Associate Professor Mary Ainley

BA(Hons), DipEd, MA, PhD (Melb), MAPS

Associate Professor

Contact details:

My interests and experience range across areas of developmental and educational psychology. Central to the questions addressed in my research program are issues to do with understanding the nature and development of curiosity, interest and information processing. Most recently I have been investigating the experience of interest; exploring the psychological processes that are involved when students engage with (and disengage from achievement tasks. This has resulted in the development of software for tracking students' choices and affective responses as they are tackling specific reading and problem-solving tasks. The goal of this research is to understand how to support positive educational experiences for students of all ages.

A second emphasis within my research program concerns investigation of the ways children handle conflicts with friends. Questions being addressed in this research involve children's perceptions of what it means to be in conflict with friends and peers and to understand the skills they use and can learn to use, to solve such conflicts.

Research Interests:

• Developmental Psychology
• Interest, curiosity and the motivation of learning
• Conflict in children and how they deal with it
• Learning and Development Laboratory

Professional Associations, Memberships & Awards:

• Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)
• American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• Australasian Human Development Association (AHDA)
• Australian Psychological Society (APS)
• European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction (EARLI)
• International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD)
• Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
• Editorial Board, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 2000-
• Editorial Board, Journal of Learning and Instruction
• Editorial Board, American Educational Research Journal - Section on Teaching, Learning and Human Development
  

Recent Funded Research:

Selected Publications:

Book Chapters:

Ainley, M. (2007). Being and feeling interested: transient state, mood, and disposition. In P.A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.) Emotions in Education, New York: Elsevier.

Hidi, S. Ainley, M. (2007). Interest and self-regulation: Relationships between two variable that influence learning. In D.H. schunk & B.J. Zimmerman (eds.) Motivation and self-regulation: Theaory, research, and applications. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hidi, S., Ainley, M., Berndorff., & Del Favero, L. (2007). The role of interest and self-efficacy in science-relared expository writing. In S. Hidi & P.Boscolo (Eds.). Motivation and interest in writing. Oxford: Elsevier.

Ainley, M. & Armatas, C. (2006). Motivational perspectives on students’ responses to learning in virtual learning environment. In J. Weiss, J. Nolen, J. Hunsinger, & P. Trifonas (Eds.) The international handbook of virtual learning environments. Vol.1 (pp.365-394). Dordrecht: Springer.

Hidi, S., Ainley, M., Berndorff, B. & Del Favero, L. (2006). The role of interest and self-efficacy in science-related expository writing. In S. Hidi & P. Boscolo (Eds.). Writing and motivation. (pp.201-216). New York: Elsevier.

Frydenberg, E., Ainley, M. & Russell, V.J. (2005). Student motivation and engagement. Schooling Issues Digest. Australian Government, Department of Education, Science and Training. (pp.16)

Reeve, R, Ainley, M. (2004). Prep to Year 10 – Learner characteristics. A discussion paper prepared for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority as theoretical background for development of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards, VACC, Department of Education, Employment and Training, Victoria.

Ainley, M. & Hidi, S. (2002). Dynamic measures for studying interest and learning. In P.R. Pintrich & M.L. Maehr (Eds.). Advances in motivation and achievement: New directions in measures and methods. (Vol 12, 43-76) Amsterdam: JAI.

Hidi, S. & Ainley, M. (2002). Interest and adolescence. In F. Pajares & T. Urdan. (Eds.). Academic motivation of adolescents. ( 247-275) Greenwich, CT: IAP.

Pearce, J. & Ainley, M. (2002). Learning with ICT: The role of interactivity and student motivation. In S. Rodrigues, (Ed.). Opportunistic challenges: Teaching and learning with ICT . ( 133-158), New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Ainley, M. (2001). Interest in classroom learning and interaction. In D.Clarke, (Ed.). Perspectives on practice and meaning in mathematics and science classrooms. ( 105-130). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Ainley, M., Bourke, V., Chatfield, R., Hillman, K., & Watkins, I. (2000). Computers, laptops and tools. Melbourne: ACER.

Ainley, M.D. (1999). Interest and learning: From attraction to absorbing interest. In J. Athanasou, (Ed.). Adult Educational Psychology. (pp.159-182) Sydney: Social Science Press.
 
Ainley, M. D. (1998). Interest in learning and the disposition of curiosity in secondary students: Investigating process and context. In L. Hoffman, A. Krapp, K.A. Renninger, & J. Baumert, (Eds.). Interest and learning. Proceedings of the Seeon-Conference on interest and gender. (pp. 257-266) IPN-Schriftenreihe Kiel: IPN

Refereed Journal Articles:

Ainley, M. (2006). Connecting with learning: Motivation, affect and cognition in interest processes. Educational Psychology Review, 18, 391-405.

Ainley, M., & Patrick, L. (2006). Measuring self-regulated learning processes through tracking patterns of student interaction with achievement activities. Review of Educational Psychology, 18, 267-286 .

Ainley, M., Corrigan, M., & Richardson, N. (2005). Students, tasks and emotions: Identifying the contribution of emotions to students’ reading of popular culture and popular science texts. Learning and Instruction,

Kornblum, M., & Ainley, M. (2005). Perfectionism and the gifted: A study of an Australian school sample. International Journal of Education, 6(2), 232-239.

Pearce, J., Ainley, M., & Howard, S. (2005). The ebb and flow of on-line learning. Computers in Human Behaviour,  

Ainley, M., Hidi, S., & Berndorff, D. (2002). Interest, learning and the psychological processes that mediate their relationship. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 545-561.

Ainley, M., Hillman, K. & Hidi, S. (2002). Gender and interest processes in response to literary texts: Situational and individual interest. Learning and Instruction, 12, 411-428.

Hidi, S., Berndorff, D., & Ainley, M. (2002). Children’s argument writing, interest and self-efficacy: An intervention study.  Learning and Instruction, 12, 429-446.

Rodrigues, S., Smith, A., & Ainley, M. (2001). Video clips and animation in chemistry CD-Roms: Student interest and preference. Australian Science Teachers Journal, 47, 9-16.

Pastore, T.V., & Ainley, M.D. (2000). An experimental investigation of the role of appraisal processes in adolescents and their mothers experiencing family conflict. Journal of Adolescence, 23, 175-187.

Ainley, M. (1994). Engagement with learning: Adolescent perceptions of self and school. The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist , 11 , 15-23.

Ainley, M.D. (1993). A developmental perspective on the motivation of gifted and talented students. Australasian Journal of Gifted Education,  2, 4-9.
      (republished in W.Vialle &  J. Geake (Eds.). (2002) The gifted enigma. (pp.185-195). Hawker Brownlow.)

Ainley, M. (1993). Styles of engagement with learning: A multidimensional assessment of their relationship with strategy use and school achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology , 85 , 395-405.

Williams, G. & Ainley, M.D. (1993). Participant perceptions of quality child care. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 19, 43-47.

Ainley, M.D.  (1987). The factor structure of curiosity measures: Breadth and depth of interest curiosity styles. Australian Journal of Psychology, 39, 53-59.

PhD Students under Supervision:

Sarah Buckley, Anthoula Kapsalakis