Talent Development & Excellence
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October 2013 Talent Development & Excellence Guest Editors: Mimi Wellisch & Marion Porath Official Journal of the Editor-in-Chief: Albert Ziegler Associate Editors: Bettina Harder Jiannong Shi Wilma Vialle This journal Talent Development and Excellence is the official scholarly peer reviewed journal of the International Research Association for Talent Development and Excellence (IRATDE). The articles contain original research or theory on talent development, expertise, innovation, or excellence. The Journal is currently published twice annually. All published articles are assessed by a blind refereeing process and reviewed by at least two independent referees. Editor-in-Chief is Prof. Albert Ziegler, University of Erlangen- Nuremberg, Germany. Manuscripts can be submitted electronically to [email protected]. Editor-in-Chief: Albert Ziegler, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany Associate Editors: Bettina Harder, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany Jiannong Shi, Academy of Sciences, Beijng, China Wilma, Vialle, University of Wollongong, Australia International Advisory Board: Ai-Girl Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Barbara Schober, University of Vienna, Austria Carmen M. Cretu, University of IASI, Romania Elena Grigorenko, Yale University, USA Hans Gruber, University of Regensburg, Germany Ivan Ferbežer, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Javier Tourón, University of Navarra, Spain Mantak Yuen, University of Hong Kong, P.R. China Marion Porath, University of British Columbia, Canada Osamah Maajeeni, King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi- Arabia Peter Merrotsy, University of New England, Australia Petri Nokelainen, University of Tampere, Finland Robert Sternberg, Tufts University, USA Wilma Vialle, University of Wollongong, Australia Wolfgang Schneider, University of Würzburg, Germany Impressum: V.i.S.d.P.: Albert Ziegler, St.Veit-Str. 25, 81673 München, Germany Talent Development & Excellence Volume 5 Number 2 2013 Contents Special Issue: The Elusive Search for the Gifted Personality Guest Editorial 1 M. Wellisch and M. Porath The Gifted Personality: What Are We Searching For and Why? 5 M. Porath The Elusive Search for the Personality of the Intellectually Gifted Student: Some 13 Cross-Cultural Findings and Conclusions from the Israeli Educational Context I. Shani-Zinovich and M. Zeidner The Talent Development Model: An African Perspective of Shona Culture 23 C. Ngara Invisible Gifted Students 31 P. Merrotsy Many Faces of a Gifted Personality: Characteristics Along a Complex Gifted Spectrum 43 M. Wellisch and J. Brown Regular Articles Examining Mechanisms That Contribute to Relative Age Effects in Pre-Pubescent 59 Female Ice Hockey Players D. J. Hancock, K. Seal, B. W. Young, P. L. Weir, and D. M. Ste-Marie The Influence of a Deliberate Practice Intervention on the Putting Performance and 67 Subsequent Practice Behaviours of Aspiring Elite Adolescent Golfers R. Hayman, R. Polman, E. Borkoles, and J. Taylor Making It to the Top in Team Sports: Start Later, Intensify, and Be Determined! 85 K. Moesch, M.-L. Trier Hauge, J. M. Wikman, and A.-M. Elbe Searching the Information Maze for Giftedness Using the Pearl Harvesting 101 Information Retrieval Methodological Framework R. W. Sandieson and S. M. McIsaac Digit Ratio Effects Between Expertise Levels in American Football Players 113 J. Schorer, R. Rienhoff, H. Westphal, and J. Baker Talent Development & Excellence The Elusive Search for the Gifted Personality 1 Vol. 5, No. 2, 2013, 1–3 The Elusive Search for the Gifted Personality Mimi Wellisch1 and Marion Porath2 Guest Editorial Gifted literature is nothing if not replete with descriptions of the abilities and antics of geniuses, the jaw-dropping abilities of savants, and the differentness of precocious children in comparison with their developmentally average age-peers. The gifted field has given rise to a multitude of gifted characteristics, specific terminologies, definitions, and models of giftedness and educational strategies. Millions of words and pages filled with anecdotes and descriptions of gifted children and adults attest to our fascination with the phenomenon. Our intense interest has created in us a ‘rage to master’ the subject of giftedness (Winner, 1996) – a need to know how it arises, develops, how it leads to eminence and why it may not lead anywhere at all. This has fuelled our quest to find its essence, the core characteristics that would help define and identify giftedness. Our passionate treasure hunt, the elusive search for the gifted personality, is the subject of this special issue, an issue inspired by a keynote address, Passion for learning: The experience of being consumed by learning, given by