High Academic Ability Research Articles

MULTIDIMENSIONAL SIGNALING IN THE LABOR MARKET

I consider a two‐dimensional job market signaling model in which firms care about a worker's personal network as well as his technical productivity, and a worker can choose both academic activity and social activity to signal his ability. In a simple model where the social activity forming a social network does not require special ability, I show that the Cho–Kreps intuitive criterion singles out Spence's outcome of signaling high academic ability by high education. I also demonstrate the possibility that a worker with high academic ability may underinvest in education when the social ability is correlated with the academic ability.

High school students' Information seeking and use for class projects

This study details the activities and strategies that 11th grade students with high academic abilities used during their information seeking and use to complete class projects in a Persuasive Speec...

Comparing Static Fading with Adaptive Fading to Independent Problem Solving: The Impact on the Achievement and Attitudes of High School Students Learning Electrical Circuit Analysis

AbstractThis study compared conventional static fading, where the problem solving responsibility of the learner increases at a fixed sequence, with a novel adaptive fading design in which the learner assumes more problem solving responsibility only if her or his previous solution attempt is successful. This study was conducted in the engineering knowledge domain of introductory electrical circuit analysis with high school students. A 2 (static or adaptive fading) X 2 (lower or higher academic ability) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) yielded a significant main effect on retention and transfer performance: with adaptive fading the participants scored significantly higher on retention and transfer than with static fading, while not requiring more learning time or learning material.

Study, examinations, and stress: blood pressure assessments in college students1

The issue of stress associated with higher education and its impact on markers of student health is explored in three experiments looking at blood pressure levels in college students. All participants were full‐time undergraduate students of psychology. In Experiment 1, academic fear of failure, assessed using psychometric testing, was found to be associated with depressed blood pressure responses among students who performed a stressful task on a computer. In Experiment 2, students were found to exhibit higher blood pressure before end‐of‐semester examinations than afterwards. In Experiment 3, students of relatively high academic ability were found to have demonstrated increased levels of pre‐examination blood pressure responses to stress. Overall, the three experiments suggest ways in which the stressfulness of student life may have adverse consequences for student health and, moreover, ways in which the stressfulness of student life can be further explored. Factors such as fear of failure, impending examinations and academic ability must be taken into account when considering stress‐related health consequences on campus.

The Role of Self-Efficacy, Academic Abilities, and Parental Education in the Change in Career Decisions of Adolescents Facing German Unification

In times of dramatic social change, new career options emerge and old options may become obsolete. We investigated predictors of change in general career aspirations and of plans to attend a university of East German adolescents from 1989 (before German unification) to 1991 and 1995, respectively, after German unification. Higher pre-unification self-efficacy beliefs were associated with an increase in general career aspirations and a higher probability of switching from non-college-bound vocational training to attending a university. In addition, better pre-unification school grades and having parents who graduated from a university increased adolescents' probability to switch to a university. Furthermore, interaction effects of self-efficacy with grades and cognitive abilities appeared, indicating that for individuals with high self-efficacy, cognitive abilities became more important and grades less important in predicting the wish to pursue university studies. We concluded that beliefs in one's capabilities, and high academic abilities are important resources in vocational reorientation in times of social change.

The Role of Self-Efficacy, Academic Abilities, and Parental Education in the Change in Career Decisions of Adolescents Facing German Unification

In times of dramatic social change, new career options emerge and old options may become obsolete. We investigated predictors of change in general career aspirations and of plans to attend a university of East German adolescents from 1989 (before German unification) to 1991 and 1995, respectively, after German unification. Higher pre-unification self-efficacy beliefs were associated with an increase in general career aspirations and a higher probability of switching from non-college-bound vocational training to attending a university. In addition, better pre-unification school grades and having parents who graduated from a university increased adolescents' probability to switch to a university. Furthermore, interaction effects of self-efficacy with grades and cognitive abilities appeared, indicating that for individuals with high self-efficacy, cognitive abilities became more important and grades less important in predicting the wish to pursue university studies. We concluded that beliefs in one's capabilities, and high academic abilities are important resources in vocational reorientation in times of social change.

Person-Environment Fit and its implications for personality development: a longitudinal study.

Continuity and change in Person-Environment Fit (PE Fit) and its relation to personality development was studied in a 4-year longitudinal study of college students (N=305). PE Fit demonstrated moderate rank-order stability and small increases in mean-levels over time. Antecedents to PE Fit included gender (being male), high academic ability, low agreeableness, and low neuroticism. Outcomes associated with PE Fit included greater personality consistency and changes in personality in the direction of higher self-esteem and lower agreeableness and neuroticism. The implications of the findings for personality development are discussed.

