for the within-subject effects for competence, autonomy, and social relatedness were also significant over time. In line with Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), we predicted and found that opportunities to experiences competence, autonomy, and social relatedness facilitated interest development. Students’ conceptions about the quality of working in groups changed as a function of their situational interest, but distinct longitudinal and reciprocal patterns were noted for learning and social interaction conceptions.

Discussion

Learning episodes, even when structured according to the same teaching principles, differ with respect to the perceived attractiveness of the content of the assignments but also in terms of the learning conditions. Knowing that students’ perception of the current learning conditions in terms of the satisfaction of their three basic psychological needs influences situational interest will increase teachers’ awareness of those features of the learning environment that really make the difference for interest development. The results are discussed with reference to the teachers role to monitor more closely the facilitating potentials of interest development.