Abstracts - Earli

uninteresting topic) x 3 (types of writing tasks) design. While reading an expository text, studentsrated each paragraph for different aspects of interestingness and for importance in the text. Afterreading, participants were assigned to one of three writing tasks: 1. to sustain a point of view onthe phenomenon described in the text; 2. to write a passage to be included in a volume for highschoolstudents; 3. to write a composition on the topic. As expected, participants gave differentratings according to the category of text segments. Regarding writing, students who argued inwritten form used more segments rated as interesting than students involved in the academicwriting task.Developing potential: Increasing and maintaining interest.Markku Niemivirta, University of Helsinki, FinlandMary Ainley, University of Melbourne, AustraliaA large body of research has demonstrated positive associations between interest and learning butthere are as yet unanswered questions concerning how this facilitation effect occurs. Thisinvestigation focuses on the time unit of a single task and examines patterns of change in interestprocesses across the task. Patterns of change in task interest are then examined in relation tostudents’ perspectives on themselves as learners both prior to task commencement and on taskcompletion. As they commence a learning task student have expectations about task difficulty andbeliefs about their own task efficacy. In this presentation we report results of modeling trajectoriesof change in students’ task interest and connect this with pre-task and post-task judgmentsconcerning task difficulty and self-efficacy. In addition to examining these relationships within thetime-frame of a single task, the same modeling techniques are used to describe development ininterest and efficacy processes across three similar tasks completed across one school year. Thefindings provide important insights into the role of interest in the cumulative experiences thatcontribute to students’ on-going perspectives on themselves as learners.Interest and self-efficacy in out-of-school choral training and biology: What develops and how?Ann Renninger, Swarthmore College, USAJessica Bachrach, Swarthmore College, USASara Posey, Swarthmore College, USATwo mixed-method studies of inner-city children’s participation in a selective out-of-school choraltraining program address the relation among interest, self-efficacy, and the learning environment.The first is a cross-sectional study of the self-efficacy, cognitive, and personal gains of 38 (16boys, 22 girls) inner city children between 8 and 16 years of age; the second is an in-depth analysisof 8 children’s (3 boys, 5 girls) participation in the choir and an enrichment biology program.Findings suggest that with the deepening of knowledge about a domain, feelings of self-efficacymay be expected to decline until conceptual competence about the domain develops further.The role of mastery goals in the development of interest over timeJudith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USAThe dynamics of personal and situational interest and academic performance were examined in thecollege classroom and 7 semesters later, in conjunction with achievement goals. At the beginningof an introductory psychology course, participants reported their initial interest in psychology,achievement goals, and situational interest in course lectures (catch-1). At the end of the semester,participants (n = 858) reported their situational interest in course lectures (catch-2) and psychology(hold). In the short-term, relationships emerged among initial interest, achievement goals,– 276 –