Cognizance of gifted education among elementary‐education professors from MCREL member states

This study investigated the extent of knowledge professors reported in regards to gifted and talented education. Participants were college professors and instructors (N = 62) from 4‐year teacher preparation institutions who taught elementary‐education methods classes. All participants were employed in Mid‐Continent Research for Education and Learning states (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming). Knowledge and demographic information was determined by using a 21‐item online questionnaire. Data revealed that professor knowledge was moderate. It further revealed that professors who had not discussed GT issues during their undergraduate coursework were likely to minimize discussion of GT issues in elementary methods courses and they were likely to be employed by institutions that did not place an emphasis on GT issues.     

From lofty ideals to painful failures： Lessons from the rapid expansion of higher education in Taiwan

For the past few decades, many countries have been giving increasing stress on expanding their higher education system, in the belief that greater access to higher education will bring abundant rewards in the era of globalization and knowledge-based economies. Taiwan is no exception. Between 1986 and 2006, the government of Taiwan dramatically expanded the number of higher educational institutions from 28 to 147, expecting that this action would enhance educational equity and lead to greater economic prosperity. Popularization, however, does not necessarily result in equity. To be sure, the increase in the number of institutes of higher education in Taiwan has made it possible to accommodate almost all interested students. Yet, because the government has failed to make commensurate increases in public funding for higher education, the quality of university education in Taiwan has seriously deteriorated. Moreover, since many students from poor families still cannot afford the increasingly expensive cost of higher education, neither equity nor equality of opportunity has been achieved. In light of this phenomenon, this article focuses on： （1） describing the changes which Taiwan＇s higher education system has undergone over the past two decades; （2） examining the equity issues relating to higher education in Taiwan; and （3） putting forth some suggestions which Taiwan＇s policy makers can use to address the problems which have arisen as a result of the expansion of higher education.     

The self‐regulated learning aspect of metacognition: A component of gifted education

As interest increases in the connection between metacognition and gifted, a shift in the definition of giftedness from person to performance variables allows an even closer link to skills of self‐regulatory metacognition such as defining, focusing, persisting, guiding, coping, correcting, reinforcing, and solving. Researchers recommend explicit instructional models that teach specific strategies for disciplined, reflective problem solving while stressing accuracy and persistent concentration. This article provides such a detailed account of a classroom‐tested early childhood pedagogy for gifted learners, especially the underachieving gifted. Teacher and peer modeling of think‐aloud, behavioral demonstration, and cueing of five steps to efficient task accomplishment are outlined with examples. Benefits of productive self‐regulated learning strategies during task periormances are reported from teachers, parents, and students.     

State standardized testing programs: Friend or foe of gifted education?

This study investigates the effects of state testing programs on the instructional practices of elementary teachers and the effects of such practices on their gifted students’ attitudes toward school and motivation. Results obtained from a national survey of elementary teachers, representing a variety of metropolitan areas and school poverty levels, as well as qualitative case studies from teachers in three states suggest that the perceptions teachers have of standards, tests, and students shape their classroom actions. These findings indicate that teachers are not likely to engage in effective classroom practices but instead engage in one‐size‐fits‐all practices. Implications of these perceptions on professional development and talent development are discussed.     

Vocational education: Can it serve the gifted?

Vocational education offers additional opportunities and resources for gifted students.     

Feedback seeking behaviour in higher education: the association with students’ goal orientation and deep learning approach

To make sure that feedback fulfils its aspirations, students’ active role in feedback should be acknowledged in higher education: It is students’ uptake of feedback that determines its effectiveness. In this study, feedback seeking behaviour of students is introduced in order to enrich our knowledge about students’ active role in feedback. Goal orientation was studied as antecedent of feedback seeking behaviour, and students’ deep learning approach as a mediating factor. Results indicated that students use both monitoring and inquiry strategies of feedback seeking, but they preferred monitoring. The association between feedback seeking behaviour and goal orientation was stronger for mastery goals than for performance goals. The preference for monitoring is stronger for students with more performance goal orientation. Deep learning approach was found to be a mediator in the relationship between goal orientation and feedback seeking behaviour. It can be concluded that students with the goal to learn from the activity will use more deep learning strategies and will seek more feedback, both in an active and passive way. This effect is less present for students with performance goals.     

Should eminence based on outstanding innovation be the goal of gifted education and talent development? Implications for policy and research

Systemic goals for gifted programs can take many forms. The authors place most program goals into a dichotomy — those that address the present academic needs of gifted students in schools and those designed to prepare future eminent path breakers and innovators. To clarify our arguments, we first define eminence and then offer examples from national mission statements that target gifted programs either to academic needs of advanced students or future needs of society. Although we support both goals, we promote the latter, even in light of the complications that we delineate. To demonstrate a model of eminence development that might be implemented more widely, we present a prototype program generated at the American Psychological Association. We close our argument with recommendations and implications for research and policy.     

