Actiotope Model Of Giftedness Research Articles

Artificial Neural Networks and the Actiotope Model of Giftedness-Clever Solutions from Complex Environments.

Since its inception, the Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) has provided researchers with a useful model to explain the development of exceptionality. Rather than a focus on the individual, the model postulates that exceptionality is the outcome of a system that includes complex interactions between an individual's current level of talent and their internal and external environment. To date, however, the statistical techniques that have been used to investigate the model, including linear regression and structural equation modeling, are unable to fully operationalize the systemic nature of these interactions. In order to fully realize the predictive potential and application of the AMG, we outline the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to model the complex interactions and suggest that such networks can provide additional insights into the development of exceptionality. In addition to supporting continued research into the AMG, the use of ANNs has the potential to provide educators with evidence-based strategies to support student learning at both an individual and whole-school level.

Gifted education in the State of Kuwait: Review from a learning-resource perspective

Gifted students in the State of Kuwait and the education system that develops them are examined in this paper from the perspective of the Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) pioneered by Ziegler, Baker, and Stoeger. It invites readers to compare the education system of the State of Kuwait to their own country, and the results of their own country to those represented in Kuwaiti gifted students’ Actional Learning Capital and Episodic Learning Capital. The experience of gifted students is considered as a function of their personal traits, as well as exogenous factors of infrastructural, economic, and curriculum resources available, the qualities of their teachers, the influence of their society, and the involvement of their families. A cataloging of the available evidence is given with an emphasis on these exogenous factors that differ between nations. Additional research is needed on gifted students in Kuwait on the endogenous learning capitals and measuring gifted student abilities in a way that allows rigorous comparisons to those of gifted students in other countries.

Gifted Education in Oman: Analyses from a Learning-Resource Perspective

The Education and Learning Capital Model (ELCM), based on the Actiotope Model of Giftedness was used as a framework to explain the current practices dedicated to serve gifted education. This article addresses the status quo of gifted education in Oman according to the ELDM. The model comprised ten components including action learning capital, economic education capital, cultural education capital, social educational capital, infrastructure education capital, organismic learning capital, telic learning capital, episodical learning capital, and attentional learning capital. Questions related to these ten elements were answered by analyzing reports from the Ministry of Education (MoE) and royal decrees that serve the education of gifted students. Also, interviews were conducted with gifted students, teachers, and administrators, and parents of gifted students to consolidate the answers to the ten questions based on the ELCM. The article concluded with some recommendations and suggestions of supporting gifted education in Oman.

Validating the Persian Version of Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) in Iran

Unlike the traditional person-centred models where character traits are attached to the actions, the Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on the person-environment interactions. The model asserts that successful learning requires essential sources including learning and educational capital situated in the environment. This study aims to validate the Persian version of the Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) among students in Iran (n = 283). The Persian QELC was prepared and utilised to evaluate the sources revealed in the AMG. Results show that the Persian QELC has satisfactory psychometric properties.

Book Review: Smith, S. R. (Ed.). (2021). Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific. Springer Singapore

As an Australian educator and a researcher in the field of Gifted Education, it is somewhat frustrating at times that the majority of research we turn to is American-centric. Borland, in the foreward of this important handbook, reminds the reader that the conceptions with which we work each day and turn to for guidance, are very much American conceptions of gifted education, so much so that the field itself could be considered an American export. However, as Borland also points out, we cannot ignore the sociocultural contexts when thinking about gifted education. Models such as Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) and the Actiotope Model of Giftedness highlight the need to consider all aspects of the environment and yet perhaps when looking to be informed by research to shape our practice, we forget the larger sociocultural context and ‘make do’ with American research. What is immediately striking about this handbook is the geographical scope and representation of 18 nations from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania and the Americas. With such diverse sociocultural input, the perceptions and conceptions of giftedness and gifted education are bound to provide the reader with a greater understanding of a variety of ways of working with gifted children and adults. This is particularly relevant for Australian practitioners and academics given our multicultural settings.