Laurence Coleman at the 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness, Sydney, Australia, 2010. Through its portraits of children with exceptional gifts in domains outside those typically considered by schools, the address captured the complexity of giftedness and the many questions that arise about what giftedness “is” and how it can be nurtured. We begin with Porath’s thoughtful article, provoking us to consider just what we may be searching for when we talk of the “gifted personality.” Studies on giftedness and personality are not very helpful as findings across studies are confounded by variation in definitions of both constructs and fail to take into account the contextual variables in exceptional achievement. Potential characteristics of a ‘gifted personality’ may be intense love of learning and powerful intuitions about the fields of endeavour to which gifted individuals are drawn. Porath argues that such characteristics must be studied in a systemic way, taking into account the complexity of both giftedness and personality, the contexts that support excellence, the developmental trajectories of giftedness and personality, and collaborative aspects of innovation and giftedness. The article concludes with questions to inform a new research agenda. From Porath’s big picture view we move to traits of gifted groups and individuals. Shani- Zinovich and Zeidner’s review of Israeli research findings introduces the reader to the Israeli education system’s approach to identification and education of gifted students. The system consists of a screening and an identification phase followed by special educational programs. The authors discuss how inconsistencies in the literature aimed at discerning personality differences between gifted and non-gifted individuals may involve the ways the gifted are defined, small and non-representative samples, the use of clinical measures or personality assessments not satisfactorily validated by empirical research, and the use of norm group data for comparisons. The article then moves to empirical Israeli research related to the personality and affective characteristics of gifted students. The authors discuss group differences along both broad personality factors and personal traits. They cite findings using the Five-Factor Model for gifted students indicating they are lower on Neurotisicsm (N) and higher on Openness to Experience (O) than their non-gifted counterparts. Shani-Zinovich and Zeidner examine research on the mental health and emotional competencies of gifted students, concluding the article with a number of broad observations on Israeli research conducted over the past few decades. 1 Macquarie Universitiy, Australia. Email: [email protected] 2 University of British Columbia, Canada. Email: [email protected] ISSN 1869-0459 (print)/ ISSN 1869-2885 (online) 2013 International Research Association for Talent Development and Excellence http://www.iratde.org 2 M. Wellisch & M. Porath Ngara’s fascinating article outlines two of his qualitative studies and their findings, taking us from a Western view on gifted Israeli children’s characteristics to an African perspective. The first study involves 16 Zimbabwean academics of Shona cultural background and their views on giftedness and talent, and we learn that giftedness traditionally involves a gift from God, a spirit for a particular pursuit (e.g., a spirit for academic achievement). Shona is one of the most historically distinctive and widely dispersed languages in Central-Southern Africa, involving at least 14 countries. The Shona view of giftedness therefore has wider comparability and applicability within the Sub- Saharan Africa region. The second study involves the views of 20 Shona stone sculptors, specifically in the way they conceptualize the origins and development of vision and inspiration for their art. Ngara’s article includes his Dynamic and Interactive Process Model (DIPM), an outcome of his findings, and a discussion on possible applications of the model in educational contexts. Next we return to the Western conception and measurement of giftedness that, argues Merrotsy, add to the issues and contexts that give rise to the invisibility of some gifted children due to cultural and socio-economic factors. Merrotsy argues that these children’s school performance and measured intelligence are significantly below their high learning potential. He describes these children as struggling with self-identity, low self-efficacy, a fear of failure, and as lacking trust in the education system and in their teachers. The article presents examples from five projects that focus on identification of ‘invisible’ gifted children using a model of dynamic assessment. Subsequent interventions based on these assessments have resulted in academic and social-emotional gains. Merrotsy concludes that variation