The literature defines curiosity and interest, but it is not clear how interest can be generated, where interest is positioned in the learning process, and what the impact of interest is on cognitive and emotional development. This paper reports on a three-year, iterative design-based research project involving three separate cohorts totalling 57…

Despite over three decades of legislation and initiatives designed to tackle the traditional gender divide in the science, technology and design fields, only a quarter of the registered architects in Australia are women. There are no statistics available for other design disciplines, with little known about why women choose design as a career path…

This paper reports a survey of children's interests at two ages. Data was obtained from a questionnaire administered to 200 grade 1 and 180 grade 7 boys and girls in ten different primary schools in the Perth, Australia area. Children were administered a 10-question questionnaire designed to measure leisure and academic interests. First grade…