Gifted Education Commons^™

There’S A Dragon In My Classroom, Sarah O'Leary-Driscoll

Nature of Science

What makes science, science?

How do we help students make sense of the science they are learning and how it fits in with preconceived notions and misconceptions, social perspectives, and potential controversy?

Opening The Gates Of A Gate Program: A Mixed Methods Study Of Recruitment Processes And Retention Practices In One Multicultural Middle School, Marie Lynette Aldapa

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The under-representation of racial minority students in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)programs has been an issue with little to no resolution (Ford, 2002). These under-represented racial minority groups are experiencing the obstacles of discrimination. Ogbu’s (1987) observation offers a framework distinguishing minorities: voluntary and involuntary. Researchers report on the under-representation of “involuntary” minority groups (McBee, 2006).

Researchers have offered keys to opening the gates of GATE programs to bring about racial equity. Recruitment processes: alternative assessments and teacher referrals are available to identify minority GATE students (Elhoweris, Mutua, Alsheikh, & Holloway, 2005). Retention practices: racial diversity of gate teachers, culturally …

Realizing The Dream: African American Males’ Narratives That Encouraged The Pursuit Of Doctoral Education, Ted N. Ingram

Journal of Research Initiatives

This article used personal narratives to discover factors affecting the decision of African American males to consider doctoral education. This study was based on qualitative interviews with 18 African American male doctoral students enrolled at predominantly white institutions as they reflected on their reasons for pursuing an advanced degree. The following were found to influence their decision: (a) need for faculty encouragement, (b) motivation to pursue a doctorate, and (c) their personal motivations. Recommendations are offered for increasing the numbers of African American male doctoral students.

Professional Development Data: A Review Of Action Research And Data Analysis And Its Implications For Special Education, Jennifer Lee Suppo

Journal of Research Initiatives

In today’s world of accountability and budgeting constraints, schools are examining how they get the most “bang for their buck” in the area of professional development experiences. Professional development has traditionally been used to keep teachers and administrators abreast of current teaching strategies. In using the traditional model of professional development, typically the school or district would have a speaker, who was knowledgeable on a random topic of education, come in and conduct a one-day seminar. More often than not, there was little accountability to this traditional model; little if any data was taken to see if the knowledge obtained …

Reversing The Tide In Science, Engineering, Technology And Mathematics (Stem): Academically Gifted African American Students In Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Delores Rice, Fred Bonner, Chance Lewis, Mary Alfred, Felecia M. Nave, Sherri Frizell

Journal of Research Initiatives

What started off as a national concern has escalated to the point of crisis (Bonner, Alfred, Lewis, Nave & Frizell, 2009; Chubin & Malcolm, 2008; Hrabowski, Summers & Hrabowski, 2006). The current state of affairs regarding African American participation in STEM disciplines has become one of the thorniest issues of contemporary focus. This article highlights data collected for a NSF Education Research grant. The focus of this HBCU-UP project was to uncover factors contributing to the success of academically gifted (high-achieving) African American students enrolled in engineering programs at the 12 ABET accredited four-year institutions in the U.S. Specifically, this …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Academic Acceleration, Christy L. Schwartz

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Acceleration is one method of differentiating instruction for gifted students that has proven to have positive academic and social-emotional benefits. However, it is often underutilized by teachers and administrators either due to misinformation or lack of information. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions held by teachers regarding the effectiveness of acceleration as a service option for students who are gifted. Findings indicated that, although teachers appear to be well-informed about the benefits of acceleration on academic achievement and engagement, they appear to be misinformed about the social-emotional effects of acceleration. The majority of teachers indicated that …

2016 Intersession Catalog, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Intersession Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Enrichment For The Gifted Math Student, Amy Rau

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper explores using tic-tac-toe boards as enrichment for gifted math students. It first explores six different intelligences and how knowing your students' intelligences enables the teacher to best plan extension activities for their gifted students. It next explores identifying gifted students and using multiple sources to get the best identification results. Sources can include: test results, teacher reflections, grades, parent reporls of the child's behavior, a review creative work, and observation of the child by a professional psychologist. Next, I exploring traits of gifted students and how to best teach them. They include seeing the world differently than others, …

The Effectivness Of The Jordanian Arabic Version Of The Cognitive Abilities Screening Test (Cogat, Seven) In Identifying Gifted And Talented Children In Kindergarten And Elementray School, Ali M. Alodat

Wayne State University Dissertations

A great debate has been occurring in the field of gifted education regarding the validity of the identification procedures. Many scholars have called to change the current criteria that has been used to identify gifted students based on their intellectual abilities. The new trend in the field is calling to adopt comprehensive evaluation procedures that start with screening all students especially at an early age.

