Development of a Student Interest in Mathematics Scale for Gifted and Talented Programming Identification

Abstract

The study's purpose was to develop and validate a scale for assessing interest in mathematics among elementary students as part of an identification protocol for gifted and talented programming. Lohman recommends assessment of interest as a critical element within the ideal approach to identification. Hidi and Renninger's Four-Phase Interest Development Model was identified as the theoretical model most closely aligned to identified interest factors. Their model along with current research literature informed and guided the creation of the measure. Items were created to assess emotion, value, perceived knowledge, and behavioral engagement in and outside of school. Three waves of data were collected utilizing second through sixth graders. The first exploratory factor analysis (EFA) resulted in the deletion of one factor. The second EFA reaffirmed the four-factor structure; in addition, the number of items was reduced. The confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a good model fit, supporting factor validity.

Academic Interest Scale for Adolescents: Development, Validation, and Measurement Invariance With Chinese Students

“…These findings extend prior studies which manifested four-factor structure of academic interest in elementary students in the U.S. (e.g., Wininger et al, 2014), by showing the similar structure in junior high school students in China. More broadly, these findings support the cross-culture compatibility of the four-phase interest development model.…”

“…Hidi and Renninger’s four-phase interest development model is the most complete extant model based on the existing interest literature. Some researchers in the U.S. have developed math interest measures for elementary students according to this model (e.g., Wininger et al, 2014). Four-factor construct was obtained.…”

“…The first step in scale construction was to develop linguistic definitions of academic interest and the scope of contents according to the four-phase interest development model through group discussion. The AISA item pool was drawn from the theoretical rationale described above and existing measures of individual interest (e.g., Harackiewicz et al, 2008; Schiefele, 2009; Linnenbrink-Garcia et al, 2010; Wininger et al, 2014; Rotgans, 2015; Tang and Toyama, 2016; Wang and Adesope, 2016; Wu and Liu, 2017). We included as many items as possible in the item pool that were suitable for different subjects for further item/factor selection.…”

“…Four-component measures of academic interest are rare. To the best of our knowledge, only one scale for the subject of math, which used a sample of elementary students, has been developed to date in the U.S. (Wininger et al, 2014). Two Chinese scales, MLIQ and SLIS, adopted the four-phase interest development model.…”

“…Students with higher interest in French were found to have a lower interest in German (Gogol et al, 2015). Some subject-specific academic interest scales have assessed interest only in a particular narrowly defined subject, such as math (e.g., Wininger et al, 2014). MLIQ and SLIS are all subject-specific interest scales.…”