CHAPTER 7 Student Interest and Achievement: Developmental Issues Raised by a Case Study K. ANN RENNINGER Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania SUZANNE HIDI Ontario Institutes for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada In the minds of many, a person's interest is linked to his or her achievement with a particular subject content such as ballet, mathematics, etc. Such links are likely to be appropriate if the type of interest being discussed is a well- developed individual interest (Renninger, 2000; see also Krapp & Fink, 1992). The links are less likely to be accurate if "interest" refers to or is determined solely by measures of evaluation of positive or negative liking, preference, or attraction (Hidi, 2000). Over the last 10 years, there have been an increasing number of studies which have included the study of interest as an independent variable. Find- ings from these investigations are sometimes contradictory, possibly because of the various ways in which interest has been conceptualized and measured (Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Renninger, 1998b). Some researchers have equated interest with positive affect that stems from ongoing exami- nation of subject matter, whereas others have equated the positive affect that stems from an initial contact with the same subject matter with interest. The present chapter suggests there are different types of interest and achieve- ment relations, depending on the type of interest a student holds for a sub- ject content. The chapter further suggests students can be supported to develop interest and work with subject content for which they initially have a less-developed interest. The Development of Achievement Motivation Copyright©2002 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any fornn reserved. 173