The purpose of the study was to investigate the construct validity of the Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS). A confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine if items from the scales of Learning, Motivational, and Creativity Characteristics were able to identify separate homogeneous sets of behavioral characteristics of gifted and talented students.The subjects were 152 third- and fourth-grade students who had been identified as being potential candidates for inclusion in a program for gifted and talented students. SRBCSS forms were completed by regular classroom teachers. The sample was split to allow for cross-validation of results.Two nested three-factor models were established a priori. Maximum likelihood estimates were calculated using LISREL IV (Jorskog & Sorbom, 1978). Models were evaluated using the overall chi-square, residual matrices, the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom, increment of fit indices, and differences chi-square.The proposed structure of three-uncorrelated constructs was unable to reconstruct the obtained correlations. The three factors of Learning, Motivation and Creativity were necessary but not sufficient to describe the relationships among the scale items. Allowing the constructs themselves to be interrelated improved the amount of covariation among the items which could be explained. However, adding a fourth Nonconformity Factor provided a more plausible representation of the data than either three-factor solution.However, labeling of the factors may be somewhat ambiguous due to the nature of the factor loadings of the individual items on them. Cross-validation showed a similar pattern of coefficients for the second sample with some "shrinkage" effect.The results of this study suggest that the validity of the constructs of the SRBCSS as establishedin is questionable. While separate dimensions emerged, they were neither easily interpretable nor distinctly separate. It was not clear if the interrelationships of the scale items were due to a sharing of some underlying dimension or to their placement on the scales. In addition, it was suggested that some higher order factor might be needed to account for the relationships found in the data.

The current study investigated the mediating role of motivational self-regulation (MSR) strategies (i.e., mastery self-talk, performance/extrinsic self-talk, performance/relative ability self-talk, interest enhancement, relevance enhancement, efficacy enhancement) in the relationships between achievement goals and cognitive and behavioral engagement (i.e., involved engagement, withdrawal in the face of difficulties, avoidance of challenges, rehearsal and elaboration) among 1096 Chinese gifted high school students (43% male). Structural equation modeling supported the mediating role of MSR strategies. Mastery goals positively predicted all six MSR strategies with medium to large effects whereas performance approach goals positively predicted five out of six MSR strategies with small to medium effects. While all six MSR strategies positively predicted involved engagement, rehearsal and elaboration, interest enhancement and efficacy enhancement showed additional benefits. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

Elementary school is a transition time for student interests and motivation and there is a need for teachers to provide opportunities to facilitate continued interest. One area of concern is in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. One pedagogical approach that may help with facilitating interest is problem-based learning (PBL; Barrows, 1996). The purpose of this study was to assess changes in students’ reported levels of individual interest in mathematics across time and to assess differences in individual interest based on amount of PBL exposure. Participants included students (n = 45) involved with Project GEMS (Gifted Education in Mathematics and Science; Roberts, 2008), which was a federally funded grant through the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program. Interest in mathematics was measured at the beginning of the first fall semester students entered the program and at the end of each subsequent spring semester with a 17-item interest measure consisting of four sub scores: emotion, value, knowledge, and engagement. Results indicate a negative linear trend for composite and sub factors of interest across time except value. The PBL intervention did not moderate the change in interest across time. Conclusions, possible limitations, and future directions are discussed.

I den här litteraturstudien har begreppet matematisk begåvning granskats i syfte att reda ut hur matematisk begåvning bland studenter kan mätas och även, vad som kännetecknar matematiskt begåvade elever i nutid. För att besvara dessa två frågor har tyngdpunkten lagts på forskning under 2000-talet, däribland doktorsavhandlingar och vetenskapliga artiklar. Genom att göra en studie utifrån dessa kommer resultatet av denna studie klargöra hur matematisk begåvning kan mätas och ge en inblick i vad som kännetecknar matematiskt begåvade elever, alla utifrån ett forskningsperspektiv. Mina studier enas om att matematiska egenskaper som de matematiskt begåvade eleverna kan ha är olika från elev till elev och kan vara vilka egenskaper som helst som underlättar matematikundervisningen för eleverna. De flesta studierna mäter matematisk begåvning med resultatbaserade medel vilket motsäger deras egna slutsatser om att alla matematiskt begåvade elever är sin egen karaktär och både lär sig och utövar kunskap på olika vis. / In this paper, the concept of mathematical giftedness has been reviewed with the purpose of unraveling how mathematical giftedness amongst students can be measured, and also, what characterizes mathematical gifted students today. To answer those two questions, the main focus has been devoted to research carried out during the 21st century, including doctoral dissertations and peer-reviewed articles. By doing that, the result of this study will clarify how mathematical giftedness can be measured, and give an insight as to what characterize mathematical gifted students, all from a research perspective. My studies agree that the mathematical characteristics of the mathematically gifted students may differ from student to student, and may be what qualities what so ever that facilitates the teaching of mathematics to students. Most studies measuring mathematical talent with performance-based funding, which contradicts their own conclusions about all mathematically gifted students is their own character and both are learning and practicing knowledge in different ways.

