Recent doctoral dissertation research on gifted.

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As usual, more new dissertations have been written comparing gifted persons with nongifted. While the gifted are generally the academically precocious (Bronzell, 1996; Dodd, 1996; Hsieh, 1996; Li, 1996; Nelson, 1996; Whitton, 1996), practically nothing is stated about the nature and way of those who are talented, creative, leaders, or musically or artistically advanced. Contrast groups, on the other hand, are seldom qualified. Often terms normal (Li, 1996), average (Hsieh, 1996), or nongifted (Lewis, 1996; Scott, 1996) are used to name them. With the number of different universities represented for these dissertations, one can only assume that there is no question of the identity of these gifted persons as long as they excel in academic ways although the comparison groups are only vaguely described and named.

Teachers' Perceptions about the Gifted

It is no surprise that the way teachers see their gifted students varies considerably. Several dissertations research different aspects of these teacher perceptions (Boldman, 1996; Dodd, 1996; Fernandez, 1996; Lewis, 1996; Pizzat-Tinnin, 1996; Rogers, 1996; Whitton, 1996).

Today's catchword seems to be multicultural, and Boldman (1996) devised a doctoral study to determine how the beliefs and practices of elementary teachers and teachers of the gifted differ. The data showed there were no differences in the main effects of the comparison. Interactions between the beliefs and practices appeared when the teachers were grouped by age.

Dodd (1996) worked with two regular classroom teachers who were recognized for meeting the needs of gifted students in their classrooms. Using a case-study approach consisting of observations, narrative inquiry, and a series of in-depth interviews, Dodd hoped to gain some insight into how and why these teachers learned to differentiate their instruction while also addressing the needs of a heterogeneous group of students. Dodd used a cross-case analysis to link the teachers' narratives back to the literature on differentiation.

The tremendous influxes of school children from families with Cuban culture in Dade County, Florida has resulted in many enclaves where the street language is Spanish and the use of English is very limited. This presents may problems for the county's schools and a variety of coping strategies has been instituted in the more than 35 years of this evident problem. Fernandez (1996) tried to determine whether the perceptions of elementary teachers showed differences when viewing the characteristics of gifted students and gifted Hispanic students with Limited English Proficiency.

Some 373 teachers received item questionnaires on gifted characteristics. Half the questionnaires were labeled Gifted, and the other half Gifted Hispanic LEP. Significant differences appeared in responses according to the survey group and ethnicity. Although both groups perceived a similar order of importance for the characteristics, relative importance differed significantly in language-related items.

There were also significant differences between the groups in the degree to which they rated the characteristics as important. Generally, surveys labeled Gifted showed higher ranked averages than those from the other group. Similarly, the items rated lower averaged significantly lower averages than for the gifted LEP. Neither group viewed artistic, musical, and kinesthetic abilities as important characteristics of giftedness although teachers in the Gifted LEP group rated these significantly more favorably. Hispanics tended to rate the items higher than the other two ethnicities, although significant differences existed among all three ethnic groups.

Lewis (1996) assessed the emotion-related skills, prosocial reasoning, and prosocial behavior of gifted and nongifted preschool African American children, ages 4 - 6. The children were assigned to two different groups, 30 with IQs equivalent to 130, and 32 with average IQs. As expected, the gifted group of children had more advanced emotion-related skills, higher prosocial reasoning scores on the task, and higher rates on prosocial behavior than the nongifted group. Also, overall children's emotion-related abilities were positively and significantly related to their prosocial reasoning and their prosocial behavior. In contrast, children's prosocial reasoning was not associated with their prosocial behavior. Children's emotion knowledge was linked to prosocial behavior and not mediated by prosocial reasoning. Relationships among these variables appear to depend, however, on children's IQ group status. Separate analyses for each IQ group indicated few meaningful connections among emotional skills, prosocial reasoning and prosocial behavior within each group. Gender and age had no bearing on the results.

Pizzat-Tinnin (1996) interviewed six prospective teachers during their teaching associateship, using video-based cases of gifted students as a vehicle for promoting the teachers' thinking. The participants, all volunteers, were audio taped as they described their thinking about instructing three different cases of high ability learners. Some 18 interviews were transcribed verbatim, then coded and analyzed by categorical content and emergent themes. Within-case analysis of student teachers' responses over time were reported, revealing that their critical thinking about instruction increased as they acquired practical knowledge in the classroom. Themes consistent across cases included: beliefs about instructional processes; beliefs about pupil needs and abilities; and beliefs about teachers' needs and abilities. This supports student teachers' need to confront beliefs about instruction for the gifted. In the future, research on preservice teacher thinking may well consider case-based teaching tools to help bring out beliefs and to more effectively prepare teachers to meet the needs of the gifted.

