Motivational Characteristics in Mathematical Achievement: a study of gifted high‐achieving,gifted underachieving and non‐gifted pupils

The aim of this study was to examine whether motivational‐emotional variables such as intrinsic orientation toward schoolwork, Mathematics anxiety, academic self‐esteem, attribution of success and failure in Mathematics and situational interest in Mathematics could differentiate different groups of mathematically gifted pupils. The research was based, theoretically, on an interactional model of giftedness. The sample consisted of 147 selected primary school pupils (9‐10 years of age) who were assigned to the following groups for comparison: mathematically gifted achievers (n = 31), mathematically gifted under‐achievers (n = 31) and mathematically non‐gifted pupils (n = 85). The results of a discriminant analysis show that the gifted pupils differ from the non‐gifted ones in attaining higher levels of intrinsic orientation toward Mathematics, lower Mathematics anxiety, lower attribution of success to external factors and effort, as well as in lower attribution of failure to external factors and abilities. Also, gifted achievers have lower attribution of success to effort than gifted under‐achievers and non‐gifted pupils.     

Conceptualizations of Creativity: Comparing Theories and Models of Giftedness

This article reviews seven different theories of giftedness that include creativity as a component, comparing and contrasting how each one conceptualizes creativity as a part of giftedness. The functions of creativity vary across the models, suggesting that while the field of gifted education often cites the importance of creativity, the conceptualizations of creativity differ depending on the particular theory. The various models of giftedness can be interpreted from the context of current creativity research because certain elements of these conceptualizations can be found in social models, the evolving systems approach, and the domain-generality debate. An integrative perspective of creativity research reveals that some models of giftedness are more comprehensive and consistent in terms of the creativity literature.     

Speed bumps,roadblocks and tollbooths: how culturally and linguistically diverse parents navigate the highways and byways of giftedness in Ontario

In reviewing literature on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) parental inclusion and disproportionality, Cam Cobb, assistant professor at the University of Windsor, Ontario, illustrates how CLD giftedness – and especially CLD giftedness in Canadian settings – represents an area in need of further research. In part, this article begins to address that need. Drawing from a larger critical qualitative inquiry, he details the stories of two CLD Canadian mothers as they sought to become involved in gifted identification and decision‐making processes. Knowledge and language arose in the data as two core themes of robust parental inclusion. These core themes, along with associated recommendations for policy, practice and research, are outlined in a discussion of the findings. While this article focuses on the gifted domain of special education in Ontario, the findings have wider implications for robust CLD parental inclusion in special education in general.     

Fostering Talents in Vocational Training: current strategies in Germany

This article presents an overview of the status and organisation of vocational education in Germany in general, and discusses a pioneering effort of providing for the vocationally gifted in particular. The basis for this presentation is personal observation and research, particularly in the light of a major multidisciplinary research project, launched by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science, aimed at evaluating recent efforts to promote vocational giftedness and to suggest a workable understanding of the theoretical construct. The effort of focusing vocational giftedness is still in its infancy, but results so far are promising and bode well for the future.     

论自然的内在价值

自然具有内在价值．无论站在自然的角度还是人的角度,自然不仅具有工具价值,而且具有内在价值,是内在价值和工具价值的统一．自然内在价值的确认具有极其重要的理论和现实意义．     

Exceptionality and gifted education: a re-examination of its hard core

The commentaries to our target article Towards a systemic theory of gifted education differed in their assessments of the various arguments we put forward. Of the more than 40 responses to our target article, 27 responses were chosen as being representative of all commentaries. We grouped the responses according to the main points in our target article, including our claims that current approaches to gifted education are ineffective, current models of giftedness are generally flawed, and systemic models of giftedness represent an advancement in the way that giftedness can be understood. Next, we outlined a systems approach to gifted education, based on the actiotope model of giftedness as its theoretical foundation. Finally, we argued that the systemic theory of gifted education represents a paradigm shift in the way we view the development of exceptionality.     

EVA based model to estimate the Chinese listed company''s intrinsic value

This article is based on traditionally intrinsic value assessment model. We employed the assumption on the differences in future increase rates of companies, taking into account of the expected Economic Value Added (EVA) discount and the capital investment, to establish a high increase model, a two-stage EVA discount model and a three-stage EVA discount model for the intrinsic value assessment. Those models eliminate the great fluctuation of free cash flow in calculating the capital expenditure by setting aside the cash flow of the company's investment in the year and considering only the capital cost. This method needs only to assess the EVA flow in different year in probing the intrinsic value of a company, thus give more consistent conclusion than conventional methods.     

