Education Commons^™

Rethinking Bibliotherapy: Portraits Of Gifted Adult Readers, Jervaise M. Pileggi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gifted individuals have unique socioemotional needs due to their sensitivity and intensities. Bibliotherapy is often recommended to gifted persons to help them understand themselves and others and to address affective needs. However, bibliotherapy’s roots are embedded within a clinical background, thus requiring an element of discussion. Instead, I argue that gifted adults use metacognition to replace the need for discussion. Portraits of gifted adult readers (N=7) in their 30s-50s illustrate that metacognition has occurred over their lifespan regarding their reading, with only one participant actively engaging in discussion, and book selection meets the socioemotional needs of the reader. The findings …

Multicultural Perceptions Of Creativity, Abby Noel Winterbrook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multicultural Perceptions of Creativity examined perceptions of creativity among eight creatively gifted adults from diverse backgrounds who have a profession in an arts related field. This study examined what the phenomenon of creativity is and how it is experienced. The beliefs that inform perceptions of creativity were explored. The experiences that inform perceptions of creativity were described. The interactions among beliefs and experiences were considered. The data collected revealed that creativity is an instinct that each person possesses and can activate within themselves. Creativity can be nurtured based on environment and through personal, educational, professional, and cultural experiences. Creativity involves …

Perceptions And Practices Of Families With Economic Disadvantages Regarding Giftedness And Family Involvement, Jennifer Lemoine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This hermeneutic phenomenological research study addressed the persistent problem of practice of underrepresentation of economically disadvantaged students in gifted education by exploring the beliefs, experiences, and practices of families with economic disadvantages pertaining to giftedness and family involvement in education. Data was gathered from six participants with economic disadvantages and a gifted child through two interviews and analyzed using the hermeneutic circle to uncover patterns and themes.

Themes emerged around each of the three research questions including themes for beliefs and experiences pertaining to giftedness: resiliency, creativity, overexcitability, divergent thinking, twice-exceptionality, intelligence, asynchronous development, and negative behaviors. Findings also point …

Gifted Female Voices: Perceptions Of Differentiation In Secondary And Higher Education, Ann Makikalli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the advocacy of differentiation as best pedagogical practices for instruction of gifted students can be found in scholarly literature, minimal research attention has been given to high-ability students’ perceptions about their lived classroom experiences. Lack of challenging and accelerated content for identified gifted students can lead to boredom, negative self-perception, and disengagement from school. Gifted adolescent females, who are less likely to address barriers to realizing their potential can especially suffer or thrive depending on curriculum. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe identified female gifted university students’ perceptions of pre-collegiate and collegiate differentiation of curriculum and …

Making The Invisible Visible: Redefining Giftedness To Include Ell Students’ Community Cultural Wealth And Funds Of Knowledge, Molly I. Pargas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study used improvement science methods to investigate a problem of practice surrounding the underrepresentation of ELL students in GT programming. This research addressed how teachers define giftedness using their underlying knowledge frameworks. The researcher conducted empathy interviews with parents of ELL students and a team of teachers to determine what the underlying issues are regarding the underrepresentation of ELL students in GT. The parent empathy interviews were coded using the combined conceptual framework of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) and funds of knowledge (Moll et al, 1992). Through this process the types of capital and funds of knowledge were …

How Parents, Teachers, Psychologists, And Educational Environments Influence Developmental Transitions Of Preadolescent Twice-Exceptional Students, Karen B. Arnstein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this collective case study was to examine the perceived developmental transitions of preadolescent, twice-exceptional students to understand both the supports and barriers from the perspective of parents, teachers, and psychologists. The case for this study, located in a western U.S. state, was a private school educating twice-exceptional students. The research questions guiding the study included the following: How do parents perceive growth in both academic and psychosocial development? How do educators perceive growth in both academic and psychosocial development? What are the supports that promote successful developmental transitions? What are the barriers that inhibit successful developmental transitions? …

Empathy And Understanding: The Impact Of Gifted Adults In The Field Of Gifted Education, Laura N. Boroughf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the perceptions of gifted adults, who are educators, in order to understand the empathy and advocacy that comes with a shared childhood experience. This is a qualitative study that used narratives to voice the experience of the gifted child through the memory of eight gifted adult educators. These memories, and reflections on identification, were told through interviews. Themes emerged related to empathy, advocacy, and cognitive dissonance, as well as imposter syndrome, career readiness, gifted minorities and the positives of gifted programming. Ultimately, it was found that gifted programming is overwhelmingly a positive experience and mirrors the statement …