Another study (Rogers, 1996) described the implementation of seventh-grade social studies classes for gifted students in one Midwestern city. The classes were developed to comply with the Board of Education mandates concerning gifted education. Rogers focused on the perceptions of teachers and administrators who were directly responsible for implementing the program.

Several working hypotheses arose: Social studies classes for seventh grade gifted students were the product of ideological compromises; differentiated social studies classes for gifted seventh-grade students was generally an effective program; some of the weaknesses in the differentiated seventh grade social studies program for gifted students could be rectified; and the seventh grade social studies class for gifted students would serve students more effectively if the district recommendations for placing students and instructional methodology were followed.

Family Influences on the Gifted

Other investigators looked for significant relationships of gifted students and their families in several diverse studies (Li, 1996; Taylor, 1996).

Li (1996) asked whether Chinese parents' support for learning affects their children's learning attitude, and how the family environment affects children's characteristics.

A group of 60 Chinese children (mean age 10.88 years) and their parents were subjects for Li's (1996) study. These children had a mean IQ score of 139.38. Another group of 60 normal Chinese children (mean age 10.71 years) and their parents with similar education and family backgrounds, served for comparison in the Hong Kong-based study. These Chinese parents of the gifted were less male-centered and less authoritarian than the others. In addition, they showed higher expectation, higher intellectual-cultural orientation, allowed their children more independence and exerted less control than the parents of normal children. As for supporting learning, the Chinese parents of gifted children not only support their children in school work, but they also gave extra support for their children's intellectual development.

Among the students, the gifted showed higher self-concepts, higher learning interest and lower anxiety. Thus, parental intellectual-cultural orientation correlates positively with children's learning interest, in both groups, and the greater the parental authoritarianism the less the learning interest.

As levels of family cohesion and/or adaptability increased, adolescents' use of functional coping responses increased (Taylor, 1966). Family cohesion was related more highly than adaptability to these coping strategies. No gender differences were found in terms of the relationship between family cohesion and coping perceptions of family adaptability, but these perceptions were higher for the males than the females. The gifted adolescents rated their family cohesiveness similar to the nongifted sample but rated their families higher in adaptability. While there were no gender differences in terms of perceived family structure, gifted adolescent perceptions of family cohesion were lower with increasing adolescent age, paralleling the findings with more general adolescents.

The Gifted in School

Alexander (1996) followed students from their initial identification for a gifted and talented program at the end of third grade to 1995. The purpose was to determine the long-term effects of a three-year, self-contained program for identified students. Students who participated in the program perceived it has long-term effects and showed significant differences from the control group on all measures of achievement. They chose majors and career goals in the math and science areas almost twice as often as members of the control group. Control group students who opted not to participate after they were identified as gifted, were significantly different from the experimental group in initial verbal ability, which indicated possible socioeconomic differences between the groups. Student responses for reasons why they chose not to participate in the gifted programs reinforced this. A significant number of experimental students reported feeling isolated during the program years. Girls had a statistically significant lower math scores than the boys.

How do the problem-solving approaches differ between a group of gifted and an average group? Most dramatically, the two groups differed on approaches to problems focusing on logic and application (Hsieh, 1996). For example, there seems to be a tendency for mathematically-advanced students to solve problems the way mathematicians do, and there also is a qualitative difference in the thought processes. These students showed a broad perspective over conditions in the whole problem, and incorporated a systematic, progressive evaluation. They combined all conditions (information) of the problem together and applied their intuitive knowledge to the problem. Each of these advanced students showed a consistent pattern in thought processes from one situation to another.

Nongifted students showed a tendency to deal with a problem based on limited, partial amount of information or conditions. These respondents often pursued only one of the conditions of the problem. The average subjects used this approach, which often led them to numerous wrong attempts and resulted in incorrect or incomplete answers. Each average student's solving approach also revealed a pretty consistent pattern (except one) in thought process from one situation to another.

Using North Carolina's definition of gifted, Nelson (1996) studied the attitudes of 90 students (38 were gifted) in heterogeneously grouped social studies classes in five school districts. Differences showed up in the quantitative measures and in their learning style preferences. There was also a gender difference in these variables. A common concern to both groups was the existence of nonparticipating members and the problems they brought to the cooperative learning setting. The gifted students spoke of differences between their experiences in homogeneous and heterogeneous cooperative learning settings.

