Content analyses of research in the literature of gifted education (Coleman, 2006; Rogers, 1999, 2006) has shown a consistent absence of research investigating methodology for instructing gifted students and for the development of expertise using new technologies. In this study, utilising electronic instructional delivery, an investigation was undertaken of the differential effects and appropriateness of matching the prior knowledge of the learner to the instructional method. Underpinned with a theoretical understanding of gifted education and cognitive load theory, a series of three experiments was designed and implemented to determine whether gifted students learn more effectively under guided discovery design than with example based instruction, while not identified as gifted ability students perform significantly better under direct example based instruction than with guided discovery. Data were collected and analysed in three stages. Experiment 1 was conducted in the novel domain of Boolean switching equations. Experiments 2 and 3 used identical test instruments with novel tasks in the semi-familiar domain of geometry. A total of 155 Years 7, 8 and 9 students at three metropolitan secondary schools participated. The study explored whether the presence of schemas, that facilitated greater problem-solving ability in gifted students, would generate clear evidence of instructional efficiency and preference for either mode of instruction. As students advanced from novice state to expert in particular domains of learning, it was anticipated that gifted students would progress from benefiting from worked example instruction to more efficient learning in guided discovery mode. This hypothesis was rejected as the results from each of the experiments did not confirm the hypothesised outcomes. There was no manifested expertise-reversal effect. The absence of any clear delineation of enhanced learning proficiency mode of instruction for gifted students does, however, contribute to the advancement and understanding of cognitive load theory and the complexity of learning strategies necessary for gifted learners.

Content analyses of research in the literature of gifted education (Coleman, 2006; Rogers, 1999, 2006) has shown a consistent absence of research investigating methodology for instructing gifted students and for the development of expertise using new technologies. In this study, utilising electronic instructional delivery, an investigation was undertaken of the differential effects and appropriateness of matching the prior knowledge of the learner to the instructional method. Underpinned with a theoretical understanding of gifted education and cognitive load theory, a series of three experiments was designed and implemented to determine whether gifted students learn more effectively under guided discovery design than with example based instruction, while not identified as gifted ability students perform significantly better under direct example based instruction than with guided discovery. Data were collected and analysed in three stages. Experiment 1 was conducted in the novel domain of Boolean switching equations. Experiments 2 and 3 used identical test instruments with novel tasks in the semi-familiar domain of geometry. A total of 155 Years 7, 8 and 9 students at three metropolitan secondary schools participated. The study explored whether the presence of schemas, that facilitated greater problem-solving ability in gifted students, would generate clear evidence of instructional efficiency and preference for either mode of instruction. As students advanced from novice state to expert in particular domains of learning, it was anticipated that gifted students would progress from benefiting from worked example instruction to more efficient learning in guided discovery mode. This hypothesis was rejected as the results from each of the experiments did not confirm the hypothesised outcomes. There was no manifested expertise-reversal effect. The absence of any clear delineation of enhanced learning proficiency mode of instruction for gifted students does, however, contribute to the advancement and understanding of cognitive load theory and the complexity of learning strategies necessary for gifted learners.

