Abstracts - Earli

B 228 August 2007 17:30 - 18:50Room: 2.54 NovobátzkyPaper SessionArts educationChair:Emil Gaul, Moholy-Nagy University, HungaryUsing graphical representations to assess children’s listening competence and sense-making ofsimple and complex musical fragmentsLieven Verschaffel, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumMark Reybrouck, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumMarjan Janssens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumWim Van Dooren, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumThis paper analyzes children’s spontaneous graphical representations while listening to andmaking sense of musical fragments. Starting from the theoretical and empirical state-of-the-art, weset up a study with a view to investigate the impact of the following four factors on the level ofsophistication of children’s graphical representations: (i) the children’s age, (ii) their musicalbackground, (iii) the complexity of the musical fragment to be graphically represented and (iv) thespecific musical parameter being prominently present in these musical fragments. Hundred-andsixteenchildren divided into four more or less equal groups (8-9 yrs olds and 11-12 yrs olds withand without extra musical education) were exposed, in the context of a whole-class test, to sixmusical fragments that differed in terms of complexity (three simple and self-composed fragmentsand three complex ones taken from existing musical compositions) and of musical parameter beingprominently present in the fragment (melody, rhythm or dynamics). Children’s representationswere categorized by means of a classification scheme (that was developed in a previous pilotstudy) that distinguishes between (i) global notations, where the fragments are represented in aholistic way by one overall pictorial image (like a musical instrument or a real-world scene) and(ii) differentiated notations, which try to capture one or more musical parameters in their temporalunfolding (like an informal or formal pictorial notation of the development of the melody). Asexpected, we found a significant impact of age and music education: older children and childrenfollowing extracurricular music education used more differentiated notations than youngerchildren and children without such extra music education. Moreover, complex musical fragmentselicited less differentiated notations than simple ones. We also found several interaction effectsbetween the subject and task variables, – expected as well as unexpected ones. Theoretical,methodological and educational implications will be discussed.Students’ interest for history and interest supportive instruction in Swiss 9th grade classroomsMonika Waldis, University of applied sciences Nordwestschweiz, SwitzerlandInterest is an important objective of school education. The person-object theory (POI) of interestconceptualizes interest as a specific person-object relationship that is characterized by valuerelatedand feeling-related valences. Krapp (2002) suggested that the emerging of feeling-relatedvalences is closely related to the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs identified byDeci and Ryan (2000). Feelings of competence, autonomy and social-relatedness are described tobe essential to interest development. Theoretical models of interest development (Hidi &Renninger, 2006) identify situational interest as providing a basis for an emerging individual– 73 –