Scott (1966) enrolled 152 black junior and senior college students in another study. Those classified as gifted (those exhibiting gifted characteristics prior to college enrollment) were compared to nongifted students (those who had not exhibited the same gifted characteristics in the same period). There were significant differences between the groups in many of the variables. The two groups were different in terms of prior academic achievements, family characteristics, undergraduate experiences and postgraduate plans. Scott was able to identify important variables in both precollege and undergraduate experiences and in family backgrounds that may impede or advance gifted black student motivation to achieve beyond college and enter careers more matched to their abilities and talents.

Whitton (1996) studied information on the teachers, their classrooms and regions of the Australian state of New South Wales. Classroom practices in relation to the curriculum modifications for gifted and average students were analyzed. The sample was from government, Catholic, and independent schools within the ten regions of New South Wales, Australia. Provisions for the gifted included variations in the content taught, the organizational strategies and the instructional techniques used in the classroom. As the American study found, this survey showed that third and fourth grade teachers make only minor modifications in the regular curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students. Those who do provide for such student's encouraged participation in discussions, asked openended questions and questions that required reasoning and logical thinking. But these were not uniquely for gifted students.

One reason for the lack of provision for gifted children may be the limited number of qualified teachers in gifted education. It was found that 46 percent had no training in the area. In addition, there was a high percentage of teachers who had no knowledge of the current practices or options available to the gifted students within their school or region.

Gifted Adolescents

A number of recent dissertations used gifted adolescents as their subjects of inquiry (Bronzell, 1996; Longo, 1996; O'Grady. 1996; Rogers, 1996; Wilcove, 1996).

Bronzell (1996) examined the portrayal of five gifted early adolescent protagonists in children's and young adult literature of acknowledged literary merit as determined by the critical distinction accorded them. Because fictional giftedness is open to the reader's interpretation, description of characters had to verify some form of academic acceleration.

Possible cultural misinterpretations made it important that books were examples of late twentieth century fiction set within North America, categorized as realistic fiction, and included both genders, geographical distribution, and a minority culture. A body of literature exists reflecting the ever-changing chaotic reality by gifted early adolescents experience. The works have limited scope of plot and characterization, and there seems to be a gender bias towards equal representation of gifted males.

Bronzell suggests that it would be helpful to survey relevant works for the gifted early adolescent readers, who may then identify with the protagonists, and gain an understanding and sense of their place in society. If one were to expand the criteria of giftedness to include gifted behaviors established beyond academic criteria, the reader could find touchstone books in which there were reflections of the self in fictional protagonists and their manifestations of giftedness.

Focusing on recent feminist scholarship that has emphasized males' inherently problematic relationship to women and femininity, Wilcove (1996) was able to identify cognitive, developmental and motivational factors facilitating these boys' identification with feminine values. These influences are: an identification with a maternal image; an increased involvement in extrafamilial relationships, especially among opposite-sex peers; and an intellectual perspicacity that rejects patriarchal values although some factors at times impede internalizing feminine values.

Data which helped Wilcove generate hypotheses for further research included: Aware of feminist ideology, gifted males construct gender schemata sympathetic with feminist ideology; Gifted male adolescents are strongly motivated to identify with feminine values -- affectivity and relationality; Although the boys' attachment to the mother inspires an introjection of feminine values, it is in the realm of their reawakened sexuality that deep-seated oedipal and preoedipal fears will resurface and challenge this ideal; Gifted adolescent males negotiating nontraditional sexualities are particularly at risk for feeling anxiety about their sexual and sex-role identities; Gifted adolescent boys have a tendency toward an over-intellectualization that distances them from their own affectivity; Constructing new gender schemata and sexual regimes, these youngsters will be impelled to acknowledge the limits of their own rationalism in achieving an integrated self-concept. Wilcove concludes by suggesting that the results of this study can broaden and deepen our conceptions of giftedness, gender, and cognition.

Longo (1996) was interested in the relationship of special programs for gifted persons on college functioning in terms of current academic and personality functioning. Participants were sophomores at the Honors College in a southern university who had either participated or did not participate in special programs for gifted individuals as children and adolescents. Significant GPA differences were found between the groups such as the gifted program students earned higher scores. Whereas placement in special programs at different ages showed no correlations between GPA and the personality factors, there was a relation, however, between SES and certain factors for the special programs group. The other group, who had not participated in special programs, showed significant correlations between SES and GPA and some personality factors. Thus, special programs do contribute to these individuals' academic success in terms of current GPA. In terms of personality factors, the nonparticipant group appeared to have developed more positive personality factors than did the other group. So it seems that special programs have both positive and negative relationships which need further exploration.