Actor‐network theory of cosmopolitan education

In the past, philosophers discussed cosmopolitanism as a normative ideal of allegiance to humanity as a whole. A debate among social theorists, however, has examined cosmopolitanism as an incipient empirical phenomenon: an orientation of openness to foreign others and cultures. This paper introduces actor‐network theory to elaborate the social‐theoretical conception of cosmopolitanism. In light of the actor‐network theory of cosmopolitanism, the paper proposes cosmopolitan education that aims to foster in students three dispositions: to extend attachments to foreign people and objects; to understand transnational connections in which their lives are embedded; and to act on these attachments and understandings to effect transformations across national borders. Through this three‐fold cosmopolitan education, students will grow to be citizens of the world who traverse national borders dialogically by virtue of their transnational attachments, understandings, and actions.     

Marxist state theory and state autonomy theory: the case of ‘race’ education in initial teacher education

Abstract

In recent times, there have been a number of critiques of Marxist and neo‐Marxist analyses of the state and education policy. These have drawn on postmodernist, ‘quasi‐postmodernist’ and state autonomy perspectives. While the postmodernist and ‘quasi‐postmodernist’ approaches have attracted critical response, to date, the state autonomy perspective has, to our knowledge, gone unchallenged. To address this theoretical lacuna, this paper analyses one writer's attempt, via an historical case study, to uphold state autonomy theory by detailing the ongoing relationship between one quasi‐state agency and the practice of ‘race’ education in initial teacher education. We argue that there are serious conceptual weaknesses in this latest attempt to apply state autonomy theory to educational policy analysis. The arguments in the case study under consideration are seriously compromised by a basically flawed hypothesis, a misrepresentation of contemporary (neo‐) Marxist education policy analysis and by a failure to look at ‘the big picture’.     

Using teacher ratings of social behavior to differentiate gifted from non‐gifted students

This study investigated the effectiveness of teacher ratings of student social behavior in differentiating a group of 81 elementary‐age gifted students from a control group of 81 age and gender matched non‐gifted students. The School Social Behavior Scales, a recently developed set of rating scales that assesses both social competence and antisocial behavior, was used for the ratings. Gifted students were rated as having significantly higher levels of social competence and lower levels of antisocial behavior than the comparison group, and the individual scores of the gifted students were significantly skewed in the direction of better social‐behavioral adjustment. The findings also indicated the presence of a small subset of gifted students who appeared to have extremely poor social competence and high levels of problem behaviors. The results are compared to previous research on the psychosocial development of gifted children, and important areas for future research on this topic are recommended.     

Lifelong education and adult education — the state of the theory

Some years ago when the concept of lifelong education was in vogue and when there was a constant flow of literature about it being published by a core of writers gravitating around or employed by UNESCO, the constant warning was not to confuse the concept of lifelong education with adult education because this would unduly limit the concept and distort the educational philosophy it represented. This warning has not, generally, been heeded by writers and the expression ‘lifelong education’ has consequently lost the distinctive meaning writers like Dave, Cropley, Gelpi and Lengrand tried to give it in the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1979 Cropley edited a book called Lifelong Education: A Stocktaking which, in fact, tried to take stock of the state of the theory and to identify the problems with its promotion. Gelpi took up the latter task in some detail in a subsequent article but failed to address certain problems with the concept of lifelong education itself, raised earlier by Lawson. This paper goes over all this ground and then tries to clarify some confusions with the concept of lifelong education by examining two different interpretations or views of lifelong education, the ‘maximalist’ and the ‘minimalist’, which have evolved through the literature of the subject, identifying the former with the core of writers mentioned above. It then examines the role of adult education within the two interpretations, arguing that the ‘maximalist’ view has largely disappeared to the detriment of adult education, and reproposing it anew to adult education writers and practitioners.     

Can we administer the scholarship of teaching? Lessons from outstanding professors in higher education

Boyer’s call for the study of the “scholarship of teaching” has rekindled interest in outstanding teaching in higher education. However, most studies of teaching quality and student experiences in higher education have paid little attention to intense, meaningful key experiences and were limited in answering the pertinent question: Can universities administer excellent instruction? The current paper attempts to answer this question by providing exploratory evidence of key experiences in higher education. It is based on evidence from a large qualitative study of such episodes, using retrospective accounts provided by adults who speak about their best educational experiences in higher education. The results are grouped under three major thematic headings. The first describes the centrality of personalized student–teacher relations. The second focuses on the ways in which identification and integrity provided students with models to emulate; and the third tells of excellence in the skills of teaching. These results point that the administration of the scholarship of teaching is an intricate endeavor.     

