Ambition Level among Talented and Normal Students at Ajloun Area and the Relationship with Some Demographic Variables and Academic Achievement

Abstract

The study aimed to disclose the ambition level among a sample of talented and normal students at schools in Ajloun area, Jordan, and its relationship with some demographic variables such as gender, class, educational level of parents, the economic level, and academic achievement. To achieve the study objectives, the researchers used the ambition test that was prepared by Al-Esaway and applied by Alshraa (1998). The validity and reliability of the test were acceptable. The sample consisted of (87) talented students, and (158) normal students. They were selected using the stratified quota sampling method from high basic and secondary schools. The arithmetic means, standard deviation, ANOVA and the correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data. The results showed that ambition level among the talented and normal students was high, and there were no statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.05) of the total ambition level degrees among talented and normal students. There were no statistically significant differences at the total ambition level degrees among the talented students regarding gender, class, the educational level of parents and the economic level of the family. However, there were statistically significant differences (α≤0.05) at the total ambition level degrees among normal students regarding both variables: the class variable in favor of 1st secondary grade, and the gender variable in favor of females. Further, there were no statistically significant differences at the total ambition level degrees at the educational level of parents and the economic level of the family. There was a positive correlation coefficient of the total ambition level between the normal students and their academic achievement. The results were discussed in the light of the theoretical framework and previous studies. Based on the study results, a set of recommendations was proposed.
 Keywords: ambition level, talented students, academic achievement.