Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-187). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-136). Also available on the Internet.

In my diploma thesis I focused on above-average musically gifted children. Through interviews with extremely talented children, I try to look into their personal life. The aim is to find out to what extent they are disadvantaged by their talents compared to the average gifted pupils. The thesis is divided into the theoretical part in which I deal with definitions of musical talent, types of musical talent, musically talented children and their educational opportunities or ways of working with a gifted pupil. For the practical part, I chose interviews with gifted children, possibly with their parents and teachers. The subject of my interest was mainly pupils whose exceptional talent is in part a gift, but also a burden for their personal lives to face difficult situations.

This master thesis is focused on the topic of gifted children in education system. Foundation of this thesis is comprehensive view on given topic. Thesis is composed from two main parts. First theoretical part reflects current theoretical view on the problematic of gifted children from development point of view and characteristics of specific behaviour of gifted children in school collective or in company of their peers. Furthermore, this academical work discusses opportunities for developement of gifted children and possible approaches how to educate them. This thesis is also focused on cooperation between PPP, assistant of teacher and theacher of young pupils. The theoretical part further present organisations which work closely with gifted pupils in or outside education system. Second, practical part is done by method of quality research, Semi-structured questionnaire for teacher of talented pupils was used for this purpuse. Main goal of practical part of this thesis was description of techer's approach to teaching young talented children.

This study examined issues related to the development of English as a major for gifted students in Vietnam and current and former students' perceptions of the program. The data were collected through an online survey and analyzed through descriptive statistics in order to identify patterns of agreement and disagreement between two groups of 60 current and 30 former gifted students. The results showed that the majority of the participants came from well-educated families and that family influences and traditions had a great impact on their choice of the program. The major reasons for the program selection were identified as its high prestige and students' interest in learning English as a tool for career advancement. Based on current and former students' evaluations, their initial expectations were met as the majority of them expressed satisfaction with the quality of the English education at the school and appreciated its usefulness for their further study and career. The only area of slight dissatisfaction concerned the lack of opportunities to acquire native like pronunciation. The findings were interpreted in view of their implications for the maintenance and further development of the specialized English major program in Vietnam.

Bakgrund: Flera studier påvisar att elever med särskild begåvning upplever högre grad av psykisk ohälsa än andra elever. Brist på förståelse och kunskap kring särskild begåvning anses ligga till grund för detta. Det är därför viktigt att utifrån ett livsvärldsperspektiv synliggöra hur särskilt begåvade elever upplever sin skolsituation för att som skolsköterska lättare kunna identifiera dessa elever och bidra till att elevers lärande, utveckling och hälsa främjas. Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva upplevelsen av att vara särskilt begåvad elev i skolan utifrån ett livsvärldsperspektiv. Metod: Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ fenomenologisk metod med induktiv ansats. Studien baserades på åtta intervjuer av särskilt begåvade personer. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i sex innebördsteman; Upplevelse av utanförskap-att känna sig avvikande, utsatt och ensam, upplevelse av att vara understimulerad, begränsad och besviken, upplevelse av att vara missförstådd, sviken och övergiven, upplevelse av acceptans, gemenskap och samhörighet, upplevelse av stöd, hopp och framtidstro, och upplevelse av att bli utmanad, uppmuntrad och erkänd. Slutsats: Elevhälsan och  skolsköterskan har en betydelsefull roll att med sin samlade kompetens identifiera de särskilt begåvade eleverna men också ge stöd och bidra till skapandet av en hälsofrämjande skolgång utifrån varje unik livsvärld. / Background: Several studies show that gifted students experience a lower grade of mental health than other students. Lack of understanding and knowledge about gifted students are considered to be the basis for this. It is therefore important to study from a life-world perspective how gifted students experience their schoolsituation in order to make it easier for schoolnurses  to identify these students and contribute to to promote the their learning, development and health.    Aim: The aim is to describe the experience of being a gifted student in school from a lifeworldperspective. Method: The study was conducted using a qualitative phenomenological method with a inductive approach. The study was based on eight interviews of gifted individuals. Result: The analysis resulted in six meanings; Experience of exclusion - feeling deviant, exposed and lonely, experience of not being stimulated, limited and disapointed, experience of being misunderstood, deceiving and abandoned, experience of acceptance, community and togetherness, experience of support, hope and confidence in the future, and experience of being challenged, encouraged and recognized. Conclusion: Studenthealth and the schoolnurse have an important role to identify the gifted students, but also to support and contribute to the creation of a health-promoting school attendance based on each unique life-world.

