Measuring Children’s STEM Interest Development Longitudinally

• In Event: Current Approaches to Interest Measurement

Abstract

The Synergies project targets the development of STEM interest in 5th–8th-grade youth in under-resourced communities by examining social, material, and visual resources in and out of school. We will present items from our STEM interest questionnaire, in-depth interview and mapping protocol, and rudimentary ABM, discussing challenges. We take the Four-Phase Model of Interest Development (Hidi & Renninger, 2006) as a theoretical basis, and use complex systems theory to track the development of interest through daily activity. Using data from interest surveys for youth and in-depth interviews, and mapping the survey data onto the interview data, STEM interest is documented qualitatively and quantitatively in order to test predictions about children’s interest trajectories.

Authors

• Lynn Diane Dierking, Oregon State University

• John Falk, Oregon State University

• Nancy Staus, Oregon State University

• William R. Penuel, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Jennifer Nicole Wyld, Oregon State University

• Deborah Bailey, Oregon State University