SELF‐ACTUALIZATION IN GIFTED AND AGGRESSIVE YOUNG PEOPLE

A total of 80 students aged seventeen and eighteen (40 in each group) selected from several secondary schools took part in the study. It was assumed that the intensity of self‐acceptance among gifted young people is positively influenced by intellectual success, as well as by the following personality traits: internal locus of control, average or low level of anxiety, strong sensation seeking. There was a trend towards higher self‐actualization among gifted students (although statistically insignificant), while self‐actualizing students had an internal locus of control and a need for stimulation and varied experience. The assumption that lower anxiety and higher self‐acceptance are characteristic of young people with higher self‐actualization was not confirmed, which suggests that there is a need to intensify parents' and teachers' support for students coping with difficulties.     

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MOTIVATIONAL AND COGNITIVE COMPONENTS OF THE PERSONALITY OF GIFTED PUPILS

This paper introduces results of empirical research in connection with motivational and cognitive components of gifted pupils. In all 250 pupils in the 7th and 8th grades were included in this experiment Of these pupils, 177 applied for entrance to a special school for mathematics, natural sciences and technology (research), while 73 formed the control group. The cognitive components were tested–using the Raven Matrices as well as the results of the entrance exams of the special school applicants. The motivational components were measured with tests of striving for knowledge and motivation for physics. There were significant differences between the two groups in terms of cognitive and motivational components, which favored the special school applicants. The pupils also showed a positive correlation between the mathematics and physics exam results and the extent of primary motivation and striving for knowledge.     

现代化进程中的青少年心理教育

现代化首先是人的心理素质的现代化,心理素质的提升离不开心理教育。在青少年适应现代社会的进程中,心理教育具有不可替代的作用。网络社会的到来对青少年心理教育提出了进一步的要求,强化青少年的心理教育是现代社会的必然趋势。     

THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION OF HIGHLY ABLE YOUNG CHILDREN

Because the very early development of abilities is vitally affected by personal relationships, research emphasis has shifted away from the quasi‐experimental situation to the more natural home context. This has resulted in the rejection of some limiting ideas of very early potential, and particulary appropriate for the highly able, concern with young children's own awareness of what they do. The educational conclusions are that infants who develop and learn with speed and ease need a wide variety of activities, with parents who are aware and responsive, especially in play and verbal interaction. They also need both the appropriate material provision and facilities for practice to develop specific skills.     

MORAL REASONING IN GIFTED ADOLESCENTS: COGNITIVE LEVEL AND SOCIAL VALUES

In a population of 1141 students attending the last year of secondary school (age 17‐19) in three towns of North, Central and South Italy, who were tested using four ability tests, we studied responses to six moral dilemmas, comparing subjects of low, average and high ability by means of analysis of variance and cluster analysis. Two groups of very high (5 percent of the total sample) and extremely high (2 percent) students were individually interviewed in order to explore the motivation for their choices. The gifted showed, as expected, more responses at the formal level (greater choice of items concerning general and abstract principles, greater support for law and social contracts, more coherence), but in the average and lowest groups we found a more sentimental, humanitarian orientation, with a sympathetic attitude towards other people's feelings, which can constitute the base for a more intuitive, but not inferior morality.     

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF HIGHLY GIFTED DYSLEXIC CHILDREN

The article reports on a single case study involving neuropsychological treatment of a highly gifted dyslexic boy. First the relationship between cerebral lateralization and reading (dis)ability is outlined. Remedial perspectives for weak readers on the basis of the amenability of hemispheric control by external factors are illustrated with this case. The experimental phases, method, materials and design of the treatment, as well as the result of pre‐ and posttesting, including a pre‐ and post‐BEAM, are reported. One of the results discussed is that the neuropsychological changes during the treatment period appear to parallel, to a large extent, improvement in reading strategy and level.

     

IF THE MODEL FITS ‐‐ AN ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE REVISED ILLINOIS TEST OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ABILITIES FOR MODERATELY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN∗

A factorial study of the revised Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities was carried out with 98 moderately mentally retarded school children to determine the domain mapped by the subtests and whether these fit the theoretical psycholinguistic model of channels, processes and levels of communication. Raw scores from the 10 subtests together with Binet IQ were subjected to three methods of analysis: the alpha factor analysis, image analysis and principal component analysis to obtain “method independent” and more meaningful results. Factor loadings from the alpha factor and image analyses were tested for congruence by the Schonemann method and a factor “reliability” study was carried out with separate principal component analyses on two random subsamples of 49 children each. Results support the channel separation postulated by the theoretical model. Implications for language programming for the moderately mentally retarded are discussed. The need for a taxonomic study of psycholinguistic abilities of retarded and non‐retarded children within the framework of current views of developmental psycholinguistics is stressed.