This paper analyzes acceleration in education as a practice for meeting the educational needs of gifted students, and points out favorable and unfavorable arguments on the use of this practice. Acceleration is an educational practice consisting of several teaching strategies designed to encourage academically gifted students and reduce their time spent in school. It promotes faster learning by matching the curriculum to the student’s level of knowledge, interest and motivation. There are several arguments in favor of acceleration, such as the improvement of academic performance, self-esteem and student’s social adjustment. However, educators are reluctant to implement this practice, arguing that students may be immature or lose part of the content of the regular curriculum. / Se analiza la aceleración de la enseñanza como práctica de atención a las necesidades educacionales de alumnos superdotados y se presentan argumentos favorables y contrarios. La aceleración de la enseñanza es una práctica educacional compuesta por diversas estrategias para estimular al alumno académicamente superdotado y reducir su tiempo de permanencia en la escuela. Promueve un aprendizaje más rápido al equiparar el currículum al nivel de conocimiento, interés y motivación. Son varios los argumentos a favor de la aceleración, como mejora del desempeño académico, la autoestima y el ajuste social del alumno. Sin embargo, educadores se resisten a implementar esta práctica alegando que los alumnos pueden ser inmaduros o perder parte del contenido del currículum regular.

The present study reflects upon the identification process for gifted or highly able children through a systematic study of the literature, with the aim of providing them with an adequate and stimulating education beginning at an early age. The identification process requires an adequate diagnostic process of giftedness, and creativity is an important determining factor. Creativity, however, is a very complex construct due to differences in definition in the psychology field. This study aims to make a valuable contribution by discussing how to measure creativity in gifted or highly able children, as well as proving recommendations in the diagnostic process. / El presente estudio busca reflexionar acerca del proceso de identificación de los niños superdotados o talentosos, a partir de un estudio sistemático de la literatura especializada, con el fin de brindarles una educación adecuada y estimulante desde edades tempranas. El procesode identificación demanda un proceso diagnóstico adecuado de la superdotación, enel que la creatividad es un factor determinante. La creatividad como concepto psicológico,es una categoría especialmente compleja, debido a que existen diferentes aproximaciones y definiciones de la misma. Este estudio contribuye a dar respuesta a la mejor manera en que se puede medir la creatividad en niños superdotados o talentosos, proponiendo recomendaciones al respecto.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / In this study an attempt has been made to ascertain whether the creative gifted child experiences more difficulties with socialization than the gifted child who is less creative. In Chapter 1 the problem and objectives were conceptualized and formulated. A literature survey in Chapter 7 dealt with the concepts of creativity and their interrelatedness. The literature pertaining to creativity and socialization was surveyed in Chapter 3. The method of research was formulated in Chapter 4 and the findings, conclusions and recommendations in Chapters 5 and 6 respectively. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and the Interpersonal Relationship Questionnaire of the Human Science Research Council were administered to 75 gifted std 5 pupils. The complete group was divided into a highly creative and a low creative group. When the socialization scores of the two groups were compared, they did not statistically differ in a meaningful way.

Denna fältöversikt kartlägger olika aspekter av matematisk begåvning med särskild fokus på reguljär matematikundervisning. Av forskningsfältet framhålls och exemplifieras varierade synsätt på hur matematikundervisning kan utformas för att erbjuda matematiskt begåvade elever en positiv kunskapsutveckling. De mångfacetterade och varierande infallsvinklarna som finns att tillgå kan göra det svårt för lärare att välja ut lämpliga strategier, metoder och anpassningar för de matematiskt begåvade eleverna de själv har i sina klasser. Resultaten av fältet indikerar att lärares ämneskunskaper och pedagogiska kompetens har störst inverkan på vilket stöd och bemötande elever erbjuds. Det som källorna även framhåller är att begåvade elever behöver identifieras. Identifikationsprocesser beskrivs som en kartläggning av elevernas förmågor, kunskaper och inlärningsstilar men bör även innehålla kontinuerlig utvärdering, analysering och återkoppling av elevers kunskapsutveckling. I källor föreslås det att matematiskt begåvade elever gynnas av individuellt utformad undervisning som inkluderar utmananande och snabbt accelererande uppgifter som med fördel även utgår från elevernas egna intresseområden. / This survey presents a summary of strategies and methods for mathematically gifted individuals’ whit special focus on regular education. Researches exemplify a various spectra of learning environments and methods for gifted students. Although, it can be challenging for teachers to figure out what constitutes an optimal learning environment for mathematically gifted students. According to findings it’s of most interest for gifted children’s positive knowledge development that teachers are professional in both pedagogical and theoretical manners. Manny sources also indicate that mathematically gifted students first of all need to be identified as talented. The identification processes will serve as a form of map in which gifted students skills, knowledge and learning styles are gathered and it also consists of a continual evaluating of student learning processes and knowledge development. Data exemplify that gifted students’ knowledge needs to be challenged and rapidly accelerate in order to interest and motivate them in their learning process. Findings also show that gifted students require personalized solutions that advantageously are originated from students own interests to ensure a positive knowledge development.