In a community college business mathematics course using extended, real-world team projects, 9 students and 2 instructors were interviewed three times and observed multiple times during a 12-week time period. Students were interviewed and asked about what caught and held their interest in course content, and whether or not they perceived the course content to be useful to the attainment of future goals. Instructors were asked about their goals for the course, their ideas about effective teaching and learning, and what they felt students were interested in during the quarter. Taking a grounded theory approach, data analysis showed the major factor that caught student interest was the meaningful application of mathematical content to authentic real-life and business-related problems. Student interest was held by both meaningful and involving activities, and was supported by increased levels of stored knowledge about mathematics and its application. Stored knowledge, stored value, positive affect, and a willingness to re-engage in future mathematically-related tasks characterized the emergence of individual interest for certain students.

Future time perspective theory was integrated into the study to examine the degree to which students looked into the future to see the utility of their present tasks. Levels of endogenous instrumentality and situational interest started high at the beginning of the course and remained there at the middle and end of the quarter. Furthermore, strong correlations emerged between these two constructs, suggesting a relationship between them in this context. There was support for some of the hypotheses in the Four Phase Model of interest development proposed by Hidi & Renninger (2006). The roles of meaningfulness, endogenous instrumentality, and stored knowledge in the development of interest, and how they might be different in a context where course content closely aligns with student expectations and goals, are discussed in light of previous research and models of interest development.