Gifted Education Commons^™

Enrichment Programming For Secondary School Gifted Students: A Narrative Inquiry, Melissa D. Gollan-Wills

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The current constructivist interpretive narrative inquiry study considered the ways in which recently implemented enrichment programming on a system level was experienced by gifted secondary school learners and designated gifted teachers or contacts at the secondary schools. Through an in-depth exploration of stories of experiences that gifted students told about enrichment programming, this study offered significant insight into the unique learning needs and challenges of gifted adolescents in today’s secondary classrooms. Methods included an initial demographic questionnaire followed by a maximal variation sample of 12 participants for the second phase of the study with follow-up focus groups. Focus group ...

Code Switching: A Tool In The Classroom, Karen Marie Algarin-Ruiz

Education and Human Development Master's Theses

Abstract

There has been a tremendous growth of the Hispanic population in the United States leading to a large population of Spanish heritage speakers in our schools. Language diversity in the United States has been maintained primarily because of continuing immigration from non-English speaking countries (Gollnick & Chinn, 2009). Many school districts have adopted several types of programs to educate this growing population. One of the major issues being faced in the classroom concerns language development of learners using code switching. “Code switching, or the alternation of two languages within a single clause, sentence or turn is a complex, rule-governed use ...

Elementary School Teachers' Interpretation And Promotion Of Creativity In The Learning Of Mathematics: A Grounded Theory Study, Yinjing Shen

Open Access Theses and Dissertations from the College of Education and Human Sciences

Creativity is important for young children learning mathematics. Comparing the investment theory of creativity and national standards and principles for early mathematics shows that doing mathematics is more than applying rules and procedures; rather, learning mathematics takes a lot of creativity. However, much literature claimed that creativity for young children in the learning of mathematics was not adequately supported by teachers in the classroom due to teachers’ poor college preparation in mathematics content knowledge, teachers’ negativity towards creative students, teachers’ occupational pressure, low quality curriculum, and the like. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to generate a model ...

Exploring The Multiple Dimensions Of Intelligence Identity In High-Achieving Students, Amy A. Holland

Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the important elements reported by second-year undergraduates at Midwestern University (MU) as they renegotiated their intelligence identity of being the smart one. The five participants were members of the 2012-2013 first-year cohort of Jumpstart Business Community (JBC). Per inclusion in JBC, the students identified as high-achieving students and/or were classified as accelerated learners in high school. The reconceptualized model of multiple dimensions of identity from Abes, Jones, and McEwen (2007) informed this study in the examination of renegotiation of the intelligence identity.

The main research question of this study was ...

An Exploration Of The Factors That Motivate Gifted And Talented Black Males To Engage In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics In A Gifted, Residential Community, Adrienne L. Coleman

Publications & Research

This study was an exploration of the factors that motivated gifted and talented Black males to engage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The specific problem addressed was the lack of motivation among Black males to become gifted and talented learners engaged in STEM. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the factors that motivate gifted and talented Black males to engage in STEM at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), a residential academy for gifted/talented students. Qualitative methodology was used to interview focus groups of 20 gifted and talented Black males who currently attended ...

Student Engagement And Action In Classroom And Community: Place-Based Education And Social Action For The High-Achieving Student, Rachel M. Jank

Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English

This paper briefly discusses the work done in a college-preparatory, Senior English class to combat the disengagement present in many educational institutions. This disconnect does not allow for learning retention and, therefore, does not allow for students to apply the moment of learning to life outside of the secondary classroom. The work I do is based off of Jessica Singer Early, Bruce Bigelow, Linda Christensen, and many other master teachers who work with the educational designs of Place Consciousness and Social Action within their respective classrooms. The theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire suggest that a non-traditional style of ...

Bootstrap Blues, Hannah M. Frantz '13

SURGE

Meet David*. In mid-January, he came to the small town Iowa elementary school where I work. David has attended more schools in the two years since he started school than I have in my lifetime. In fact, the school he just moved from only has four days of attendance listed on his record. David moves so often because he’s homeless. His situation is not what we may stereotypically think of as “homeless”—you wouldn’t see him on the streets or even in soup kitchens. Instead, David stays with his mother, and they couch surf from one home to ...

Succeeding Against The Odds: The Trajectory Of Minority Males Classified As Honors In A Two-Year College, Loretta Ovueraye-Adoghe

Education Doctoral Theses

In this interpretative phenomenological analysis the researcher explored the lived experiences of high achieving community college students of African American and Hispanic\Latino descent some of which are enrolled in an honors college. The theoretical lens used to gain insight includes the malleable incremental theory of intelligence, which will give insight into how students' self-theory about their learning enable minority males to succeed academically. The research draws on the data gathered from in-depth interviews with six African American and Hispanic\Latino students. The emergent themes produced by this study are (1) drive and self- understanding with confidence as a subordinate ...