Cognitive Development in Gifted Children: Toward a More Precise Understanding of Emerging Differences in Intelligence

To truly understand gifted performance, it is necessary to merge research on giftedness with current thinking in cognitive development and intelligence. This article presents traditional research on gifted children's cognitive development then considers how the application of newer models and theories from the field of cognitive development can be combined with research on giftedness to change the way people think about gifted performance. First four factors that have often been associated with giftedness are discussed from the perspectives of cognitive developmental psychology and gifted education. Next, emphasis is placed on investigating the strategic development of gifted children. Specifically, R. S. Siegler's (Emerging Minds: The Process of Change in Children's Thinking, Oxford University Press, New York, 1996) model of strategy development is addressed in terms of what it may contribute to understanding gifted cognition. Finally, future lines of research using models from cognitive development and complex systems models of development are recommended.     

Constructing a synthetic‐analytic framework for precocious writing

Conceptual models of giftedness that cannot explain the full spectrum of depicted behaviors are incomplete. The same is true for frameworks that purport to analyze those behaviors. Within giftedness, extraordinary and rare talents afford us the opportunity to extend and modify models and frameworks. This article presents an analysis of the first 2 years of writing of a precocious child whose prolific language, complex sentence structures, and sophisticated conceptual development belie his age. Attempts to conduct comparative analyses found that existing frameworks could not explain the data's holistic and thematic tones. This led to the construction of a new synthetic‐analytic framework for precocious writing that more fully depicts the known spectrum of writing elements exhibited by highly gifted children.     

Achievement motivation and gifted students: A social cognitive perspective

The purpose of this article is to provide an illustrative review of recent research on achievement motivation and gifted students from a social cognitive perspective. The review discusses several constructs that have been a focus of motivation research: perceived competence and self-efficacy, attributions, goal orientations, and intrinsic motivation. For each construct, motivational research from the general motivation literature and from the field of gifted and talented studies are critiqued and compared. The review suggests that a general social cognitive perspective is a useful theoretical framework for research on motivational processes involved in the intellectual and personal development of gifted and talented students and that a process-oriented model is superior to a static model for research on both giftedness and achievement motivation. Implications of the review for future research on motivation and talent development are discussed.     

The Role of Domains in the Conceptualization of Talent

In this article we present research concerning important aspects of domain-specific giftedness. Specifically, we address the evidence regarding the relationship between specific abilities and achievement. Empirical evidence suggests that specific abilities have been used widely and validly for identification of exceptional talent in performance domains, and mathematical and spatial reasoning ability have demonstrated predictive validity for achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. We note that domains of talent have unique trajectories and discuss four critical aspects of domain-specific giftedness. These include the developmental nature of giftedness (giftedness moves from potential to competency to expertise and possibly to eminence over time); the temporal nature of giftedness (that domains vary in their starting, peak, and ending points); the contextual aspect of giftedness (societal value of some domains over others, changing of domains and emergence of new domains, and the environmental influences in fostering domain-specific achievement); and the relative nature of giftedness (childhood giftedness is advancement relative to age peers, and adult giftedness is exceptional achievement relative to other domain experts). Finally, we present some implications of a domain perspective on giftedness for educational practice.     

职业教育的效用价值与规范价值分析

职业教育价值按照其表现形式,分为效用价值和规范价值。效用价值指明了职业教育的客观有用性,按照价值主体不同分为社会效用价值、个体效用价值和系统自身效用价值;规范价值指明了职业教育的主观有用性,按照其规范指向的不同分为对价值观的规范价值和对道德的规范价值。效用价值是规范价值的基础,规范价值是效用价值的超越,各种价值之间相辅相成,共同构成职业教育价值体系。     

Creative Giftedness Is Not Just What Creativity Tests Test: Implications of a Triangular Theory of Creativity for Understanding Creative Giftedness

Creativity tests, at best, measure only a small sliver of the whole of creative giftedness. These tests assess aspects of creative intelligence. But creativity is at least as much a conscious decision and even an attitude toward life as it is a traditionally defined ability. This article discusses how well-intentioned gifted educators may be following the wrong path by overly relying on tests of creativity to measure creative giftedness. This article presents a triangular theory of giftedness that conceptualizes creativity largely as an attitude toward life rather than as ability based.     

Is cost separate from or part of subjective task value? An empirical examination of expectancy-value versus expectancy-value-cost perspectives

Situated expectancy-value theorists propose that students’ domain-specific expectancies and subjective task values are critical predictors of their achievement and academic choices in those domains. The theory also posits that subjective task values are multidimensional and can be separated into four subcomponents: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, and perceived cost. Recently, there have been debates regarding whether perceived cost should be conceptualized and operationalized as part of subjective task value (i.e., the classic expectancy-value perspective), or as a separate construct from subjective task value (i.e., the expectancy-value-cost perspective). In the present study, we explore different structural associations among expectancies, values, and costs using a hierarchical structural equation modeling approach in a high-stakes undergraduate biochemistry course. We use two different measures of perceived cost: one that measured cost as a unidimensional construct and one that measured cost as a multidimensional construct. We also report on data collected both before and after the COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States. Overall, our results suggested that models that supported the expectancy-value perspective and models that supported the expectancy-value-cost perspective both fit the data reasonably well. However, in line with situated expectancy-value theory, we discuss how aspects of the educational context (a high-stakes undergraduate context), the historical context (COVID-19), and measurement of cost (unidimensional vs. multidimensional) may have impacted our findings. Implications for SEVT and future research in this area are discussed.     

