1. Thursday 6 March 2008 1 Being gifted in Hong Kong: What does the research say Dr Shane N. Phillipson The Hong Kong Institute of Education

2. Thursday 6 March 2008 2 Research in gifted education

3. Thursday 6 March 2008 3 What should the research be about? Develop and evaluate curriculum for gifted students. i.e. matching curriculum with the needs of the student and the aims of policy. Characterize giftedness for the purposes of informing curriculum, and in the identification of gifted children. Inform and evaluate gifted education policy.

4. Thursday 6 March 2008 4 Is all research useful? The value of research is determined by its: Adherence to the principles of good research design, such as the use of control groups and instruments that are reliable and valid. Analytic techniques that make full use of research data. Results that are indicative of the whole population.

5. Thursday 6 March 2008 5 Research in Hong Kong Research that: Is concerned with gifted and Hong Kong. Published in peer-reviewed journals. Research after 2000.

6. Thursday 6 March 2008 6 Chan, D. W., 24 articles. Phillipson, S. N., 3 articles. Rudowicz, 1 article. Tirri et al, 1 article. Wong & Watkins, 1 article. (N = 30, Mean rate < 4/year)

7. Thursday 6 March 2008 7 Research themes 1. Socio-emotional health of gifted students … 9 articles. 2. Leadership of gifted students … 5 articles. 3. Characterization of gifted students … 7 articles. 4. Evaluation of gifted programmes … 3 articles. 5. Identification of gifted students … 3 articles. 6. Teachers of the gifted … 1 article. 7. Empirical studies … 1 article and 1 in press.

8. Thursday 6 March 2008 8 1. Socio-emotional health of gifted students (9 articles). 2. Leadership of gifted students (5 articles). 3. Characterization of gifted students MI (4 articles). Learning styles (1 article). Types of questioning (1 article). Gender differences in spatial abilities (1 article).

9. Thursday 6 March 2008 9 4. Evaluation of gifted programmes Professional development programme for leadership development (1 article). Mentoring (1 article). Summer programme (1 article). 5. Identification of gifted students Usefulness of different instruments (2 articles). Creativity tests (1 article). 6. Teachers of the gifted (1 article). 7. Empirical studies (1 article and 1 in press).

10. Thursday 6 March 2008 10 1. Socio-emotional health of gifted students … 9 articles. AuthorResearch problem (Chan, 2004b)Relationships between social coping and psychological distress among Chinese gifted students (Chan, 2003b)Assess adjustment problems (relationship concerns, ability recognition, unchallenging homework, intense involvement, concerns for being different, parental expectations, perfectionism) (Chan, 2006a)Adjustment problems, self-efficacy and psychological distress in g Ss (Chan, 2005a)Emotional intelligence, social coping and psychological distress in HK (Chan, 2005b)Self-perceived creativity, family hardiness and emotional Intelligence of gifted Ss. (Chan, 2002)Self-concepts and perceptions of giftedness (Chan, 2003c)Relationships of EQ with social coping (Chan, 2003a)Adjustment problems and MI amongst gifted students (Wong & Watkins, 2001)Self-esteem and ability grouping

11. Thursday 6 March 2008 11 AuthorResearch problemParticipantsInstrumentsConclusions (Chan, 2004b) Relationships between social coping and psychological distress among Chinese gifted students Nominated by schools as gifted, then given RPM test Test instruments: RPM Social Coping Questionnaire (SCQ-25 items) General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 5 areas) Self-reports Analysis on median splits of 130; age; gender. Gender, age and non- verbal IQ had notable effects on specific coping strategies Findings are difficult to generalize across all gifted Ss in HK. Use of self-reports to assess these variables are also problematic.

12. Thursday 6 March 2008 12 (Wong & Watkins, 2001) Self-esteem and ability grouping Experimental design where 4 typical schools were chosen – two Band 1/2 and two Band 4/5. Within each school, a high stream and a low-stream class were chosen. Tests: Chinese Adolescent Self- esteem Scale (60-item Questionnaire rating overall academic performance (Math and English) Self-reports were used. Positive relationship between performance and self-esteem. Low band Ss scored higher than High Band Ss. Ability grouping within schools affected self- esteem. But Ss in higher banded schools had lower self-esteem than Ss in Low banded schools.

13. Thursday 6 March 2008 13 2. Leadership of gifted students (5 articles). AuthorResearch Problem (Chan, 2000a)Is the Roets Rating Scale for Leadership a reliable and valid instrument for the identification of students with leadership? (Chan, 2007a)Is there a relationship between leadership giftedness and MI profiles in Chinese gifted students? (Chan, 2000b)Developing the Creative Leadership programme (Chan, 2007c)Leadership and EQ and successful intelligence (Chan, 2003d)Does Leadership training make a difference?