Gifted education in Sudan: Reviews from a learning-resource perspective

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) is one of the most promising models in the field of the nurture of the gifted. It addresses education of the gifted from a comprehensive perspective, unlike other unilateral models around the world. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, not a single study has been conducted on this model in Arab countries. The current study sought to identify the reality of the nurture provided to gifted students in Sudan by surveying the historical beginnings and the current reality, and then reviewing this reality from the perspective of learning sources in the AMG. This review was based on examining documents and surveying the various aspects of this reality based on comprehensive systemic learning resources. The study examined exogenous and endogenous learning sources and clarified the limitations in each. It was recommended that great effort be exerted by the state, its institutions, and the whole of society to promote education of gifted students in Sudan.

Eminence-focused talent development in drum and bugle corps

ABSTRACT We analyze eminence-focused talent development in drum and bugle corps. After defining and characterizing the world-class drum and bugle corps activity as a collective aesthetic sport in which eminent group performance levels are achieved, we introduce a framework for investigating eminence-focused collective talent development in drum corps from a systemic perspective based on the actiotope model of giftedness. We then illustrate the framework’s application to eminence-focused world-class drum and bugle corps with examples taken from the research literatures of marching arts, talent development, and musicology. We also note examples of masterly drum-corps performances and the framework’s utility for future scientific investigation.

Educational Resources And Gender Norms: An examination of the Actiotope Model of Giftedness and social gender norms on achievement

ABSTRACT The expectancy-value theory of achievement performance and related decisions identifies the various factors that affect achievement levels. The Actiotope Model of Giftedness describes learning and educational resources necessary for high achievement. This study investigates the relationship between these categories of resources and achievement. As social gender norms have been shown to influence decisions in a range of contexts, including college majors, the influence of resources on conformity levels is also examined. We investigated these relationships amongst undergraduate university students from Australia (n = 976) using the Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capitals (QELC) and Conformity to Feminine Norms-45 (CFNI-45) and Conformity to Masculine Norms-46 (CMNI-46). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that educational capital plays an important role in establishing learning capital, that in turn leads to decreased levels of conformity. This has implications when supporting high ability students, not just in terms of developing resources, but also regarding non-traditional postsecondary fields of study.

Psychological constructions of learning potential and a systemic approach to the development of excellence

ABSTRACT In this article, we introduce a systemic framework for the development of learning potential to professional excellence inspired by the Actiotope model of giftedness. First, we critically reflect on three theoretical approaches representing different psychological constructions of learning potential. We label these approaches theories of giftedness, theories of practice, and theories of motivation. We explore contradictory ways in which these theories construct key factors that determine the successful development of human potential. Based on this comparison, we discuss the limitations of these theories stemming from their philosophical, methodological, and ideological backgrounds, including disproportionate emphasis on selected developmental factors, implicit one-way causality, and the dominant role of an individual over social influences. We further argue that the contradictory conclusions of these approaches may be reconciled within a systemic framework that acknowledges the reciprocal interactions between the key developmental factors proposed by these approaches, including learning outcomes, achievement motivation, practice and the social environment (including developmental resources and demands). We apply our systemic model in the context of the development of academic careers, in which we document the importance of the proposed components and how their interactions result in the processes of “cumulative advantage”, as well as the context-dependency of the model.

