Page 38 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 38
die G. C. Malotaux-Christophersen, Sven A. C. Mathijssen, and Lianne Hoogeveen
attention left for school (Boekaerts, 2003). Given that Dutch adolescents put
such an effort into building their image, discovering their implicit theories
of an intelligent person is of great importance. As long as they consider an
intelligent person to be a nerd, any intervention will be counteracted as, ac-
cording to Ziegler et al. (2013), learning activities are rejected in an avoidance
actiotope.
Theoretically, a culture can be seen as a constellation of structured habits
(Roepstorff, Niewohner, & Beck, 2010). As these structured habits are the in-
put for our predictions, this might also be an opportunity for interventions
(Krabbendam, 2012).
The Dutch government, having ascertained that Dutch highly able stu-
dents do not perform as well as expected, while those deemed less intelli-
gent scored relatively well (Kordes, Bolsino, Limpens, & Stolwijk, 2013; Segers,
& Hoogeveen, 2012), decided to focus on the education of the highly-able,
launching stimulating programs at primary education levels, and continu-
ing them at secondary education levels (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur
en Wetenschap, 2014). It would be interesting to know if this approach influ-
ences implicit theories of the students.
There have not been many studies considering implicit theories of an in-
telligent person. There are, however, more studies about implicit theories of
a scientist, and they have a much longer history of research (Schibeci, 2006).
Inspired by Goodenough who started to use pictures to assess intelligence
in 1926 (Klepsch & Logie, 1982), and by Mead and Metraux (1957), who in-
vestigated the image of a scientist, Chambers (1983) developed the Draw-a-
Scientist test (herein after called DAST). The following indicators were deter-
mined in advance: lab coat, glasses, facial grow of hair, instruments and lab-
oratory equipment, books, technology, and formulae. Although Chambers
initially used this test to classify children according to socio-economic cate-
gories, principles of this test were used to only assess the image of a scientist
(Schibeci, 2006), often in a cross-cultural setting (e.g. Manabu, 2002; Picker &
Berry, 2000; Rubin, & Cohen, 2003). Pictures are often used to reveal concepts
of thinking that are hidden from other procedures, being worth a thousand
words (Räty, Komulainen, Skorokhova, Kolesnikov, & Hämäläinen, 2010).
Räty and Snellman (1997) did investigate implicit theories of an intelligent
person in Russia. They asked students to draw an ordinary as well as an in-
telligent person. An interesting finding was that students tended draw an
intelligent person as an adult, often male. An ordinary person they tended
to draw in their own age and gender. The boys tended to draw an adult male
with a high social status involved in a mental-cognitive activity. The girls’
36
attention left for school (Boekaerts, 2003). Given that Dutch adolescents put
such an effort into building their image, discovering their implicit theories
of an intelligent person is of great importance. As long as they consider an
intelligent person to be a nerd, any intervention will be counteracted as, ac-
cording to Ziegler et al. (2013), learning activities are rejected in an avoidance
actiotope.
Theoretically, a culture can be seen as a constellation of structured habits
(Roepstorff, Niewohner, & Beck, 2010). As these structured habits are the in-
put for our predictions, this might also be an opportunity for interventions
(Krabbendam, 2012).
The Dutch government, having ascertained that Dutch highly able stu-
dents do not perform as well as expected, while those deemed less intelli-
gent scored relatively well (Kordes, Bolsino, Limpens, & Stolwijk, 2013; Segers,
& Hoogeveen, 2012), decided to focus on the education of the highly-able,
launching stimulating programs at primary education levels, and continu-
ing them at secondary education levels (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur
en Wetenschap, 2014). It would be interesting to know if this approach influ-
ences implicit theories of the students.
There have not been many studies considering implicit theories of an in-
telligent person. There are, however, more studies about implicit theories of
a scientist, and they have a much longer history of research (Schibeci, 2006).
Inspired by Goodenough who started to use pictures to assess intelligence
in 1926 (Klepsch & Logie, 1982), and by Mead and Metraux (1957), who in-
vestigated the image of a scientist, Chambers (1983) developed the Draw-a-
Scientist test (herein after called DAST). The following indicators were deter-
mined in advance: lab coat, glasses, facial grow of hair, instruments and lab-
oratory equipment, books, technology, and formulae. Although Chambers
initially used this test to classify children according to socio-economic cate-
gories, principles of this test were used to only assess the image of a scientist
(Schibeci, 2006), often in a cross-cultural setting (e.g. Manabu, 2002; Picker &
Berry, 2000; Rubin, & Cohen, 2003). Pictures are often used to reveal concepts
of thinking that are hidden from other procedures, being worth a thousand
words (Räty, Komulainen, Skorokhova, Kolesnikov, & Hämäläinen, 2010).
Räty and Snellman (1997) did investigate implicit theories of an intelligent
person in Russia. They asked students to draw an ordinary as well as an in-
telligent person. An interesting finding was that students tended draw an
intelligent person as an adult, often male. An ordinary person they tended
to draw in their own age and gender. The boys tended to draw an adult male
with a high social status involved in a mental-cognitive activity. The girls’
36