Drawing on the Wrong Side of the Brain: an Art Teacher's Case for Recognising NLD

AbstractSecondary art teachers sometimes agonise over students who struggle, but are frustrated by the general failure of the special educational needs system to recognise such problems as worthy of intervention or as more widely significant. Until recently, any analyses of such learning difficulties have found no support in educational psychology. This paper argues for the usefulness of the profile of ‘non‐verbal learning disorders’ (NLD), which recognises visual‐spatial problems associated with the right brain hemisphere. This diagnosis remains controversial and is unrecognised in the UK. The paper looks at examples of work by a student of high academic ability that seem to bear out this profile, discusses them in relation to ‘right brain’ approaches to drawing, and briefly examines some of the positive and far‐reaching implications for art teachers of the growing recognition of NLD.

Certification Measures: Are They Predictive Of Secondary Agriculture Teacher Proficiency?

The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of teacher preparation program certification requirements to predict classroom teaching performance. The accessible sample consisted of 12 Agricultural Education graduates from the University of Missouri. Teaching performance was assessed by the teacher's supervising administrator using the Performance Based Teaching Evaluation instrument, and by the researcher through classroom observations using the Formative Assessment of Teaching instrument. The first research objective sought to describe the teacher certification requirements that were predictive of teaching performance during the initial years of teaching as assessed by the teachers' administrative supervisors. Agricultural education coursework GPA accounted for 40% of the variance associated with teaching performance, as assessed by public school administrators. The second research objective sought to describe the teacher certification requirements that were predictive of observed classroom teaching performance. Upon regressing the dependent variable, teaching performance, on the seven certification measures, no certification measure, or combination of certification measures, were found that could explain a significant proportion of the variance in teaching performance. Research objective three sought to describe school administrators' perceptions of necessary teaching characteristics and the relationship between cognitive abilities and teaching performance. Administrators, in face-to-face interviews, emphasized the importance of affective characteristics to teaching. Administrators perceived that higher academic abilities did not necessarily equate to successful teaching performance.

Preschool children's reasoning about ability.

Young children's reasoning about ability was investigated among 155 preschoolers (M = 4 years, 10 months) across 3 studies. Results suggest that preschoolers are sensitive to mental state information when making judgments about another child's ability: They judged a child who finds a task easy to be smarter than one who finds the same task hard. Systematic patterns of errors on recall tasks suggest that preschoolers perceive positive correlations between (a) exerting effort and experiencing academic success, and (b) being nice and having high academic ability. Results from a comparison group of forty 9- to 10-year-olds (M = 9 years, 10 months) suggest that the preschool findings generally reflect emerging patterns of reasoning about ability that persist into later childhood, but that the perceived correlations between high effort and academic outcomes and between social and academic traits diminish with age.

Stewart Crichton Miller, C.B.E. 2 July 1934 – 7 August 1999

Stewart Crichton Miller, a mechanical engineer of great distinction, was the former Director of Engineering and Technology for Rolls-Royce plc, where he worked for over 40 years. Stewart was a foremost contributor to several of the company's most important development projects, chief among them being the RB211-535 engine project, which is used on Boeing 757 aircraft. Stewart was born on 2 July 1934 to William and Grace Miller in Kirkcaldy, Fife, where he spent his childhood. His primary school education at Kirkcaldy Fife High Primary School started on 4 September 1939, the day after war was declared. A contemporary, with whom he was a close friend during school years, is Archie Howie (F.R.S. 1978), a distinguished physicist and former Head of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. Professor Howie recalls that he and Stewart vied with each other for school prizes, etc., with Stewart emerging as the Dux of the primary school. On leaving primary school, Stewart attended Kirkcaldy High School from 1945 to 1951. It was there that he received the Scottish Higher Learning Certificate in 1950 and an award in the Edinburgh University Bursary Competition. He continued his education at the University of Edinburgh from 1951 to 1954, enrolling as an engineering degree candidate. His choice of engineering as a career was considered unusual by others for someone of his high academic abilities. However, this doubt only increased his determination. His research emphasis while studying was on mechanical vibration, which served as useful background for his later work at Rolls-Royce on turbo-machinery. He graduated in 1954 from Edinburgh with a BSc (firstclass honours) in mechanical engineering. After leaving university, Stewart spent two years completing a graduate apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce that marked the beginning of his extensive career. Spending his first year gaining workshop experience and his second in all the major technical offices, Stewart subsequently qualified to receive the status of Chartered Engineer.