The Imsa© Promise: Igniting And Nurturing Diverse Stem Talent, Adrienne Coleman, Barb J. Miller

Publications & Research

“Your PROMISE Program has been the life-line to extend and enhance the knowledge base for these students…by providing them with the time to develop seemingly outlandish ideas or tease their brains with the “what if” possibilities…you are making such a huge difference in the lives of these inner city youth who, otherwise, would not be privy to this level of academic exposure until much later on in their academic pursuits” (McNeal, 2013).

What educator writes such impassioned comments about an enrichment program designed to ignite and nurture talented underrepresented and underserved students?

The Imsa© Promise: Diverse Perspectives Do Enrich Understanding!, Barb J. Miller, Adrienne Coleman

Publications & Research

For years we have grappled with the effects of the Achievement Gap, which has been defined by: (a) the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2011) as the “observed, persistent disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity and gender; (b) The National Education Association (2013) as differences between the scores of students with different backgrounds (ethnic, racial, gender, disability, and income) are evident on large-scale standardized tests, adding that test score gaps often lead to longer-term gaps, including high school and college completion and the kinds of jobs ...

The Challenge: Magazine For Gifted Studies, The Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

Succeeding In The City: A Report From The New York City Black And Latino Male High School Achievement Study, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., And Researchers From The Center For The Study Of Race And Equity In Education

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

This report is the first publication from the New York City Black and Latino Male High School Achievement Study, a project that entailed individual interviews with 415 students from 40 public high schools – 90 were enrolled in 44 colleges and universities, the rest were college-bound high school juniors and seniors. Understanding how these young men succeeded in and out of school, developed college aspirations, became college-ready, and navigated their ways to postsecondary education was the primary aim of this project. Instead of further amplifying deficits and documenting failures in urban schools, 13 Black and Latino male researchers from the Center ...

Teacher Perspectives Regarding Gifted Diverse Students, Toni Szymanski, Thomas Shaff

Gifted Children

Abstract

Understanding teacher perceptions of diverse, gifted students is a first step to exploring the underrepresentation of non-white students in programs for advanced academic ability. As professionals, teachers are responsible for making referrals for special programming and are often the “gatekeepers” for student identification. This qualitative study used exploratory interviews to examine perceptions of five second- and third-grade teachers and the talented and gifted coordinator at a school in which 65% of the student population was Hispanic. Three themes emerged in the findings: (a) Teachers experience differences in training to work with diverse, low income students and gifted students; (b ...

Perceived Classroom Management Needs Of Pre-Service Teachers, Nielsen Pereira, Jillian Gates

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

A disconnect exists between pre-service teachers’ expectations concerning classroom management course content and the reality of teaching in an elementary school. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived needs of pre-service teachers in a classroom management course for elementary education majors at a Midwestern university.

Create A Journal With Poised Readership Utilizing Your Institution’S Digital Research Repository, Wanda G. Chandler

Wanda G. Chandler, Ed.D.

Describes content and publication of KTEJ, and information about the digital commons data repository.

Student And Teacher Attitudes Toward Giftedness In A Two Laboratory School Environment: A Case For Conducting A Needs Assessment, Jennifer Riedl Cross, Tracy Cross, Andrea D. Frazier

NALS Journal

Providing effective professional development in laboratory schools around topics that can be divisive, such as preparing a school environment for expansion of gifted education services, can be quite difficult. However, doing so based on data collected through a needs assessment can be invaluable to the planning process. As part of a needs assessment in preparation to enroll 100 new gifted students, students and teachers (N=171) from a unique setting in which a residential school for gifted high school students is housed within a laboratory school were surveyed using F. Gagné and L. Nadeau’s (1991) Opinions about the Gifted ...

Integrative Holistic Educaton: A Flexible Model To Meet The Needs Of Students In Our Post-Modal Society, Clarissa E. Steffen Ed.D.

Faculty Scholarship (COE)

No abstract provided.

The Challenge, Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman, Editor, Julia Link Roberts

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

A Structured Conceptualization Of Reasons To Accelerate: Words From The Wise, Lynn Dare

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Existing research indicates that carefully planned acceleration offers academic benefits with little social or emotional risk to high-ability learners. However, acceleration is seldom practiced and little is known about how students perceive acceleration. This study provides a structured conceptualization of reasons why secondary students chose acceleration through concurrent enrollment. Participants who were concurrently enrolled at Western University while in their final year at high school completed a concept mapping exercise based on Trochim’s methodology. A seven cluster model provided the best graphical representation of reasons to choose concurrent enrollment. Key concepts included (a) university preparation, (b) demonstrating initiative, (c ...

Honors Newsletter, Summer 2013, Thomas More Honors Program

Honors Newsletter

Welcome to the first issue of the Thomas More Honors Program newsletter! Through this and future issues, we will update you about Honors Program events, student accomplishments, and alumni happenings.