Value conflicts in higher education teaching

This article explores value conflicts that people experience when teaching in higher education, drawing on in-depth interviews with staff from a research-intensive UK university. The article considers the relationship between values and teaching, illustrating how conflicts can occur between individual and different levels of the higher education system. Five value conflicts are then examined related to: dialogic forms of teaching; independent learning; not having enough time for students; large group lectures; and the struggle to be authentic in the classroom. These conflicts were highly personal yet speak to broader concerns within contemporary higher education. Individual responses to conflict varied. Drawing on previous research, the main response of participants in this study could be described as ‘strategic compromise’. Although one person responded to conflict by leaving the profession, the majority accepted structural constraints perceived to be beyond their control. Within these constraints people focused on aspects of practice where values could be realised, driven by personal concerns. The article concludes by discussing the potential of a deliberative approach to the study of value conflicts in higher education and its use on professional development courses for university staff.     

Why do Chinese students cheat? Initial findings based on the self-reports of high school students in China

Academic dishonesty is recognised as a serious problem in Australia, and educators have been searching for ways to prevent its escalation. It is important to understand what factors influence cheating. This study used a sample of 446 grade 7 to 9 students, 160 from Macao and 286 from Zhuhai in China, to examine the personal and contextual aspects of academic dishonesty. The findings suggest that involvement and task orientation in the classroom environment (contextual aspects) and intrinsic value and utility value (personal aspects) are associated with students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and cheating behaviour in mathematics. Some suggestions for reducing academic dishonesty are included in the paper.     

Socializing Giftedness: Toward an ACCEL-S Approach

In this response, we commend Sternberg’s Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) model yet urge him to consider an ACCEL-S model that more fully incorporates society’s integrative role in giftedness. ACCEL-S builds on the highly complex and contextual view of giftedness proposed by Sternberg and transforms it into a participatory framework. Within it, the skills associated with giftedness shape but are also shaped by social context; they generate meaningful forms of collaboration as well as grow out of them. The concept of giftedness itself is transformed from a person-centric one to a distributed model in which being gifted is a relational instead of purely personal achievement.     

Giftedness as Developing Expertise: A theory of the interface between high abilities and achieved excellence

This article describes how giftedness can be viewed as developing expertise. The general conception of giftedness as developing expertise is outlined. Then research examples are given that, in conjunction, seem odd under traditional interpretations of abilities but that make sense as a whole in the context of the developing expertise model. It is concluded that this new model offers potential for better understanding the nature of giftedness.     

Assessing how students value learning communication skills in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology course

Students, particularly those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and healthcare-related programs, should develop proficient interpersonal skills, including communication. To help students develop effective communication skills, instructors need to consider the value students give to learning these skills. The Student Attitudes Toward Communication Skills Survey (SATCSS) was developed to measure how undergraduate students value learning communication skills based on Expectancy-Value Theory across three modes of communication (verbal, written, non-verbal). The survey was given to students interested in healthcare professions and enrolled in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology (A&P) course (n = 233) at a Midwest research active university. The survey showed evidence of validity, measuring two components: (1) “Value to Profession” (attainment and utility value) and (2) “Value to Self” (intrinsic value and cost). There was a significant difference in sub-scores among the four task values such that students thought that learning communication skills was important and relevant (high attainment and utility value) but not interesting (low intrinsic value) and costly. Students with high total scores valued communication skills across all four task values. As total value scores decreased, it was first due to students finding learning communication skills to be time prohibitive and then a lack of interest in learning communication skills. Based on these results, it is recommended that instructors incorporate communication skills training into content that is already part of their A&P course to reduce time concerns. Additional recommendations include using reflective activities and humor to increase student interest.     

教育主体:教师和学生共同构成的类主体——从价值链视角的认识

教育是一种价值创造过程。通过价值链系统化的视角分析教育活动的价值基础,可以发现教育主体的真实归属。教育以教学为基本活动途径,单纯地从"教"或"学"的价值链出发,得到的只能是"教师主体论"或"学生主体论"的片面主体论点,无法全面认识教育活动。要找到教育主体的真正归属,只有构建完整的教育价值链,认识到教育是教与学共同作用的结果,它们有一个共同的价值基础(人的主体性的发挥)和共同的价值实践过程(理念教育),进而认识到教育主体是由教师和学生所组成的人的"类"主体。