Educational and learning capital as predictors of general intelligence and scholastic achievements

ABSTRACT The actiotope model of giftedness (AMG) highlights the interactions between the individual and the environment. Educational and learning capital (ELC) are essential resources that promote the development of excellence. The study objectives were to examine the contribution of educational capital (EC), learning capital (LC), and general intelligence (GI) to scholastic achievements (SA) of school age students, and to examine whether the effect of EC on GI and SA is mediated by LC. Two hundred, fifth grade, students completed GI and mathematical achievement tests. Teachers completed the teacher’s checklist for each student participant and students’ school grades in mathematics, science, language, and English were collected. Results demonstrated that GI, EC, and LC contributed, altogether, 80% to the prediction of SA, the contribution of LC being higher. Moreover, contribution of EC to SA was mediated by LC. The study corroborates the AMG by demonstrating that both the environment and the individual control the ability to reach excellence and giftedness. Abbrevations ELC = Educational and learning capital EC = Educational capital LC = Learning Capital G = general intelligence SA = scholastic achievements

Intelligence, Educational and Learning Capital, and Domain Impact Level of Activities as Predictors of School Achievement

Intelligence is a well-supported predictor of school achievement, however, it refers only to the cognitive facet of learning determinants. The aim of this article is to contrast the predictive properties of two comprehensive concepts developed within the actiotope model of giftedness (AMG) with that of intelligence. These concepts are educational and learning capital (ELC) and the domain impact level of activities (DILA), which were contrasted with a nonverbal intelligence measure (Raven’s standard progressive matrices). We investigated N = 90 fourth graders from regular classes in a German urban area. Results showed that achievement in German language was better predicted by ELC and DILA than by intelligence, whereas mathematical achievement was predicted by intelligence and educational and learning capital to similar degrees. The AMG concepts also showed incremental predictive power over intelligence. These findings suggest that ELC and, with some limitation, DILA (a) are well suited for predictions of school achievement and (b) capture valuable different aspects of the learning system than intelligence measures. Implications for education and research are discussed.

Mediation Analysis of the Relationship Between Educational Capital, Learning Capital, and Underachievement Among Gifted Secondary School Students

The underachievement of gifted students is a serious problem in gifted education. Although analytic research strategies have identified many causes of underachievement, this kind of approach still needs to be complemented by synthetic research strategies. The actiotope model of giftedness, for example, suggests that the effect of educational capital on achievement is mediated by learning capital. In an empirical study with a sample of 143 gifted Spanish secondary school students, educational capital was characterized by various forms of parental involvement aimed at the learning successes of children. Learning capital was represented by two types of learning strategies: metacognitive strategies and elaboration strategies. Following the method developed by Baron and Kenny, the hypothesized mediation of learning capital between educational capital and school achievement was confirmed.

Exogenous and Endogenous Learning Resources in the Actiotope Model of Giftedness and Its Significance for Gifted Education

Based on the Actiotope Model of Giftedness, this article introduces a learning-resource-oriented approach for gifted education. It provides a comprehensive categorization of learning resources, including five exogenous learning resources termed educational capital and five endogenous learning resources termed learning capital. Evidence from the literature is presented that supports the validity of each of the categories. Finally, 12 implications of a learning resource orientation for gifted education are discussed in relation to four areas: gifted education orientations, gifted identification, gifted education principles, and gifted learning resources management.

Validation of the Family Educational and Learning Capitals Questionnaire: An Australian Perspective

There is a growing recognition that parents play an important role in the academic achievement of their children. This role includes both the interactions they have with their children and the management of resources that can contribute to their children’s achievement. To better understand parents’ roles, it is important to understand their perceptions regarding the availability of these resources. This article reports the validation of the Family Educational and Learning Capitals Questionnaire (FELCQ), an instrument that measures parents’ perceptions of educational and learning resources. Based on the Actiotope Model of Giftedness, the FELCQ consists of five educational and five learning capitals plus parental aspirations for their children’s achievement. The responses of 1,917 Australian parents to the 53-item FELCQ were Rasch analyzed and the Rasch person estimates were utilized in a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the FELCQ as a valid measure of parents’ perceptions of the capitals. The results showed that the FELCQ reflects the underlying theoretical factor structure of the Actiotope Model, including the extension of the model to include parental aspirations as an educational capital for parents in relation to their children’s education. The implications and future use of the FELCQ are discussed.

