Children's early interest-based activities in the home and subsequent information contributions and pursuits in kindergarten.

Abstract

This study examined the early interests of 109 children and their subsequent information contributions and pursuits in kindergarten. Four groups of children with similar interests were identified on the basis of the children's profiles of activities in the home, tracked bimonthly for over a year. Activity patterns reflected conceptual, social, procedural, or creative interests. The role of early interests in understanding academic engagement was investigated, with gender, cognitive skill, and temperament statistically controlled. Observational data from throughout the school year revealed differences in the types of information that children contributed to discussions and pursued in class related to children's early interests. Findings enrich understanding of young children's academic behaviors and extend theoretical models of academic self-instruction behaviors such as information exchanges and pursuits in classrooms.

Science Interests in Preschool Boys and Girls: Relations to Later Self‐Concept and Science Achievement

“…At this point, epistemological changes based on early exposure to domains of interest have not been examined, but research by Neitzel et al () provides some evidence that these claims are reasonable. Children's interests were followed a year before they attended kindergarten.…”

“…Preschooler's interests impact what stimuli are selectively attended to and for how long, as well as the specific information that is encoded and subsequently available to be retrieved. Interest during the preschool period impacts the types of play in which children engage (e.g., investigative play vs. social play; Neitzel, Alexander, & Johnson, ) and the types of actions they employ during play (e.g., problem solving, pretend). These cognitive activities and patterns may have long‐term influences as they lay the foundation for future learning.…”

Longitudinal analysis of the relations between opportunities to learn about science and the development of interests related to science

“…Our initial sample of participants included 215 children (90 girls, 125 boys) between the age of 4;0 and 4;6 when the study began ( M = 4;2). These children were recruited for a prospective longitudinal study on interest development in young children (Alexander, Johnson, Leibham, & Kelley, 2008; Johnson et al, 2004; Leibham et al, 2005; Neitzel, Alexander, & Johnson, 2008). Families with 4‐year‐olds were recruited during a 12‐month period during 1999–2000 through brief articles placed in local newspapers, flyers posted in pediatricians' offices, and a local children's museum, through university and community Listservs, and through preschools and daycares serving ethnically and socioeconomically diverse communities.…”

Persons pursuing multiple objects of interest in multiple contexts

“…At an individual level, interest development is complex and idiosyncratic (Krapp 2002a). Persons are unique in what specifically catches their interest in a particular situation (Silvia 2006), typically have multiple interests (Hofer 2010;Renninger and Hidi 2016;Su and Rounds 2015), and can pursue and develop interests across contexts (Barron 2006;Crowley et al 2015;Maul et al 2017;Neitzel et al 2008). In this article, we propose to account for idiosyncrasy and multiplicity of interests and social contexts by what we refer to as a personobjects-contexts (i.e., P-O-Cs) perspective, so as to achieve a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of how individuals' interests develop in dynamic ways over time with various present and future orientations (e.g., study choice).…”