The impact of interest: an emergent model of interest development in the early years
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Pendergast, Donna
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
The literature defines curiosity and interest, but it is not clear how interest can be generated, where interest is positioned in the learning process, and what the impact of interest is on cognitive and emotional development. This paper reports on a three-year, iterative design-based research project involving three separate cohorts totalling 57 early learners in an early learning setting in Southern Queensland, Australia. The young learners aged 4–5 years, engaged in an enrichment program that extended over a two-week period for each of 15 topics. Insights were gained on how young children developed interested in a topic. An emergent model of authentic interest was developed, showing how interest is situated centrally in the learning process. It also shows how interest raised awareness, exploration, and new knowledge, creating a cycle of repeated engagement with the topic, thereby enhancing cognitive and emotional development.
Journal Title
Early Child Development and Care
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
193
Issue
13-14
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Education systems
Applied and developmental psychology
Social and personality psychology
Social Sciences
Education & Educational Research
Psychology, Developmental
Psychology
interest
Persistent link to this record
Citation
van Aswegen, EC; Pendergast, D, The impact of interest: an emergent model of interest development in the early years, Early Child Development and Care, 2023, 193 (13-14), pp. 1335-1349