Research into the effect of interest consistently indicated that interest positively related to students' achievement; however, the mechanism through which it affected the learning result remained an open question. This study intended to examine how learning strategies mediated the relationship between interest and achievement in the domain of history learning. Biggs Learning Process Questionnaire, which distinguishes between the surface and deep-level learning strategies, was adopted to describe students' learning process. Structural equation modelling and the distribution of products test were used to evaluate the mediating effect. Based on available resources, the participants were seventh grade students in China. Analyses revealed that the surface-learning strategy served as a mediator, but the deep-learning strategy did not play the same role.

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The authors describe a project that illustrates the use of autoethnography as a research methodology to better understand their decisions to become professors. Strangers to one another, both authors discovered common motivations to make mid-life changes in opposition to cultural expectations. A review of the literature on epidemic theory, creativity, the women’s movement, role change, and life stage theory offer insight into the experiences that motivated them to reject their traditional cultural roles. Both also found a shared un willingness to accept invisibility, a common aspect of life for women over 40.

This auto-ethnographic study describes a practical application of qualitative research skills in an intensive writing retreat. The retreat was held in response to an inadequate dissertation defense just three weeks before final university deadline for graduation. It uses narrative and double- storytelling to step in and out of the experience of a debriefing process that put the writer in a vulnerable position with a critical friend. The reality of not completing the PhD demanded aggressive and immediate action – an intense commitment to critical analysis of the dissertation. The reflective self-study of the writing retreat experience describes the significance of a critical friend, a safe place, commitment to task, trust, respect, and risk-taking that resulted in an approved dissertation and completed degree program. The unconventional action encourages exploration of alternative approaches for both doctoral committees and students struggling with the final phase of dissertation writing. Insights on collaboration and reflection are shown in the analogy with the playful spider sniffing activity.