Supporting The Affective Needs Of Gifted Readers: An Educational Criticism And Connoisseurship Study, Kimberly G. Freed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this Educational Criticism and Connoisseurship Study was to analyze the perceptions of parents and teachers of reading supports and barriers on the affective development of gifted readers. The research questions that guided this study were: What do parents and teachers perceive as the most effective reading supports that promote the affective development of young gifted readers? What do parents and teachers perceive as the major barriers that hinder the affective development of elementary gifted readers? How can children’s literature be used to support or hinder the affective development of gifted readers? Participants of this study were parents …

Gifted Identification In Young, Historically Underrepresented Populations: A Phenomenological Study, Meryl A. Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the implications of the low numbers of identified gifted young, historically underrepresented students. The research questions that guided this study were: what are educators’ experiences of the gifted identification process of young, historically underrepresented students? What are parents’ experiences of the gifted identification process for their young, historically underrepresented child?

Participants were parents of a student from an underrepresented population (American Indian or Alaskan Native, Latinx, Black or African American, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander) identified gifted in second grade or younger or educators who were involved in the …

Retaining Gifted Individuals For The Sustainability Of Rural Communities, Jessie B. Matthews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Retaining Gifted Individuals for the Sustainability of Rural Communities examined the supports and barriers to young gifted adults’ choices regarding living in rural communities. The narrative methodology revealed the perceptions of remote rural community members through single, face-to-face interviews to understand the challenges and opportunities young gifted individuals encounter. Through community member interviews, participants echoed sentiments indicating supports, barriers, and the power of place play a significant role in gifted individuals’ desire to remain in their local community. The findings suggested through celebrating place, engagement in the local community, and encouragement to solve local problems, gifted individuals will engage in …

Building Community In The Classroom For Culturally Linguistically Economically Diverse Gifted Learners, Michelle Elaine Norberto-Whipple

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of active community building in a classroom with culturally linguistically economically diverse (CLED) gifted learners in a semirural school district who underachieve. The central research question was, how does actively building classroom community interact with CLED gifted learners who underachieve? The research questions were the following: What are educators’ perceptions of CLED gifted learners who underachieve? How do educators implement community-building in the classroom? What are parents’ perceptions of actively building community in the classroom with CLED gifted learners who underachieve? The four primary categories that emerged were (a) meeting …

Curiosity And Gifted Identification: A Mixed Methods Study, Cameron Hays

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation was designed to explore the link between epistemic curiosity and giftedness, in order to provide an additional potentially non-biased assessment to contribute to gifted identification "body of evidence" files for underrepresented and underserved populations. Students of color and students of lower socio-economic status are less likely to be placed into gifted and talented enrichment programs (Donovan & Cross, 2002). If a significant relationship is found between high curiosity and students who benefit from gifted education, psychometric instruments used for measuring curiosity could be invaluable in placing students in appropriate educational environments.

The study used a mixed methods design …

Underachievement Of Creatively Gifted High School Students, Jennie M. Mizrahi

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

Underachievement is a pervasive problem for gifted students, and creatively gifted students may be at greater risk for underachievement due to personality traits, lack of challenge in strength areas, a mismatch between school environment and student needs, low status associated with creative achievements and behaviors in the school system, and other factors. This study focused on six creatively gifted, underachieving high school students from an urban-cluster area in the western United States. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to gather data in the form of interviews with underachieving, creatively gifted students, their parents, and teachers; observation of classrooms; and creative …

Examining Social Emotional Learning For Gifted Students, Lisa D. B. Turner

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

The purpose of this intrinsic qualitative study was to investigate the use of universal social emotional learning (SEL) curricula as a primary means for supporting the social and emotional developmental needs of gifted students in a large school district in the western U.S. The District, or case for this study, was not using any specific systemic social and emotional programming for their identified gifted learners. Through a constructivist social cognitive theoretical lens, the efficacy of universal curricula for gifted learners was explored. The increasing use of SEL in school reform efforts to improve academic success has provided much research on …

Gifted Culturally Linguistically Diverse Learners: A School-Based Exploration, Robin M. Greene

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

The purpose of this case study was to explore educators’ perceptions of characteristics, needs, and practices relating to gifted culturally linguistically diverse learners. The research questions guiding the study included the following: What are educators’ perceptions of the characteristics, needs, and practices related to gifted culturally linguistically diverse learners? How do educators describe gifted culturally linguistically diverse learners? How do educators describe their understanding of culturally responsive teaching as it relates to diverse gifted learners? What are school-based practices for gifted culturally linguistically diverse learners that support or hinder learning?