Variations in Native Speaker Competence: Implications for First-language Teaching

Experiments were carried out to determine if variations in adult native speaker performance arise from variations in working memory capacity (Just & Carpenter, 1992) or variations in procedural grammatical competence (Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995). Three groups of 18-year-old native speakers of English were tested on comprehension and recall of English Complex NP constructions. Two groups were 'low academic ability' (LAA) students and one group were 'high academic ability' (HAA) students. Pre-test HAA levels of recall and comprehension were much higher than those of the LAA groups. One LAA group underwent training to improve sentence recall and then carried out a post-test involving recall and comprehension. Levels of recall, but not comprehension, rose to HAA levels. The second LAA group underwent training to improve comprehension and then carried out a post-test involving recall and comprehension. Levels of both recall and comprehension rose to HAA levels. Contrary to the working memory hypothesis, the results support the view that variations in adult native speaker performance arise from variations in procedural grammatical competence. Some implications of this conclusion for the teaching of first-language grammar during the school years are outlined.

Adolescent Females and Body Image: Eating Disorders and Educational Implications

Research on females and body image points to the complex relationships among many factors. There is a dynamic interaction among culture, society, school networks and parents that impacts on the development of eating disorders infernales. What is the relationship of these factors to the psychological makeup of adolescent females with high academic ability? This paper will provide an overview of the internal and external predisposing factors that signal potential eating disorders infernales. It will outline the psychology of high ability females which places them at greater risk for the development of an eating disorder. It will provide recommendations for parents and teachers who want to recognize and help adolescent females deal with a potentially life-threatening illness.

Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results for Dartmouth Roommates

This paper uses a unique data set to measure peer effects among college age roommates. Freshman year roommates and dormmates are randomly assigned at Dartmouth College. I find that in this group, peer effects are very important in determining levels of academic effort and in decisions to join social groups such as fraternities. Residential peer effects are markedly absent in other major life decisions such as choice of college major. Several forms of peer effects are considered. The data support a model in which peer effects are driven by roommate behavior after the freshmen arrive. Social learning based on a roommate's observable pre-Dartmouth information or skills appears to be less important. Peer effects in GPA occur at the individual room level whereas peer effects in fraternity membership occur both at the room level and the entire dorm level. I also find that a freshman with high social ability is likely to remain with his or her roommates in sophomore year, but high academic ability actually decreases roommate retention.

The Effects of a Learning Station on the Completion and Accuracy of Math Homework for Middle School Students

We studied the effects of a Learning Station on the completion and accuracy of math homework of middle school students who had chronic homework problems. The Learning Station was a three sided free-standing panel with theoretically and empirically-based components involving (a) stimulation (color, music, activity breaks, and choice) and (b) self-attention (mirror and self-monitoring). Two students who used the Station tripled their accuracy and the amount of homework completed as assessed in a multiple baseline across participants design. One student with high academic abilities elected not to use the intervention, because he worked quickly (albeit carelessly) at school to complete his homework during baseline and during intervention. The practical and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Academic Proficiency of Students Who Reported Intentions of Majoring in Education

During the 1980s, researchers investigated the academic ability of teacher education students and high school students planning to major in education (Clark, 1989; Feistritzer, 1983; Fisher & Feldmann, 1985; Matczynski, Siler, McLaughlin, & Smith, 1988; Savage, 1983; Weaver, 1981). Researchers, responding to various publications such as A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), Tomorrow's Teachers (Holmes Group, 1986) and the High School and Beyond Study (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1980), reported that individuals planning to major in education were less academically competent than students choosing other majors. Using Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of students intending to major in education, Feistritzer (1983) and Weaver (1981) provided empirical support for these reports (Matczynski et al., 1988). Feistritzer (1983) and Weaver (1981) showed prospective education majors having SAT scores below the national mean. Savage (1983), comparing the academic qualifications (SAT scores and high school class standing) of female education students at a large land-grant research university to females at the same institution choosing other careers, concluded, the bad news seems to be that education is indeed attracting women with lower academic qualifications than most other fields (p. 17) Matczynski et al. (1988) argued against the validity of SAT scores as the sole indicator of academic competence among teacher education students. Comparing grade point averages (GPAs) in general education courses and secondary education content courses of education majors to noneducation majors at Clarion University, Matczynski et al. found, teacher education students performed as well, if not better, than non-teacher education students on most comparisons made (p. 36). They (Matczynski et al., 1988) added further support for the overall academic competence of teacher education students by reviewing research (Cohen, 1984; Fisher & Feldmann, 1985; Nelli, 1984; Olsen, 1985) that found similar overall results in undergraduate courses common to education and noneducation majors. Although these findings may provide teacher educators with evidence that education students possess at least average to above-average academic competence, Clark (1989) cautioned teacher educators against feelings of contentment. Limitations of the GPA studies included the target populations of colleges with student populations having lower average SAT scores compared to other colleges and universities, and a high percentage of education students enrolled in the individual colleges studied. Clark (1989) recommended that teacher education programs continue efforts to attract students with higher academic abilities and that teacher educators address the issue of how to strengthen the academic competence of education students. Addressing Clark's recommendation to strengthen academic competence of education students requires identification of students intending to major in education and their proficiency levels in mathematics, reading, and science compared with those of students intending to major in all other academic areas. In this study, we describe academic proficiency levels of a nationally representative sample of high school seniors indicating intention to major in education compared with those of students indicating intention to major in all other academic majors. We made specific comparisons with those intending to major in such areas as business, engineering, health occupations, and psychology. A secondary purpose was to provide a general description (including socioeconomic status, race, and gender) of a nationally representative sample of high school seniors intending to major in education compared with those of students intending to major in all other academic specializations. Method The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) designed the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) as a nationally representative, time-series survey to supply data on secondary and postsecondary youth, including social and parental factors (Ingels, Scott, Rock, Pollack, & Rasinski, 1994). …

