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published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

The defensibility of special classes and programs for gifted students is an issue with academic, social, and political ramifications. Critical components of programs for the gifted include the curriculum and service delivery model. This author examined the effect of two teaching/learning models, the Parnes Creative Problem Solving model and the Hilda Taba Teaching Strategies on the higher cognitive processes of gifted students in grades 5 through 8. Three service delivery models were included. The design of the study was the 3 x 3 x 2 analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last factor. The between subjects factors were experimental condition--Parnes, Taba, and Control--and service delivery model--Daily, One Day per Week, and Self-Contained. The within factor was the time of testing, the pre and posttest scores. Fourteen classes of gifted students in grades 5 through 8 were included: a total of 213 students took both the pretest and the posttest. The analysis of variance with repeated measures revealed two significant between subjects effects: interaction of treatment with service delivery model (p < .0001) and treatment effect (p < .02). The analysis of variance within factors indicated no significant effects (p < .05) except difference between the pretest and the posttest scores. Since the period of time between the pre and posttest was about seven months, this growth is expected and is not informative. Post hoc tests, using the Scheffe formula, showed significant (p < .10) differences in favor of both the Parnes and the Taba Daily groups when compared to the Control group, and a significant (p < .10) difference favoring the Taba Self-Contained when compared to the Taba One Day per Week group. The supporting data gathered indicated that three teachers did not implement their teaching/learning model effectively and two additional teachers used the model infrequently. The posttest cell means appear to be related not only to correct model implementation, but to frequency as well. Those cells with the highest frequencies of correct model use had the highest posttest mean scores. Therefore, it was concluded that process models offer a powerful method of teaching the higher cognitive processes to gifted students, but that such models must be used correctly and frequently.

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Coping behaviour, perceived control, and the self concept of elementary school children with learning disabilities educated in regular and special education classrooms was examined using a comparative design. In addition, the influence of teachers' classroom management orientation on children's self-perceptions and coping behaviour was investigated. Children attending a special school for students with learning disabilities were found to be more adaptive copers than children in special education classes in regular schools, children receiving resource room assistance, and children mainstreamed in regular classes. Children with learning disabilities were found to have positive perceptions of their global self-worth regardless of the type of class they were in, although they indicated less confidence in their academic abilities compared to their self-perceptions of physical appearance and athletic competence. In general, most children believed that they were responsible for their academic successes and at the same time perceived academic failure as unavoidable. The students who coped most effectively demonstrated the most realistic appraisals of their academic situation. They recognized that they could not control academic failure, however, they believed that the best way to succeed in school was by continuing to exert effort. Additionally, successful copers held high expectations for future academic success and believed that they possessed the capacities needed to achieve this success. Children who coped most effectively strongly endorsed beliefs in their capacity to have a positive relationship with their teachers. Children who were rated as effective copers had teachers whose instructional orientation promoted autonomous functioning in their students.

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Peer relationships of students with developmental disabilities in self-contained classrooms were investigated. Eighteen boys enrolled in three separate classrooms participated in the study. The mean chronological age of the boys in each class were 6.7, 8, and 7.7 years, and their mean mental ages were 4.6, 5.8. and 6.7 years. Peer relationship measures included sociometric measures such as peer ratings and sociograms and observational measures such as coordinated group activity and dyadic interaction. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were obtained. Peer ratings shared high correlations with cognitive variables such as I.Q., for the middle mental age class. Behavioral variables were correlated to peer ratings for the middle and the highest mental age classes. Dyadic interaction variables were correlated to peer ratings for the lowest and the middle mental age classes. The importance of including observational variables in addition to sociometric variables and the possible effects of group characteristics such as cohesiveness on the variables that determine peer ratings are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the lived experiences of children with specific learning disability in an attempt to move beyond the deficit and reductionist models of theorizing learning disabilities that currently inform our understanding. A paradigm shift is proposed, a shift in focus towards a holistic or comprehensive view of the person with learning disability. By viewing the phenomenon from the inside, as it were, I shift my focus from “what it is” to “how it is experienced” (Hall, 1998). It is suggested that a change in focus from the deficit to the whole child in his context will better inform practice This research follows the empirical phenomenological tradition, a qualitative analysis of everyday accounts of living with LD. Justification is given for using life history methodology in order to garner insights into the experiences of a child with learning disability. Five informants between the ages of 12 and 14 years were selected to participate in this study. A multi-method approach to data collection was used. Data were collected from a number of sources, including audio journals kept by participants, guided conversations typical of life history research and visual representations such as collages or life maps submitted by the participants. Data, interpreted on multiple levels, are represented in narrative form. Findings challenge current thinking around inclusive education by suggesting that learners with LD experience exclusion in a system meant to create a sense of inclusion. It is in the mainstream that the “identity as LD” is constructed because of the comparison to the performance of peers who do not have LD. However in a specialised educational environment where peers all presented with the same learning differences, difficulties and styles, instead of comparison there is a sameness. I suggest that this leads to the development of an “identity as capable.” Finally there is much we can learn about pedagogical intervention or management from these informants’ experience of LD. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.