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of using a Jordanian Arabic version of the Cognitive Abilities Screening Test (CogAT) Form Seven in identifying gifted and talented children between the ages of five and eight …

A Global Endeavor: Honors Undergraduate Research, Mimi Killinger, Kate Spies, Daniella Runyambo

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Like many other universities of its kind, the University of Maine has a centralized body, the Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR), charged with engaging motivated students in independent learning and in the creation of new knowledge. UMaine furthermore has an honors college that is likewise committed to fostering undergraduate research, particularly research that is rooted in active learning under the guidance of a faculty mentor (University of Maine Honors College Mission Statement). Consistent with national trends, UMaine highly values the work that both CUGR and the honors college do in promoting undergraduate research. UMaine’s current strategic plan lists the advancement …

The Challenge Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) In Honors Programs, Susan Yager

Honors in Practice Online Archive

When Temple Grandin spoke to the College of Engineering’s advisors on my campus, I was working as associate director of the university’s faculty development center. Not long before, I had attended a conference in Tucson, the National Faculty Center Institute for Facilitating the Success of Diverse Learners, where I first realized what seems obvious now: that freedom from discrimination on the basis of disability, including social disability, is a matter of civil rights, on a par with freedom from racism or sexism. While at the faculty development center, I also learned about the concept of universal design, that is, the …

Garden Variety Experiential Education: The “Material Turn” And Environmental Ethics, Allison B. Wallace

Honors in Practice Online Archive

“Productive play in the dirt” may be the hook that gets honors students at the University of Central Arkansas to take my junior seminar called Philosophy, Principles, and Practices of Organic Horticulture. They often express considerable enthusiasm for a class that gets them outside and working with their hands for much of the term, but this is not my primary reason for offering the course. With this seminar, I hope students will begin to learn, literally first-hand, the ecological reasons for an ethical relationship to nature. Organic gardening is one of the best courses for conveying such a message, largely …

“Where Words Fail, Music Speaks”: The Experience Of Adapting Literature To Music, Laney J. Fowle, Kyle Bishop, Matthew Nickerson

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

Adaptation is a relatively new yet growing academic field consisting mainly of research on the modification of book into film. This study endeavors to expand the discourse on adaptation to the modal transformation of literary works to music. By using this specific adaptive type to examine the process and functionality of adapted works, I was able to address several key aspects of modern adaptation, including the hot-button issue of fidelity to an established source text, the role of adaptor as co-author, and the ability of solitary artistic modes to augment each other when combined. The resulting personal attempts at adaptation …

The "G" Word, Ariane Schaffer

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

Engulfed in the ideals of being a "young-professional" in Washington, I created this piece eight months after moving to DC. I was inspired by the city colors of springtime to create work expressing my newcomer observations. The blossoms were bright, the people had goals and I couldn't image living in a more gorgeous metropolis. Initially, this painting consisted of four even district quadrants. But as I unpacked the history of DC, my privilege blindfold began to unravel. This wasn't urban pioneering I saw; it was gentrification.

Godspeed, Noah Rucker

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

March 18th, 1944

The sea is more restless of late, here overlooking the Pacific. It bashes against the bluffs with some prodigious strength of nature, milling away at the ancient rock outcroppings that have stood sturdy for so long. One can’t help but be impressed by the ocean’s fury, yet I feel loathe to liken such enigmatic capabilities to that of nature. More seems at work here than that.

A rather morbid note with which to begin this letter, and at the end I fear you’ll wish your eyes never to have met its contents. I’ll let you judge whether …

Dollhouse, Samantha Richardson

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

Dolls have been used to reinforce gender roles way before Barbie became a household name. In 1879, Henrik Isben published A Doll’s House, a play in which a Norwegian housewife has a groundbreaking epiphany about how marriage has reduced her life to child’s play. There has been controversy about the critique of the domesticated housewife as a concern for women’s rights. Many women enjoy their role as homemakers, wives, and mothers. However this series, Doll House, was made as a very personal response to how growing up in poverty and a small, isolated community can really distort gender identity by …

Of Love And Other Ills, Enrique Quezada

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

All went as it had for fifteen years in the Rivera González household until the day Matilde saw José Juan coming home from school with vomit on his lips, his skin so pale she thought he was a ghost. Matilde hesitated, but decided to open the door after concluding that, if that pallid personage who resembled her aunt Catalina—God bless her soul—was a messenger of death, she wouldn’t put up resistance. She was ready to bid farewell.

No one had seen her so determined since she yelled at her husband in the consulting room of Dr. Guardado demanding that they …

Genocide And Ethnic Cleansing: An Analysis On The Role Of The United Nations During The Bosnian War, Iman Zekri

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945 and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was subsequently founded in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly (Crisp 2001, 169). This investigation will evaluate the UN's structure and domestic limitations in Bosnia in the case of the Bosnian War (1992-1995) in order to determine the role of these factors in the outcome of the UN operation. This case of the UN peacekeeping mission will be considered a success if there was 1) strong leadership, 2) the situation was deescalated, and 3) the afflicted individuals' needs were satisfied. Similarly, this …

Honors Program Induction: Fitting Into A Community That Is Born To Stand-Out, Jennifer Drew

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

Overall, Southern Utah University’s Honors Program would greatly benefit from an induction program, a symbol of inclusion, and a mentorship program to foster a stronger sense of group cohesion. By understanding various theories of belonging, I have realized that members are only willing to put effort into a program if they have a place, purpose, and particular gains. From this information, I discovered that the Honors Program needs to create a community based on belonging, so members will become more committed to the program itself. My personal experiences within a study abroad fellowship and a local sorority have provided me …

The Mechanics Of Scientific Belief, Michael Cook

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

In "Science: Conjectures and Refutations," Karl Popper establishes a criterion for the scientific character or status of a theory: its falsifiability. And in one move, he turns a host of common scientific postulates—like the Ideal Gas Law, the Law of Conservation of Mass, Newton's First Law, and the Theory of Evolution—into "metaphysical research programs" whose nature renders them impossible to disprove though observable experiment ("Natural Selection and the Emergence of Mind"). According to Popper, the nature of such postulates transcend the physical world; making them just as unfalsifiable as a spiritual power, or a god. In this way, they concern …