Research Methods -A24/A26

Running Head: PAPER #3 MIXED METHODS 1

PAPER #3 MIXED METHODS 9

Paper #3 Mixed Methods

Laura Kay Utgard

Cal Southern University

Linda Fischer

PSY:87127: Research Methods

July, 2018

PAPER #3 MIXED METHODS

Gifted student education has been faced with challenges and this interferes with the normal learning processes of these children. Gifted students are different from other students and therefore, their educational requirement is totally different from those of other students. In order to make them match other learners in terms of education, it is important to provide them with the necessary tools or resources which are important towards their successful learning. Nevertheless, these requirements are lacking in most learning centers are little efforts have been made towards addressing this issue. Also, these children are facing stigmatization which also negatively affects their learning process. The applicable theory to be used is the Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration. The research question is on how the factors identified in mixed, qualitative, and quantitative articles are affecting the education of the gifted students. The key areas in this discussion are basically on the relationship between the Dabrowski's theory of positive integration and the factors which are affecting the education of the gifted students i.e. the rural setting, the stigmatization, the curriculum, and the aspects of the development. This discussion is based on the previous work which was based on the chart used for the Dabrowski's theory of the positive integration.

The refining of the selected chart will be basically on the selected articles i.e. quantitative, qualitative, and the mixed study. In this case, the focus will be on how the behavior and the psychomotor of the gifted students are impacting on their studies.

Discussion of the chart in relations to the selected articles

Qualitative

Kyle et al. (2011) aimed at looking at some specific aspects needed to improve the education of the gifted students. According to this study, it is always necessary to make an adjustment to the curriculum so that the need of the gifted children can be met. This is based on understanding that these children are totally different from other students, therefore, for them to match others, they have to be provided with necessary tools in their learning process. Knowing the emotional intensities of the gifted students is what drives Dabrowski towards what he termed as the overexcitabilities which are the key aspect towards the teaching of the gifted students. In this case, the areas of sensitivity which must be put into consideration towards the improvement of the gifted student education are the psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and the emotion. Being aware of the students' overexcitabilities is important for the teachers for the purposes of shaping the engagement, personalized, and the learning experiences of the gifted students (Kyle, Dianne, & Mary, 2015).

Callahan (2015) also carried out the investigation on the effect of the curricula and the instructional form for the gifted students. The nature of the effective curriculum for the gifted students is supposed to offer a framework aimed at reducing the disparity in focus between the cognitive and the social-emotional development. Dabrowski believed that psychomotor and the emotional overexcitability (OE) offers stronger stamina as well as motivation which are usually expressed in terms of being intense in work and creative (Callahan, 2015). This is important as it leads the gifted students towards full potential through the eventual development of specific social-emotional abilities like the harmonious passion, accepting the ambiguity, readiness to view failure as an opportunity for the growth, and the increased capacity towards setting and attaining the meaningful goals.

Stambaugh (2015) in his study tried to look at some important aspects in the rural settings and its relationship to the serving of the gifted students. Based on this study, there are a number of challenges being faced towards providing effective education to the gifted students. It is therefore important to understand the perspective of gifted rural students so that teachers recognize and educate them efficiently. The characteristics of the giftedness and perfectionism run from healthy to dysfunctional and the support of the educators, parents, friends, and community members are important in assisting the gifted kids to preserve healthy perfectionism. According to the Dabrowski, perfectionism is an essential trait being shared by the several gifted students thus helping them in creating high-quality work. Through being perfectionists, gifted students are in a position to try their most excellent and understand high expectations of their parents for their accomplishment (Stambaugh & Wood, 2015).

Quantitative

According to the publication by Cresswell (2013), the gifted students regardless of their higher levels of intelligence in comparison to other learners are always disadvantaged since they do not meet the necessary learning environment towards their success. They are affected by the stereotyping of the labeling act and this changes their perception with regard to how people view them. The social environment and the peer pressure usually constrain the expression and creativity of the individuals. According to Dabrowski, intellectual, imagination, and emotions causes the person to experience daily life more intensely and feel the extremities of the joys and the sorrows profoundly (Cresswell, 2013).

Carpendale (2014) argued that when the gifted students are permitted to explore their social world, they have the opportunity of experiencing many things through the process of social interaction. This motivates them towards the performance in the classroom. Overexcitability increases the importance of the role being played by the person-environment interaction. Through personality, students are able to choose their environment with consciousness and making decisions on the kind of the response (Carpendale, 2014).

Azano (2017) carried out a book review on the concern related to serving the gifted children in the rural areas. Learning of the gifted students in the rural areas are affected by the political and the philosophical battles which are connected to the elitism and the lack of adequate resources. The negative impacts of the politics are not creating an effective learning environment for the education of the gifted students. The impacts of negative politics include lack of resources and adequate towards the improvement of education for these children (Azano, 2017). Due to bad politics, there are few qualified teachers within the rural setting to provide quality education to the students. Also, the teachers' beliefs and the attitudes towards gifted students influence their practices and the students' experience of education. Based on the Dabrowski's theory, the developed personality of the teachers is, therefore, affecting the education of the gifted students.

Mixed

In his work, Daniel (2014) applied the systematic review study while comparing the gifted and the non-gifted students. He performed the research appraisal for the identification, description, and the evaluation of the outcomes. Based on this review, it was evident that most studies have utilized the psychometric tests in operationalizing giftedness. According to this study, the outcome showed that gifted students have high overexcitability with regard to the sensual, imagination, psychomotor, emotion, and the intellectual. Based on the Dabrowski's theory, due to the high overexcitability, the gifted children were are shy, enthusiastic, have a vivid memory, craving novelty, curious, and have the desire to know everything regardless of its benefits. (Daniel, 2014).

In another study by Niki (2017), the objective was to investigate the interrelationship between the overexcitabilities and the learning patterns based on the personality development. The author utilized the Bayesian model and the results showed that intellectual overexcitabilities represent the deep learning (Niki & Peter, 2017).

Recommendations

In order to improve the education of the gifted students, it is important to consider some of the essential solutions which can be used to effectively use against the challenges such as lack of resources, poor curriculum framework, and the emotional support to the children. Policy makers have to consider the needs of the gifted children while designing education curriculum. The governments need to prioritize in improving the education structures to meet the needs of the gifted children. Qualified teachers should be recruited to serve the rural learning centers.

Conclusions

It is clear that there is lack of efforts being made towards improvement of education of the gifted children. This is despite the existence of the laws that are aimed at ensuring that all children are provided with the necessary education. Policy makers have been doing little to help in improving the education of the gifted students. This is greatly affected by the education outcome of the gifted students.

References

Azano, P. (2017). Book review of serving gifted students in rural settings. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 32 (2), 1-3.

Callahan, C. (2015). What works in gifted education: documenting the effects of an integrated curricular or the instructional model for the gifted students. American Educational Research Journal, 52 (1), 137-167.

Carpendale, J. (2014). Social interaction and development of knowledge. Psychology Press.

Cresswell, J. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and the mixed methods approach. Sage.

Daniel, L. (2014). Giftedness and overexcitability: investigating the evidence.

Kyle, W., Dianne, F. V., & Mary, C. (2015). Active advocacy: working together for appropriate services for the gifted learners. Spring, 34 (2), 20-25.

Niki, D. B., & Peter, V. P. (2017). Emphasis on emotions in student learning: Analyzing the relationship between overexcitability and the learning approach using Bayesian MIMIC modeling. High Ability Studies, 28 (2), 225-248.

Stambaugh, T., & Wood, S. (2015). Serving gifted students in rural settings. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration into the curriculum for the gifted talented students