Options
Low-achieving secondary school students in the gifted education programme : three psychological aspects
Loading...
Type
Thesis
Abstract
Giftedness is often equated with innate intellectual ability, ease of learning and achievement in school. The gifted, however, have the same problems and concerns as everyone else. School examinations and assessments reveal that the gifted are not gifted in all areas. Hence, gifted underachievers do exist.
The literature has many definitions of the underachieving gifted. Typical methods of identifying these students involve comparisons between achievement and intelligence scores. Since one cannot measure exactly how much one can achieve to determine underachievement, the term "low-achieving gifted" rather than "underachieving gifted" is used in the context of the study.
In order to understand the low-achieving gifted so as to help them in some way, the study looks into three psychological aspects of the low-achieving gifted, namely, perception of control, academic self-concept and learning style. Gender and academic level comparisons are also made. To study if findings are unique to the low-achieving gifted, comparisons are made between the low- and high-achieving gifted students.
A questionnaire is used for the data collection. Achievement is measured by the results of an end-of-year examination. Students are ranked according to the total marks scored for their major subjects. The low-achieving / high-achieving gifted students at each academic level are defined as constituting 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the total number of gifted students at that level who have the lowest / highest scores for their major subjects.
A total of 496 gifted students (310 males and 186 females) participated in the study. The students are from the three schools in Singapore which offer the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) at the secondary level. Forty students in the GEP (10 per cent of the males and 5 per cent of the females) are identified as low-achievers.
The study contributes the following findings in the three psychological variables studied.
The literature has many definitions of the underachieving gifted. Typical methods of identifying these students involve comparisons between achievement and intelligence scores. Since one cannot measure exactly how much one can achieve to determine underachievement, the term "low-achieving gifted" rather than "underachieving gifted" is used in the context of the study.
In order to understand the low-achieving gifted so as to help them in some way, the study looks into three psychological aspects of the low-achieving gifted, namely, perception of control, academic self-concept and learning style. Gender and academic level comparisons are also made. To study if findings are unique to the low-achieving gifted, comparisons are made between the low- and high-achieving gifted students.
A questionnaire is used for the data collection. Achievement is measured by the results of an end-of-year examination. Students are ranked according to the total marks scored for their major subjects. The low-achieving / high-achieving gifted students at each academic level are defined as constituting 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the total number of gifted students at that level who have the lowest / highest scores for their major subjects.
A total of 496 gifted students (310 males and 186 females) participated in the study. The students are from the three schools in Singapore which offer the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) at the secondary level. Forty students in the GEP (10 per cent of the males and 5 per cent of the females) are identified as low-achievers.
The study contributes the following findings in the three psychological variables studied.
Date Issued
1992
Call Number
LC3998.S5 Hen
Date Submitted
1992