Cycles of expansion in higher education 1870 – 1985: an international comparison

This article analyses the expansion of higher education between 1870 and 1985 in five countries (Germany, Italy, France, US, Japan). Two hypotheses are tested to explain the expansion: human capital theories and the theory of individual status competition (Collins). The analysis concentrates on the interaction between the educational and the economic system, particularly during times of an economic crisis. Spectral analysis is used to explore the cyclical character of the expansion and the relationship between economic growth and the increasing enrollment rates in higher education. For most countries the data confirm the theory of status competition (perverse effects): universities expand particularly fast during times of an economic recession (e.g., Great Depression, 1890–1900; World Economic Crisis, 1929–1935). The human capital theory is not confirmed by this longitudinal analysis. The article demonstrates that spectral analysis is a powerful instrument to analyse the causal relationship between two or more social systems over a long period of time.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Aufsatz wird die Bildungsexpansion an den Universitäten zwischen 1870 und 1985 in fünf Ländern analysiert (Deutschland, Italien, Frankreich, USA und Japan). Zwei Hypothesen, die das Wachstum erklären, werden getestet: die Humankapital-Theorie und die Theorie der individuellen Statuskonkurrenz (Collins). Die Analyse konzentriert sich auf die Interaktion zwischen dem Bildungssystem und dem Wirtschaftssystem, insbesondere während einer ökonomischen Krise. Die Spektralanalyse wird als statistisches Verfahren benutzt, um den zyklischen Charakter der Expansion und die Beziehung zwischen Wirtschaftswachstum und Bildungsexpansion zuntersuchen. Für die meisten Länder wird die Theorie der Statuskonkurrenz bestätigt: die Universitäten wachsen besonders schnell während einer ökonomischen Krise (z.B. Groe Depression, 1890–1900; Weltwirtschaftskrise, 1929–1935). Die Humankapital-Theorie wird durch die Längsschnitt-Untersuchung nicht bestätigt. Der Aufsatz zeigt, da die Spektralanalyse ein nützliches Instrument ist, um die kausale Beziehung zwischen zwei oder mehreren sozialen Systemen im Zeitablauf zu untersuchen.

     

Harmonious expansion of China’s higher education: a new growth pattern

Higher Education - How can one country narrow the regional disparity during the tremendous expansion of higher education? This issue remains unexamined and critical analysis is needed to unveil the...     

Lessons from a master: Montaigne’s pedagogy of conversation

There remains much to be learned from searching exploration of the great authors who have meditated on education. Montaigne is one such thinker and this essay endeavors to draw together the strands of his pedagogy and to demonstrate how they gain purchase in the business of teaching and learning. The article also proposes to supplement his vision with practical examples from fiction and autobiography. Perhaps the most striking theme is the need to be able to decentre from the comfort zone of acquired beliefs and convictions and the crucial role played by conversation in cultivating the intellectual and moral openness in order to do so. At the heart of Montaigne’s writing on education is what can be called a pedagogy of conversation.     

The expansion of educredit in Latin American higher education: Promise or peril?

Credit facilities for students in Latin American universities have grown rapidly in recent years. The implications of this development are critically examined with particular attention to the inhibiting influence of loan-based higher education on the freedom of the student as an individual.     

A cross-cultural study of possible iatrogenic effects of gifted education programs: tenth graders’ perceptions of academically high performing classmates

Previous empirical studies have yielded inconclusive results about peer perceptions of academically high performing students. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ perceptions of the intellectual ability, positive social qualities, and popularity of a hypothetical new high performing classmate. Participants were 1060 Vietnamese, South Korean, British, Australian, Peruvian, and Spanish boys and girls in 10th grade. The results revealed that the perceptions of academically high performing classmates differed by country group. Positive perceptions of intellectual ability and social qualities were commonly found in all countries except the two Asian countries (Vietnam and South Korea), where the students reported more neutral views of high performers. In conclusion, it is argued that there is no evidence for possible iatrogenic effects of gifted education programs aiming at high achievements     

Two steps forward,one step back: Effect size reporting in gifted education research from 1995–2000

The APA Task Force on Statistical Inference recently recommended reporting effect sizes alongside results of statistical significance tests. The purpose of this article is to investigate effect size usage in gifted education research and to follow up on a similar investigation published by Plucker (1997). A content analysis of effect size reporting was conducted of articles published in the Journal for the Education of the Gifted, Roeper Review, and Gifted Child Quarterly from 1995–2000. Results of the present study were similar to the findings of Plucker (1997): No statistical difference in reporting was found across journals or across years, and a moderate difference was found between effect size reporting in univariate versus multivariate statistics. The benefits to gifted education research of understanding the relationship among sample size, effect size, and statistical power are discussed.