This study focused on an elementary school within Colorado. Seventeen …

A Description Of Early Access In Colorado, Ruthi Manning-Freeman

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

Early access, as defined in Colorado statute, remains optional. There is a shortage of administrative units engaged in an early access process to admit gifted young learners ahead of neurotypical age peers. Only 21 school districts currently use their addendum as evidenced by the receipt of Colorado state funding. Indeed, “there exists a basic lack of awareness of the effectiveness of the intervention, the impact on the student’s social-emotional development, as well as concern for the lack of consistent procedures for making this decision” (Assouline, Colangelo, Van Tassel-Baska, & Lupinski-Shoplik, 2015, p. 54). In this retrospective mixed-methods study, the researcher …

Uncovering The Gifts In English Language Learners, Sheri J. Collier

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

This research study addresses the problem of practice of the underrepresentation of English language learners (ELL) in gifted and talented (GT) services. The literature provided several reasons for the underrepresentation of ELL students being identified as gifted. One reason cited in the literature was teachers’ lack of referrals or understanding the characteristics of ELL students who may be gifted (Barkan & Bernal, 1991; de Wet & Gubbins, 2011; Esquierdo & Arreguín-Anderson, 2012; Ford & Grantham, 2003; Harris, Rapp, Martínez, & Plucker, 2007). The literature also stated assessment play a major role in identification practices (Anguiano, 2003; Barkan & Bernal, 1991; …

Fandoms In The Lives Of Gifted Individuals With Imaginational Overexcitabilities, Jessica B. Delallo

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

Fandoms are communities, either officially or unofficially organized, that are dedicated to the love of a particular person, team, fictional series or character (Barton & Lampley, 2014). According to the Belonging theory (Gailliot & Baumeister, 2006), people yearn for belonging because it provides them with a sense of identity, self-esteem and self-worth. Gifted individuals often have unique social-emotional characteristics, such as overexcitabilities (OE), which set them apart from their non-gifted, non-OE counterparts because they actually experience life in a very different way (Neihart et al., 2002). The purpose of this study was to examine the role of fandoms in the …

Seeing The Unseen: An Educational Criticism Of A Gifted School, Kate A. Bachtel

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

There is systemic oppression of gifted children in many traditional school models resulting in disenfranchisement (Chu & Myers, 2015; Delisle, 2014). Yet, how can teachers be responsive to aspects of student development that they cannot see or do not understand? All students deserve instruction responsive to their unique strengths and needs, inclusive of gifted students. This study explores the aspirations and practices of a school designed to empower diverse gifted children. The selected school site is located in an urban area in the western United States and has been serving gifted students with a creative approach for more than 25 …

Affective Learning Opportunities For Gifted Adolescents, Jessica Anne Howard

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

The importance of teaching children and adolescents about affective content has recently become more of a priority in the realm of education, especially when working with gifted learners. The Colorado Department of Education requires that students on Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs) write an annual academic and affective goal. The problem of practice guiding this research is the lack of services and support for gifted adolescents to achieve healthy affective development and to write affective goals. It appears that opportunities for students, especially secondary students, to learn about affective content are limited. This multiple case study examined factors contributing to gifted …

How Does Your Garden Grow: How Planting Seeds Of Hope Inspire A Community Of Gifted African-American Learners To Flourish In An Early Childhood Setting, Danielle Elaine Macneal-Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested"

-African Proverb

Each day, African-American children are rarely given the opportunity to reach their full potential and flourish in American school systems. There continues to be a disparity in the number of African-Americans in the gifted population. When identified early, and with appropriate educational opportunities, young, culturally diverse gifted learners will be more likely to have long-term educational success. By utilizing an educational criticism methodology, this study discusses the importance of gifted education for African-American, early childhood students, by answering the question, how does The Hope …

Gifted Voices: A Study Of High School Students' Proficiency In Persuasive Writing And Their Perceptions Of Personal Agency, Susan Carol Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Development of the talents and abilities of gifted children is not ordinarily provided by regular public school programs. Their need for accelerated, complex, and challenging curriculum and processes is often overlooked by educators focused on helping underperforming students to reach grade-level standards. Gifted high school students who are proficient in persuasive writing are able to clearly state a claim, support that claim with evidence and backing, recognize and rebut counterclaims, and draw a conclusion leading to action. If gifted students are proficient at writing persuasively, perhaps they are also able to advocate for learning experiences that are challenging, complex, and …

An Exploration Of Identification Of Leadership For Gifted Students, Christine Estelle Phillips

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leadership has been designated a talent area in federal and state definitions of gifted students who require differentiated programs since the Marland Report came out in 1972, yet it remains the least discussed of the curricular areas for gifted students. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes of administrators of gifted programs in Colorado and Idaho concerning identifying students gifted in leadership. Public K-12 school districts in Colorado and Idaho were surveyed using a researcher-created survey including questions targeting attitudes and twelve questions specific to leadership traits. Response rate was 51%. In general, respondents indicated …