     

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES OF HIGHLY GIFTED AND ‘NORMAL’ SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

About 9,000 West German students representing the whole range of academic aptitude were examined at the beginning of their 13th school year. A general scholastic aptitude test was administered, and school marks and information on the pupils’ extracurricular interests and activities recorded. A group of highly gifted students was defined in terms of exceptional performance both in school and on the scholastic aptitude test. The extracurricular activities of this group were compared with those of the representative group. The popular hypothesis that superior cognitive giftedness and outstanding achievement in school go with an ‘impoverishment’ of extracurricular activities was not supported: In most areas a larger percentage of the highly gifted than of the reference group were actively involved. Furthermore, the range of individual activities was somewhat broader among the top students than among the representative group.     

IDENTITY AND SCHOOL HISTORY: THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE NETHERLANDS AND ENGLAND

ABSTRACT:  The article presents the findings from a survey of over 400 young people in metropolitan areas in the Netherlands and England concerning their views on identity and school history. The research explored pupils' ideas about which facets of history were of interest to them, what history they believed should be taught in schools, and their views on the purposes of school history and history in general. The coding of the data made it possible to delineate between those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, boys and girls, age and level of education and first or second generation of migration. The study revealed significant differences between young people's ideas about history and identity, and those advanced by politicians and policy makers in the Netherlands, England and elsewhere. The concluding section of the paper considers the implications of the findings for policy makers in the field of history education in schools.     

PREFERENCES AND ASSESSMENT OF MATHEMATICALLY HIGHLY ABLE YOUNG STUDENTS

Giftedness is commonly regarded as potential for extraordinary performance within a given area, e.g. academic, artistic, or manual, that develops in a field of interacting internal and external factors and unfolds in individual stages. Gender related and culturally dependent influences affect the dynamic processes through which a child acquires and expands its competence. Admittedly, a particular talent for a special intellectual activity, e.g. mathematics and sciences, is essential, but such a talent alone is not necessarily sufficient to explain why young students devote themselves to particular subject matter, thereby acquiring a high level of ability.

     

从图腾文化痕迹看中韩古代民族之关系

中韩两国古代民族，皆有以鸟为图腾者，由此深入探讨，可见古代中韩两国之间密切的血缘与文化联系。     

INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES AND THE USE OF METAPHORS IN SOLVING PROBLEMS

Little is known about the use of metaphors in problem solving. In this study, a group of 20 year olds attempted to solve problems with the help of different kinds of metaphors (apt vs. nonapt; remote vs. literal). Different kinds of metaphors were valuable for different aspects of problem solving and for people of differing levels of creativity, but the use of metaphor did not depend on level of intelligence. Literal metaphors did not impede creative thinking, as long as they were apt.

     

THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY IN THE REGULATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT

Experiments on problems of development of abilities have been carried out for five years with pupils in different age groups. The basis of the approach was development of psychodiagnostic approaches that would help in speeding up the development of cognitive activity in children with ordinary abilities. Gifted children display a high level of self‐regulation, master complicated psychological processes faster, react positively to novelty and complexity, and can differentiate more clearly. Teaching of gifted children is carried out in the Small Academy of Sciences, where programs on the development of interests and abilities take account of each specific pupil's characteristics. Gifted children can predict the future better, their plans are directed to the future. They are interested in renewing society, because their aims are more motivated by a strongly developed future perspective. Further work requires coordination with the International Council on Children's Talents and Gifts, especially regarding teacher training programs involving the study of special endowments and their development.     

COURSES OF STUDY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Poetry is a bridge across diverse realities; it bridges the expressible and inexpressible, the present and future. Poetry is also a powerful force in human life; it reveals, nourishes, binds, critiques, empowers, constructs, and confronts. From such movements come visions for educational action, both actual and metaphoric. These include: dancing, meditating, singing, chanting, improvising, and drumming.     

THE STRUCTURE OF PRIMARY MENTAL ABILITIES OF BELGIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

A factor analysis was conducted of a test battery designed for use with Belgian secondary school students and based on Thurstone's earlier work on the primary mental abilities. The analysis provided construct validity evidence for the existence of verbal, numerical, spatial, and reasoning abilities in the Belgian sample and thus confirmed the theoretical conceptions guiding the development of the test battery. An examination of the factorial organization of these mental abilities for different age groups revealed a progressive differentiation of abilities with age. There was also evidence that intensive academic specialization improves performance in the abilities required by these specializations.     

THE POWER OF PERFORMANCE IN DEVELOPING PROBLEM SOLVING AND SELF ASSESSMENT ABILITIES

Students of Alverno College develop problem solving as one of eight abilities they are required to demonstrate in order to graduate. They must also demonstrate self assessment ability as an important part and over‐riding outcome of their educational process.

In ongoing studies, the research staff of the college found that students show increasing sophistication in their performance of these abilities and identify them as significant aspects of their education. Faculty contribute to their own developing educational theory and practice by analysing student performance and judging it by criteria they have articulated to describe expert performance. In requiring students to integrate self assessment into their problem solving process, faculty have found that students show increasing understanding of inter‐relationships of ability, content, and context. Students take responsibility for their learning as a dynamic, continuing process. They gradually internalise their practice of both problem solving and self assessment ability.