14. Thursday 6 March 2008 14 AuthorResearch problemParticipantsInstrumentsConclusions (Chan, 2007a) Is there a relationship between leadership giftedness and MI profiles in Chinese gifted students? Nominated by schools to join gifted or talented programme. Limitations, Use of self- ratings, use of convenience sample, Tests included: SMIP RRSL Both self-rating instruments. Leadership (Task orientation (ie L traits), self- efficacy self- confidence), leadership flexibility (understand other’s views). Ss strengths were in MIintrapersonal, MIinterpersonal, MIverbal. Weaker on MIBodilyk and MInaturalistic. Ss rated themselves highly on L flexibility and L goalorientation MIintarpersonal, MIverbal significant predictors of all 3 leadership components. Gender and age main effects.

15. Thursday 6 March 2008 15 3. Characterization of gifted students AuthorResearch problem (Chan, 2007d)Do self-reports using MI predict musical abilities? (Chan, 2006b)How do male and female gifted students perceive their MI profile? (Chan, 2004a)MI profiles of gifted students as assessed by self, parents and teachers and peers. Is there any consistency in these profiles? *(Chan, 2001a)Do MI and IQ tests measure the same thing? *(Chan, 2001c)What are the learning styles and activities of gifted students? *(Tirri, Tallent-Runnels, & Nokelainen, 2005) What types of questions do gifted students ask?. Is there any evidence for cross-cultural differences in the types of questions asked by gifted students? (Chan, 2007b)Are there gender differences in spatial ability of Gifted Ss?

16. Thursday 6 March 2008 16 (Chan, 2001a)Does MI and IQ tests measure the same thing? Nominated by schools to join gifted or talented programme. Tests: SMIP SPM WKT (verbal fluency and figural fluency) HKAT-E HKAT-M School results Responses to SMIP did not predict scores on SPM. Two sets of measures might be used to identify g Ss. Self-reports used. Non-representative. No control group (Tirri, Tallent- Runnels, & Nokelainen, 2005) What types of questions do gifted students ask?. Is there any evidence for cross-cultural differences? Nominated by schools to participate in gifted programme at Chinese U (Half were of High IQ score or outstanding academically. Half were students of average ability) Students were asked to write 20 questions about the future. Answers categorized as: Everyday Scientific Moral Religious Students in HK and Finland asked more scientific questions. Gifted students asked more scientific questions, moral questions (Will there be a WW3?” No difference in religious or spiritual questions. Sampling and characterization of samples were not clear. Moral, religious and spiritual questions

17. Thursday 6 March 2008 17 4. Evaluation of gifted programmes AuthorResearch problem ParticipantsInstrumentsConclusions (Phillipson, 2004) Professional development of teachers of gifted in Leadership training Teachers who nominated themselves to participate in a professional development programme NAThe article describes a pd programme for teachers of exceptionally gifted Ss in L development. The programme was deemed to be successful based on the quality of the Ts products. (Chan, 2000c) What is the value of mentoring programmes for gifted and talented youth NA Mentoring is a useful tool for the development of gifted students. 19 (Chan, Cheung, Chan, Leung, & Leung, 2000) Evaluating the Chinese U summer gifted programmes 98 studentsSelf-reports of success. Ratings by teachers and parents using the SRBCSS The Summer programmes were successful.

18. Thursday 6 March 2008 18 5. Identification of gifted students Usefulness of different instruments (2 articles). Creativity tests (1 article). AuthorResearch problem ParticipantsInstrumentsConclusions (Chan, 2000e)Discusses issues relating to the identification of gifted Chinese S. NACultural contexts are an important issue in identifying Chinese gifted students. (Chan, 2000d) Teacher, parent and self ratings of giftedness. Hong Kong students (n = 109) Grades 7-12, Aged12- 18 years. Teachers N = 109 Parents n = 109 Tests: RPM Wallach-Kogan Test RRSL SRBCSS (5 scales –learning, mathematics and science, creativity, leadership, motivation) The SRBCSS is better at measuring leadership and motivation than creativity. Not good at predictors of IQ, creativity and leadership than (Rudowicz, 2004) Do tests of Creative Thinking- Drawing Production (TCT- DP) assess the creative potential of HK adolescents? Secondary schools were randomly selected by ED. Band 1(n=5), 2(n=5) and 3(n=4) schools participated. 2 schools (1 high, 1 low) participated in retest Tests: TCT-DP (4 factors: composition and novelty, risk taking, basic fragment dependent usage, unconventionality/humour) RPM Teacher’s Evaluation Scale of student creativity Ss current grades in seven subjects. Low test-retest stability in subscales of TCT-DP Low correlations between TCT-DP and self-rating creativity No correlation TCT-DP and teachers’ rating. Low correlation between RPM and TCT-DP No correlation between TCT-DP and school grades Care must be used when using the TCT- DP.

19. Thursday 6 March 2008 19 6. Teachers of the gifted (1 article). 7. Empirical studies (1 article and 1 in press). AuthorResearch problemParticipantsInstrumentsConclusions (Chan, 2001b) Characteristics and competencies of teachers of gifted Ss. 50 teachers enrolled in a postgraduate in-service program at CU Ts were asked to rate desirable characteristics of Ts of the g. Most important were: Imaginative, flexible, stimulating, innovative, facilitative, self- confident, knowledgeable, considerate of individual differences. (Phillipson & Tse, 2007) Discovering patterns of mathematical achievement in HK. P5, n = 957, Over- sampled RPM HKAT Using Rasch measurement models, the percent of Ss who were both over and underachieving were estimated. The results were discussed in terms of educational districts, showing distinct patterns of achievement. (Phillipson, in press) Patterns of achievement in HK Ss P3, P5, S1 and S3 Students n = 3,500, randomly selected across HK HKAT in mathematics RPM The results show that there were increasing levels of underachievement with increasing levels of ability. This was especially highest amongst S3 Ss.

20. Thursday 6 March 2008 20 Research in gifted education

21. Thursday 6 March 2008 21 Conclusion In 2008, Hong Kong is an exciting place to be in terms of gifted education. The role of research will become increasingly important. Research will be expected to help evaluate the effectiveness of policy and of its implementation … and play an increasing role in the formation of policy. Current research has established a large number of reliable and validated instruments. However, studies have not adequately characterized gifted students in Hong Kong. Research must be designed to be more representative of the Hong Kong context, and focus on the ways to promote talent development in the inclusive classroom.

22. Thursday 6 March 2008 22 Chan, D. W. (2000a). Assessing leadership among Chinese secondary students in Hong Kong: The use of the Roets Rating. Gifted Child Quarterly, 44(2), 115. Chan, D. W. (2000b). Developing the creative leadership training program for gifted and talented students in Hong Kong. Roeper Review, 22(2), 94. Chan, D. W. (2000c). The Development of Mentorship Programs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Roeper Review, 23(2), 85. Chan, D. W. (2000d). Exploring Identification Procedures of Gifted Students by Teacher Ratings: parent ratings and student self- reports in Hong Kong. High Ability Studies, 11(1), 69-82. Chan, D. W. (2000e). Identifying gifted and talented students in Hong Kong. Roeper Review, 22(2), 88. Chan, D. W. (2001a). Assessing Giftedness of Chinese Secondary Students in Hong Kong: a multiple intelligences perspective. High Ability Studies, 12(2), 215-234. Chan, D. W. (2001b). Characteristics and Competencies of Teachers of Gifted Learners: The Hong Kong Teacher Perspective. Roeper Review, 23(4), 197. Chan, D. W. (2001c). Learning Styles of Gifted and Nongifted Secondary Students in Hong Kong. Gifted Child Quarterly, 45(1), 35. Chan, D. W. (2002). Perceptions of Giftedness and Self-Concepts Among Junior Secondary Students in Hong Kong. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 31(4), 243. Chan, D. W. (2003a). Adjustment Problems and Multiple Intelligences among Gifted Students in Hong Kong: the development of the revised Student Adjustment Problems Inventory. High Ability Studies, 14(1), 41. Chan, D. W. (2003b). Assessing Adjustment Problems of Gifted Students in Hong Kong: The Development of the Student Adjustment Problems Inventory. Gifted Child Quarterly, 47(2), 107. Chan, D. W. (2003c). Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and Their Relationships With Social Coping Among Gifted Adolescents in Hong Kong. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 32(6), 409-418. Chan, D. W. (2003d). Leadership Skills Training for Chinese Secondary Students in Hong Kong: Does Training Make a Difference? Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 14(3), 166. Chan, D. W. (2004a). Multiple Intelligences of Chinese Gifted Students in Hong Kong: Perspectives from Students, Parents, Teachers, and Peers. Roeper Review, 27(1), 18-24. Chan, D. W. (2004b). Social Coping and Psychological Distress Among Chinese Gifted Students in Hong Kong. Gifted Child Quarterly, 48(1), 30-41. References

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