What Constitutes a Nurturing Environment
for the Growth of Mathematically Gifted Students?
Tabitha T. Y. Mingus, Western Michigan University
Richard M. Grassl, University of Northern Colorado
This article describes a
qualitative study to determine the influential forces in the development
of mathematically gifted students. In-depth interviews were conducted
with four mathematically gifted students, the teacher/coach of these students,
and a parent of one of the students. The content of the interviews
was supplemented with survey data gathered from a select group of 12 teachers
and two parent/gifted student pairs. An attitude survey inventory
was given to the four gifted students, and their results were compared
with two other groups of students generally looked upon as mathematically
gifted. A discussion of the influential sources in the lives of gifted
students, along with aspects that contributed to creating a nurturing environment,
emerged from the data analysis.
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Promoting Participation in
the Health Science Professions: Summer Programs for Talented, Underrepresented
Students in Science
Ann M. L. Cavallo, University of California, Davis
Carole A. Sullivan, Nancy Hall, and Marcia Bennett, University
of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Across
the nation, there remains a critical shortage of health professionals and
of students choosing to pursue health-related careers. This problem is
particularly pervasive in the state of Oklahoma. In response to this need,
faculty, administrators, and health professionals on two campuses of the
University of Oklahoma have collaborated over the past 9 years to develop
and deliver summer academy programs in the health sciences professions
for talented students and primarily for students who are underrepresented
in science. These summer academy programs feature classroom and hands-on
clinical practicum experiences to introduce students to the rigors of academic
preparation required for the health profession careers and the opportunity
to be involved in direct patient care and laboratory research experiences.
The academies have the goal of ensuring that bright, talented young students
are aware of career options in health care delivery, health care education,
and health care research arenas. A secondary objective is to spark student
interest in pursuing higher education in the health sciences and in pursuing
health-related careers. The academy goals complement the state and national
ongoing efforts to attract top scholars and meet health work force needs.
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Discovering the Potential of Gifted Girls:
The Biological and Physical Science Interests of Gifted Kindergarten Girls
Sandra L. Johnson, University of Texas at Austin
The purpose of this investigation
was to observe and describe the biological and physical science interests
of 14 gifted kindergarten girls. Each girl was videotaped taking part in
five science sessions. Open-ended activities allowed girls to interact
with biological and physical science materials in unstructured ways. Videotapes
were analyzed for time spent on task, science process skills used, and
cognitive levels exhibited. Findings suggest that these gifted kindergarten
girls exhibited equal interest in biological and physical science activities.
Parents were interviewed to ascertain science interests exhibited at home.
Interviews revealed that parents provided nearly three times as many opportunities
for girls to take part in biological science as physical science activities.
Recommendations include conducting more research on early childhood science
and gifted girls, providing more science experiences for gifted young girls
and more parental support for science interests, and educating parents
about gender bias.
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High-Stakes Testing: Barrier to Gifted
Girls in Mathematics and Science?
Leslie S. Rebhorn and Dorothy D. Miles, Saint Louis University
The gender gap in scores
on the mathematics section of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT-M) is
currently approximately 30 points for academically gifted middle school
students who take the SAT as part of Talent Search participation. This
paper explores possible reasons for the gap, including test bias, variability
in scores, the timed nature of the test, and environmental factors. When
the SAT-M is used as the sole criterion for admission, gender differences
in scores mean that disparate numbers of boys and girls are identified
for high-level mathematics and science programs. Solutions to the problem
are proposed, taking the perspective that the goal of the special programs
is to identify and serve students who are likely to benefit from and be
successful in such programs.
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Diversifying the Curriculum in a Mathematics Classroom Streamed
for High-Ability Learners: A Necessity Unassumed
Mindy Kalchman and Robbie Case, University of Toronto
Gifted learners are considerably
more diverse than they are generally believed to be (Matthews & Keating,
1995). Consequently, curricula must provide a wide range of learning opportunities,
not simply a lock-step program at an accelerated pace. In the present study,
the authors developed an experimental functions curriculum in which everyone
learned a core set of concepts, then explored different kinds of functions
independently using computer graphing technology. This was tested against
a more typical, text-based program. Two groups of high-ability eighth-grade
boys participated. Experimental students scored higher on a posttest than
control students and showed much more diversity in their answers.
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Using Talent Searches to Identify and Meet
the Educational Needs of Mathematically Talented Youngsters
Jennifer V. Rotigel, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik, Carnegie Mellon University
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Regional
talent searches have been available since Julian Stanley developed the
Talent Search model in the early 1970s, and over 200,000 students per year
nationwide take advantage of the opportunities these university-based programs
offer. The above-level testing offered by regional talent searches is useful
in (a) identifying mathematically talented students, (b) tailoring educational
recommendations to the abilities of the students, and (c) providing challenging
educational opportunities for the students. Important considerations and
concerns, as well as a discussion of the benefits, are explored in this
article.
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Development and Analysis of a Mathematics
Aptitude Test for Gifted Elementary School Students
Pamela Paek and Paul W. Holland, University
of California, Berkeley
Patrick Suppes, Stanford University
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This
paper describes the development and preliminary analysis of a mathematical
test targeted for high mathematical ability elementary school students,
the Stanford Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) Mathematical Aptitude
Test (SEMAT). A version was administered to 248 students, 9-11 years old,
in EPGY. The SEMAT was developed because no other satisfactory test was
designed or normed for this population. Most standardized tests assess
mathematics proficiency for the general population so that gifted studentsí
scores cluster in the few top percentiles. The SEMAT discriminated among
this extreme upper end. Item response theory determined proficiency estimates,
which were then used as scores to predict various outcomes in EPGY. The
SEMAT proved to be a strong predictor of acceleration in EPGY.
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An Introduction to Number
Theory With Talented Youth
John B. Cosgrave, St. Patrickís College
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This
paper details some of the work done in the first 3 of 6 days of teaching
with a group of 16 young students in July 1993. Hereóand elsewhere
in a much more detailed 55-page document (Cosgrave, 1993)óthe work
is presented in the form of verbal exchanges. The principal aim of the
early exchanges was to present students with some challenging questionsóbut
framed in simple, nontechnical languageóoutside their normal classroom
experience. The early subject matter related to perfect, abundant,
and deficient numbers (gently introducing the notion of a formal proof),
and then quickly proceeded to material that forms the background for a
discussion of irrational numbers.
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