Programmes developed specifically for the gifted and talented pupil are not a novel idea. Yet, by comparison, the history of gifted education is a brief one. Highly gifted and talented pupils often have difficulty being challenged in a conventional classroom situation. Since classroom instruction is usually designed for the benefit of pupils who function at the level of the majority of their peer age-group, this teaching, no matter how well done, may not be appropriate for the extremely gifted pupil whose abilities differ greatly from this group. Even special programmes for gifted and talented students may be designed for a broad group of gifted students and may not meet the specific needs of the gifted child, especially ones with a special intellectual talent. While it is important to bear aspects such as the characteristics of giftedness and the attributes of the talented individual in mind, the basis of this dissertation examines what enrichment and acceleration strategies may be utilised by the English First Language (HG) teacher when presented with a preselected group of pupils who are gifted in English, utilising a composite gifted educational model as a mechanism for the development of this specific programme.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The problem of this study was to ascertain the relationship of certain conative factors of intellectually gifted students to academic success» It involved & comparative analysis of the relationship of those conative factors of intellectually gifted students who were nominated for a program of advanced study in the seventh grade of Junior high school and of intellectually gifted students who were not nominated, this study further involved a comparative analysis of those conative factors as they related to students who were successful in an advanced study program in the seventh grade of junior high school and those students who were less successful.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the methods and techniques that are utilized by some teachers in the identification of a gifted student. This study has a threefold purpose. The first is to discuss the plight of some of our valuable human resources as manifested by the gifted in the American educational structure. The second is to present and contrast the current approaches to conserving these resources. The third is to project some possible trends in meeting the needs of the gifted segment in American schools. This study concludes that the field of teaching the gifted has been exploited by educators, and that there is very little likelihood in replacing the suggested methods and techniques entirely by new ones. Though there is little chance to replace all the suggested methods and techniques, there is sufficient room for expansion and internal renovations in the American educational mode of arrnagement.

The problem of this study was to develop a set of workable guidelines that could be implemented in the development of an industrial arts program for the superior high school student.

No description available.

High-achieving African American students are not immune to the issues that underlie racial inequalities in school achievement. There is much to learn from these students in terms of how they navigate schools and achieve according to conventional standards. Further, serious questions remain about the social and racial costs to being constructed as high-achieving against broader narratives of African American students as deficient. This qualitative inquiry uses participant interviews and document analysis to explore the Discourses on achievement and leadership produced by minority recruitment programs and the students who participate in them. Specifically, the research uses critical discourse tools to look at the narratives produced both by African American students and by (and through) program documents. It seeks to understanding where these narratives converge and where there might be tension. This research is conducted by incorporating a socio-cultural literacy and critical race theory framework. This dissertation study is at the intersection of equity and access; it problematizes progressive arguments against a segregated curriculum for high-achieving students by invoking a social justice argument in favor of leveling the playing field for traditionally marginalized students, specifically African Americans. Much of the existing literature on high achievement and African Americans takes place in traditional classrooms. Glaringly absent from the literature on achievement are the ways in which some high-performing students of color are positioned to succeed in competitive, non-school environments. Specifically, I look at minority recruitment programs because these programs teach a particular type of literacy. The study explores the degree to which students’ home literacies are being honored. Findings indicate that students’ perspectives on achievement were much more critical than those of the programs with students overtly challenging meritocracy. Students were less critical of leadership, and both programs and students offered views that privileged particular literacies of leadership. The researcher offers recommendations for MRPs that calls for programs to involve students in more critical inquiries through the use of a Critical Race English education lens.

This is a case study of the learning of physical science of a high achiever, selected on the assumption that instruction in learning strategies and styles used by successful learners may improve learning effectiveness of less successful learners. Operating in an interpretive paradigm, qualitative data was gathered by participant observation aimed at sensing the complexities of the case. A rich, holistic description is given, enabling readers to form naturalistic generalisations of their own. The data corpus spans three years and is composed of audio-recorded lessons and interviews, field notes and written material. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were done in an inductive, cyclic manner, guided by research questions about learning strategies used by the learner, instructional strategies used by the teacher, and the roles played by intrinsic factors, practical work and problem solving, in contributing to effective learning of physical science by the high achiever. The study implies that effective learning, even by the highly intelligent, involves struggle and requires the use of a variety of strategies. This fits a constructivist, rather than transmissionist, view of learning, and thus supports learner-centered transformations in South African education. The learner is interpreted to be intrinsically motivated by interest and a high regard for knowledge precision, elegance, and transferability, to use a large number of learning strategies, particularly while solving open-ended problems and performing practical investigations, in order to come to a deep understanding of physical science. The study suggests that teaching children how to learn, particularly by addressing their outlook on learning and introducing them to a variety of strategies, should be an aim of physical science instruction, and that interesting, open-ended, learner-centered tasks should be used in attempts to induce self-regulated learning. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.