THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN EXPLAINING GIFTEDNESS AND EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

In addition to exceptional cognitive abilities and domain‐specific aptitudes, creativity potentials are frequently used to explain high achievement in science and technology. In the Guilford tradition, research focuses increasingly on convergent versus divergent thinking, that is, a suspected dichotomy between intelligence and creativity. Despite important insights about the relationship of ability and creativity, a number of important questions remain unanswered. These relate not only to conceptualization and measurement problems regarding the hypothetical construct “creativity”, but also to its diagnosis and nurturance in childhood and adolescence. It would appear that, in view of current research paradigms, the roles of ability and creativity need to be redefined in order to predict and explain excellent achievements more reliably. Advances are mostly expected from synthetic approaches. Consequently new theoretical models and empirical research results will be presented. Finally, some consequences for the explanation of high ability as well as excellent performances in school, university, and at work will be discussed     

Cardboard Cities,Real Mathematics: Employing Quantitative Literacy to Study Gentrification in NYC

Abstract

Gentrification is a complex issue with very real repercussions for urban youth. Games make learning fun and provide a way for students to explore complex systems through recursive play. We describe a board game designed to help students explore ratios and proportional reasoning while simultaneously engaging the causes and effects of gentrification. Situated within a multidisciplinary first-semester learning community course, the game provides a model for later experiential learning opportunities as students are asked to study the effects of gentrification in one New York City neighborhood.     

Orthopedic resident anatomy review course: a collaboration between anatomists and orthopedic surgeons

A challenge for new residents and senior residents preparing for board examinations is refreshing their knowledge of basic science disciplines, such as human gross anatomy. The Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Utah School of Medicine has for many years held an annual Orthopedic Resident Anatomy Review Course during the summer months for all of its residents. The primary purpose of the course is to renew competencies in basic science disciplines so that incoming residents more quickly reach a level of functional proficiency and to afford senior residents a platform to teach their junior colleagues. Before 2005, this course was conducted with minimal participation from anyone outside of the Department of Orthopaedics. Many of the residents voiced concerns that the educational benefits were not proportionate to the time invested. To improve the teaching of orthopedic-related anatomy, an educational collaboration between the Departments of Neurobiology and Anatomy and Orthopaedics was established in 2004 and continues to the present time. The major objectives of refining the course pedagogy, developing a Course Manual and Dissection Guide, and evaluating the results by administering a course survey questionnaire are described in this article. Implementation of all facets of the revised course has resulted in better participation by orthopedic faculty and more favorable reviews by the participating residents. Based on current levels of interest and positive comments from course participants, the Anatomy and Orthopedic faculty course directors plan to continue to develop course materials and pedagogy.     

Counsellor bias against shorter term counselling? A comparison of counsellor and client satisfaction in a Canadian setting

The American counselling/psychotherapy outcome research documenting the effectiveness or brief, time-limited treatments is substantial, however, this appears to have had little influence on changing the views of practitioners. One respected researcher has concluded, for example, that a science/practice schism has developed where practitioners continue to believe that brief counselling is superficial and to underestimate the effects of their own shorter-term work. A study was undertaken to determine if counsellors at a large urban Canadian university counselling centre also had lower expectations of change for those clients who received fewer treatment sessions. It was found that the counsellors significantly underestimated treatment gains relative to their clients' reports, and that this discrepancy was greater for those clients seen for fewer sessions. Counsellor satisfaction was also lower with clients seen for fewer sessions. These findings suggest that, like their American counterparts, Canadian counsellors tend toward a practitioner bias against shorter-term treatment based on misconceptions about its efficacy.     

Technical Communication Coaching: A Strategy for Instilling Reader Usability Assurance in Online Course Material Development

ABSTRACT

Online course material development requires much writing, often catching faculty by surprise because of either the sheer volume or the specialized role and function of writing in an online only and multimodal environment. technical and professional communication (TPC) faculty are uniquely suited to coach faculty in producing readable writing for online courses. This article explores the professional development strategies and coaching skills necessary for TPC instructors and/or practitioners to serve in this role in online course development training.     

THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTEDNESS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Following a short discussion of conceptual and theoretical problems of giftedness, the methodological foundations and selected results of a (presently) four year longitudinal study are presented. This study is based on a multidimensional concept of giftedness: intelligence, creativity, social competence, musical ability, psychomotor ability (or practical intelligence). Both academic achievements and leisure activities, as well as cognitive and motivational personality factors and school and family socialisation conditions relevant to giftedness, were studied. During the second project phase developmental aspects and achievement analyses of gifted and normal students aged 6 to 18 years were the central aspects of the study. Finally, methodological problems in the identification of gifted children and adolescents as well as consequences for the nurturing of giftedness are discussed.     

Education and Counseling of the Gifted and Talented in Germany

One of the principle reasons responsible for the fact that nurturing the gifted and talented in Germany has (once again) advanced to a pedagogic concern in the 1990’s lies in the dichotomy of equality and excellence. Are these two pedagogic goals actually incompatible, as often maintained in open discussions? After a long period of oscillation between these two poles, in the age of information a new emphasis has increasingly been placed on excellence. “It becomes more and more important for bright students to be using their abilities to stimulate this new era with economic and political productivity. But this will not happen if the current ‘laissez faire’ approach to gifted students continues into the next decade”(Gallagher, 2000, p. 691). Following a short definition of giftedness and related conceptions, arguments for gifted education stemming from the areas of learning psychology and instructional psychology will be discussed. The central problems concerning identification and programming will then be addressed in greater detail. Hypotheses will be developed, on the basis of the ATI model that gifted students need creative, stimulating learning environments. Various approaches will be presented here and discussed in the context of TIMSS and PISA. The second part of the article will deal with guidance and counseling issues with respect to the special needs of gifted children and adolescents and their social contact persons (peers, parents, teachers). In conclusion, German program evaluation, studies in the fields of gifted education, counseling and nurturing giftedness and talent will be presented. The outcomes of these studies and their consequences for improvements for the quality of gifted and talented education and counseling in Germany will be discussed. Excellence is one of the most important educational-psychological challenges of the new century.     

Every word problem has a solution-The social rationality of mathematical modeling in schools

The focus of this paper is on sense-making and the use of real-world knowledge in mathematical modeling in schools. Arguments are put forward that classroom word problem solving is more—and also less—than the analysis of subject-matter structures. Students easily “solve” stereotyped, even unsolvable, problems without any regard to the constraints of factual reality. Mathematics learning in schools is inseparable not only from the materials employed, but from the macro- and microcultural web of practices within the social context of schooling. It represents, beyond the insightful activity of ideal problem solving, a type of socio-cognitive skill.The two experiments reported replicate and extend a study by Verschaffel, De Corte, and Lasure (1994). In the first experiment, a list of standard problems that could be solved by straightforward use of arithmetic operations, and a parallel list of problems which were problematic with respect to realistic mathematical modeling, were administered to fourth and fifth graders. In the second experiment, a similar list of problematic problems was presented to seventh graders under three socio-contextual conditions varying in the degree to which the pupils were told or signaled that the problems were more difficult to solve than it seemed at first or that they even could be unsolvable. The result of both studies was that most pupils “solved” a significant part of the unsolvable problems without evincing “realistic reactions”. This overall finding is discussed with respect to three issues:

• 1. 

  (i) the quality of word problems employed in mathematics education,

• 2. 

  (ii) the culture of teaching and learning, and

• 3. 

  (iii) the more general issue of social rationality in school mathematics problem solving.

     

Mad City Mystery: Developing Scientific Argumentation Skills with a Place-based Augmented Reality Game on Handheld Computers

While the knowledge economy has reshaped the world, schools lag behind in producing appropriate learning for this social change. Science education needs to prepare students for a future world in which multiple representations are the norm and adults are required to “think like scientists.” Location-based augmented reality games offer an opportunity to create a “post-progressive” pedagogy in which students are not only immersed in authentic scientific inquiry, but also required to perform in adult scientific discourses. This cross-case comparison as a component of a design-based research study investigates three cases (roughly 28 students total) where an Augmented Reality curriculum, Mad City Mystery, was used to support learning in environmental science. We investigate whether augmented reality games on handhelds can be used to engage students in scientific thinking (particularly argumentation), how game structures affect students’ thinking, the impact of role playing on learning, and the role of the physical environment in shaping learning. We argue that such games hold potential for engaging students in meaningful scientific argumentation. Through game play, players are required to develop narrative accounts of scientific phenomena, a process that requires them to develop and argue scientific explanations. We argue that specific game features scaffold this thinking process, creating supports for student thinking non-existent in most inquiry-based learning environments.