Supporting Giftedness in Families: A Resources Perspective

There is ample evidence that families are important in supporting the development of giftedness in children. Although there has been a great deal of research addressing individual and school factors in promoting giftedness, the role of parents and caregivers is comparatively underresearched, particularly in Australia. This study investigated the ways in which parents supported their children’s development, drawing on the educational and learning capital framework within the Actiotope Model of Giftedness. A qualitative design was adopted and semistructured interviews were conducted with 32 parents and caregivers. The data demonstrated that parents draw on all 10 educational and learning resources in creating favorable environments to support their children’s development.

Systemic Gifted Education: A Theoretical Introduction

Over the past few decades, systemic thinking has gained in popularity in developmental and learning sciences. The trend has, however, shown up in gifted education research only occasionally. The aim of this article is to introduce systemic thinking to the field of giftedness and explore possibilities for its application. In the first part, a definition of a system is provided and basic concepts of systemic thinking are introduced. In the second part, a full-fledged systemic model is introduced, the actiotope model of giftedness. In the third part, implications for gifted education are elaborated. In the discussion, the authors explain (a) how systemic thinking can make a valuable contribution to gifted education, (b) why systemic thinking will complement rather than replace current approaches to gifted education, and (c) the necessity of combining systemic thinking with other empirically testable theories.

Turkish adaptation of the educational-learning capital questionnaire: Results for gifted and non-gifted students

ABSTRACTThe Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person–environment interactions to define giftedness. The development of the Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) was based on the AMG. The first aim of this study was to present the reliability and validity of a Turkish version of the QELC for 10th grade students. The second aim of this study was the administration of the QELC in gifted and non-gifted students and the determination of mean QELC-scale differences between both groups. Two different samples were included in the study. In the first sample, 421 10th grade students took the QELC (147 boys, 274 girls). The second sample consisted of 38 gifted students and 38 non-gifted students, the latter randomly selected from the first sample. In addition to the QELC, confidence in one’s competence, failure coping, stability and modifiability beliefs regarding one’s action repertoire were assessed and used to validate the QELC. School grades were collected, too. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor structure of the QELC (i.e., educational capital and learning capital). The results supported the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of QELC. Gifted students had lower scores in educational as well as learning capital than non-gifted students.

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness: Its Relationship With Motivation, and the Prediction of Academic Achievement Among Turkish Students

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person-environment interactions instead of on the personality traits associated with actions. Motivation is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic forces that are fundamental to the production of actions. Therefore, the resources provided by the environment or person are important for the creation of motivation. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between resources and motivation components, and to determine which were predictors of academic achievement among Turkish students (440 students, 206 from the 4th grade and 234 from the 7th grade). The Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) was used to assess the resources described in the AMG, and the Scale of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivational Orientation in the Classroom (IVEMOCS) was used to assess the motivation components. Findings showed significant correlations between all resources and two motivation components: intrinsic and dependence on the teacher. Using stepwise regression analysis, in 4th-graders, infrastructural capital and extrinsic motivation were found to predict academic achievement; and in 7th-graders, intrinsic motivation, economic capital, extrinsic motivation and didactic capital were found to predict academic achievement.

Exceptionality and gifted education: a re-examination of its hard core

The commentaries to our target article Towards a systemic theory of gifted education differed in their assessments of the various arguments we put forward. Of the more than 40 responses to our target article, 27 responses were chosen as being representative of all commentaries. We grouped the responses according to the main points in our target article, including our claims that current approaches to gifted education are ineffective, current models of giftedness are generally flawed, and systemic models of giftedness represent an advancement in the way that giftedness can be understood. Next, we outlined a systems approach to gifted education, based on the actiotope model of giftedness as its theoretical foundation. Finally, we argued that the systemic theory of gifted education represents a paradigm shift in the way we view the development of exceptionality.

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness: a useful model for examining gifted education in China’s universities

In March 1978, under the suggestion of Chinese-born Nobel Prize laureate Tsung-Dao Lee, China launched its first gifted education program at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)...