School Choice and the Common Good: a reply to Brighouse

In my previous article and rejoinder (Walford, 1996a & b) I argued against the view put forward by David Hargreaves (1996) for increased choice and diversity in secondary schooling. First, I argued that his application of a 'cost-benefit' approach to discussions about the desirability of greater choice and diversity is itself highly problematic and ideological. Second, I examined documents on which he based his argument and showed them to be only partially relevant. Third, I traced elements of the social and political context that generated the current interest in increased choice of school and argued that, within this context, his proposals were highly likely to lead to greater inequity between the experiences of children. Finally, I outlined and defended my own proposals for reform that David Hargreaves had attacked in his paper. My discussion of the various government policies that have attempted to increase choice and diversity was designed to provide a context in which the likely practical consequences of David Hargreaves's proposals could be understood. I sought to show that, the 'now widespread (i.e. common-sensical) view that choice is desirable' did not simply appear from nowhere, but had to be generated by government and that, in practice, various policies that invoked 'choice and diversity' have led to increased selection and inequality of provision. I argued that there is actually very little demand for true diversity. Choice is not 'naturally' paired with diversity, but with selection and inequity of provision. While there are some parents who desire schools that serve their own particular religious beliefs, in general there is little demand for curriculum specialisms or schools supporting particular religious or moral philosophies. There is growing research evidence that, where such curriculum specialisms are being introduced by schools, they are acting as selection mechanisms for high academic ability and middle-class children. In particular, the development of specialisms such as dance or music indirectly discriminates against working-class children, and allows schools a greater chance to select 'appropriate' children.

Culture, Gender, and Response Bias

The possibility of culture and gender differences in response styles was explored. The responses of 1,717 participants aged 12-14 years from Australia, China, Nepal, Nigeria, and the Philippines to the Self-Description Questionnaire-I (SDQ-1) were analyzed for evidence of inconsistent responding, negativity or positivity bias, lack of profile variation, and social desirability. No evidence of a major social desirability factor but relatively substantial (effect sizes above 0.20) country and Country x Gender differences in response styles were found. These styles tended to correlate with scores on the academic rather than nonacademic self-esteem scales. This result may be due to participants with higher academic ability being more able to cope with the cognitive task of interpreting and answering consistently the items of the SDQ-1. Interpretations in terms of cultural dimensions such as individualism-collectivism were considered.

Gender, creativity, depression, and attributional style in adolescents with high academic ability.

The present study examined the relationship among gender, creativity, depression, and attributional style among high-achieving adolescents. One hundred twenty-eight eighth- and ninth-grade high-achieving students completed the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Children's Attribution Style Questionnaire--Revised (KASTAN-R CASQ). The results indicate that there were gender differences only on the verbal component of the TTCT, with females scoring significantly higher. For both sexes, there was a significant relationship between figural creativity and a depressogenic attributional style. However, for females, high verbal creativity was associated with low levels of depression and a positive attributional style.

PROBLEM‐SOLVING, ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SITUATED REASONING. A STUDY OF JOINT COGNITIVE ACTIVITY IN THE FORMAL SETTING

Summary. The article reports a study of group work in the school context aimed at solving the everyday problem of establishing the postage rate for a letter using a letter‐scale and a postage table. The participants, pupils aged 12–13 years in the sixth form of the Swedish comprehensive school, co‐operated in groups of three that were homogenised with respect to academic ability. The results reveal that all groups draw on school knowledge when solving the task, but that this does not necessarily lead to success in finding the correct postage rate. Furthermore, the higher the academic ability of students, the longer and more roundabout the problem‐solving procedures are. Inappropriate solutions and procedures for handling the table appear just as frequently in all groups as suggestions at some stage of the work, but they are generally rejected during the longer and more elaborate interpretative work among the pupils of high academic ability. It is argued that the relationship between knowledge acquired in the formal setting and the handling of this everyday problem is diffuse. Successful solution of the problem cannot be described as the application of a standardised algorithm but seems more to rely on extensive interpretative work involving the comparison of alternative models of reasoning.