Policy research in education is a relatively new discipline which deals with the analysis of public policies governing education. The professional literature provides both a conceptual and methodological basis for defining what constitutes a public policy and the means to carry out different types of analysis. Using such a framework, this study analyzes the policy of the Government of Quebec with respect to the education of exceptional children. More specifically, the study focuses on the policy goals and legislative action of the Government. / Three separate research questions are each addressed by a systematic analytical framework using a form of qualitative content analysis. The methodology consists first of summarizing all policy data in a computerized database and then scrutinizing these summary statements to search for and analyze emergent themes and the content of policy objectives and standing decisions. The relation between these elements is then determined on the basis of specified decision rules. This analysis has also been subjected to an inquiry audit to test for the dependability and trustworthiness of the results. / The analysis reveals three emergent policy themes, over eighty specific objectives and almost 100 standing decisions, which are found in statutes, regulations, ententes and administrative documents. Various incongruencies between the goals and the legislative action are identified and discussed; implications for further research are presented, with reference to the literature.

No description available.

This thesis investigates the professional knowledge and views about gifted education held by teachers working in a suburban primary school in Melbourne, Australia. Examining discourses of giftedness and intelligence, it adopts a case study approach to explore teachers’ gendered understanding of these concepts four years after they undertook a program of professional development in gifted education during the late 1990s. The analysis of the case study is located in relation to historical as well as current policy and professional debates regarding the education of gifted children, and the context of broader contemporary educational reforms. During the 1990s, much educational reform in Australia, as elsewhere, was characterised by neo-liberal practices of devolution, and a greater emphasis on individual accountability that altered school management structures and directed curriculum practices towards a focus on outcomes-based education. The increasing scrutiny of teaching and learning became normalised as both teachers and students were regularly monitored and measured. Within the prevailing political and educational landscape, Victoria’s first gifted education policy was introduced in May 1995. / The study examined how teachers negotiated educational reforms and policy initiatives during a time of significant change and translated them into their own professional common sense and working knowledge. A qualitative methodology is adopted, and the research design encompasses close analysis of teachers’ narratives and content analysis of school policies and programs as well as informal and formal documentation and reports. Examination of the case study material is informed by a feminist approach and concern with practices of gender differentiation and inequality in education; the analysis is also influenced by key poststructuralist concepts of “discourses”, “regimes of truth” and “normalisation” drawn from the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. / Three main lines of analysis are developed. First, I examine current meanings of, and discourses on, gifted education and their historical antecedents. I argue that gifted education practices emanate from modernist practices and that the constructs of intelligence and giftedness were enthusiastically adopted as technological tools to regulate and classify populations. I further argue that understanding these earlier views on intelligence and the “gifted child” remains important as these continue, often unwittingly, to infiltrate and shape teachers’ attitudes and knowledge, as well as the “regimes of truth” expressed in policy and professional discourses. Second, I propose that a deeply entrenched Australian egalitarian ethos has affected teachers’ views and practices, influencing how they navigate the field of gifted education, typically characterised as an elite form of educational provision. In some cases, this produces ambivalence about the value of gifted education, leading to educational practices that are at odds with gifted educational practices recommended by research. I argue that the program of gifted professional development did not alter deeply entrenched beliefs about gifted education, with teachers claiming personal experience and working knowledge as the crux to recognising and catering for difference. Third, I examine the socially gendered dimensions of these entrenched views and their impact on highly able girls. I argue that for teachers, the norm of the gifted child is gendered. Whilst girls can be bright or clever or smart, the idealised gifted child is more likely to be male. / This thesis offers an in-depth examination of the micro-practices of one school as it strives for excellence. It contributes insights into the impact of “topdown” policy and professional development on teachers’ working knowledge and professional practice. This study shows that while the imposed educational policies and gifted education programs provided information for teachers, they did not alter teachers’ fundamental belief systems, professional knowledge or gender differentiating teaching practices.

The current study is the first of its kind in Australia. It is breaking new ground therefore and is exploratory in nature. Attention is focused on the variables influencing the vocational decision-making of highly-able adolescent girls in Victoria, Australia. / This is a complex study and the design incorporates both quantitative and qualitative data collection spanning a six year period. The importance of this study lies in the of research strategy of identifying and examining different educational settings and application of the findings from the first two studies (n=112) to a very specific educational setting in Study Three (n=14). / The external socializers of family, friends and the media as well as the internal dimensions of self-esteem, aspirations and interest have been investigated systematically through three interrelated but independent studies. A combination of methodologies has been employed to identify those variables that might, over time, influence the vocational decisions of these young women. / It is an accumulation of the young women’s perceptions and self-report using questionnaires, formal inventories and interviews. The data collection was progressive and the information gathering procedures included inventories of self-esteem and vocational preference, questionnaires completed by the subjects, interviews as well as anecdotal comments made by the students. Overall the analysis in this study depended on an interpretation of aggregated data employing simple frequency counts, cross tabulations and t-tests which described observations, explored relationships and identified differences between the two groups, high-ability and control, on the variables selected. A matrix enabled a triangulation of the data, both quantitative and qualitative. The data were coded to determine constant themes and to identify important influences and trends across a time frame. Different cases were compared and patterns which emerged were then analysed. / In Study One the high-ability cohort differentiated from the controls in three major areas. These were in their aspirations, self-esteem and the relative influences of parents, especially father. Although the high-ability girls in Study Two had made vocational choices commensurate with their interests identified in the VPI these choices were by no means stable over the six-year period. Both the home and school environment were found to have impacted on these collective factors as they modified and developed vocational interest. In Study Three the findings of the earlier studies were applied to a very specific cohort with important differences identified in the areas of self-esteem and subject choice. The environmental contexts of home and school again proved to be salient. The dissimilar contextual experiences of the high-ability cohort were found to impact on their vocational choices and their subsequent career trajectories in a different way to that of the non-gifted schoolgirl. / Based on this study, a model of vocational choice informed by the findings has been proposed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-100).

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2004. / "A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of Western Sydney" Bibliography : leaves 148-173.