Riley (1996) also found a significant independent relationship between motivation and self-concept.

With a phenomenological approach, O'Grady (1996) selected ten junior high honors students who were at risk of being dropped from honors classes. Several factors contributed to the onset of the underachievement in junior high school, including an alienating school environment, inadequate school survival skills, deficiencies in personal ability, the influence of peers, and problems with parents. They identified a number of interventions, classed as teacher behaviors, student behaviors, guidance services, parent behaviors, the assistance of peers, and the assistance of older sisters. The dissertation ended with the author's belief that these findings will add to the body of literature on the factors influencing gifted adolescents' achievement in school, while focusing on a time when academic underachievement may be most amenable to reversal, i.e., at its beginning.

REFERENCES

Alexander, J. L. (1996). (Ed.D., Ball State University, 1995) Long-term effects of an early intervention program for gifted and talented students. 130 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 2541-A. Order number AADA-I95538184

Boldman, D. A. (1996) (Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1995) The relationship between multicultural beliefs and practices of elementary teachers in regular and gifted classrooms. 205 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 4641-A. Order number AADAA-I9612153

Bronzell, P. J. (1996). (Ed.D., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995) An analysis of selected gifted early adolescent protagonists in children's and young adult literature. 282 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 4301-A. Order number AADAAI9606647

Dodd, P. U. (1996). (Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1995) Regular classroom teachers that differentiate instruction for gifted students. 350 Pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 3431-A. Order number AADAA-I9600445

Fernandez, A. T. (1996). (Ed.D., Florida International University, 1995) Perceptions of elementary teachers on the characteristics of gifted students in general versus gifted Hispanic limited English proficient students. 267 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 46412-A. Order number AADAA-I9610884

Hsieh, D. A. (1996) (Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado, 1995.) A comparison of the thinking processes of mathematically advanced and average students, age 10 to 11, engaged in Mathematics Problem-Solving. 300 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 57, 612-A. Order number AADAA-I9617469

Lewis, O. R. (1996). Ph.D., Yeshiva University, 1995) Emotional and prosocial skills in gifted minority preschoolers. 111 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 3890-A. Order number AADAA-I960444912

Li, R. I. (1996). (Ed.D., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995) A study of parent-child relations among gifted Chinese children. 256 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 4353-A. Order number AADAA-I9606662

Longo, F. C. (1996). (Ph.D., The University of Southern Mississippi. 1995) Gifted education: Its effect on college functioning. 65 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 4321A. Order number AADAA-I9606312

Nelson, S. M. (1996). (Ph.D., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1995. 126 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 2615-A. Order number AADA-I9538467

O'Grady. A. L. (1996). (Ph.D., The University of Connecticut, 1995) The onset of academic underachievement among gifted adolescents: Causal attributions and the perceived effect of early interventions. 334 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 3891-A. Order number AADAA-I9605492

Pizzat-Tinnin, P. M. (1996). Ed.D., University of Virginia, 1995) Preservice teachers' beliefs regarding instruction for the gifted. 186 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 34391-A. Order number AADAA-I9600481

Riley, T. L. (1996). Ph.D., The University of Southern Mississippi, 1995) A study of factors influencing academic motivation in intellectually gifted youth. 94 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 2561-A. Order number AADA-I9537991

Rogers, J. M. (1996). (Ed.D., The University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 1995) Perceptions of staff of the Lincoln Public Schools concerning the implementation of differentiated social studies classes for gifted students in a middle school setting: A case study. 137 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 4233-A. Order number AADAA-I9609435

Scott, J. M. (1996). (Ph.D., Loyola University of Chicago, 1996) An investigation of the prior academic experiences, family characteristics, undergraduate experiences and postgraduate plans of gifted black college students. 214 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 4678-A. Order number AADAA- I9612430

Taylor, J. W., V. (1996). (Ed.D., University of Virginia, 1995) Family structure and the coping strategies of gifted adolescents. 194 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 3515-A. Order number AADAA-I9600371

Wilcove, J. L. (1996). (Ph.D., Columbia University, 1996) Perceptions of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny among a select cohort of gifted male adolescents. 143 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 57, 1472-B. Order number ADAA-I9542175

Whitton, D. R. (1996). (Ph.D., The University of Connecticut, 1995) Regular classroom practices with gifted students in grades 3 and 4 in New South Wales, Australia. 215 pages. Dissertation Abstracts International 56, 2561-A. Order number AADA-I9538317.

Larry Geffen is Associate Professor Emeritus of Special Education, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti.