Derald Walling

Experience of giftedness “eight great gripes” six years later

Building on the foundation of a previous study (Galbraith, 1985) of the “eight great gripes” of gifted children and adolescents, this article describes qualitative perspectives on giftedness among predominantly seventh‐ and eighth‐grade students attending a summer enrichment program. Students responded in writing to a probe (i.e. “Whats it like to be gifted?”) designed to elicit their spontaneous perspectives on their experience of giftedness. Responses were compiled and analyzed as they relate to negative and positive perspectives on giftedness and to the needs of gifted children.

Attrition Patterns in a Summer Program for Gifted Junior High Students.

Research on attrition or “drop‐out” is briefly summarized with particular attention to Tintos model of social and academic integration. An argument is made for theoretically based research on attrition among gifted adolescents. As a preliminary step, completion and performance data were examined from gifted seventh‐ and eighth‐grade students (n = 92) in an eight‐week summer mathematics enrichment program sponsored by the GTE Corporation. Findings are presented as they relate to attrition and performance patterns, and implications for gifted education and follow‐up are discussed.

A program for precollege students interested in a career in mathematics, science, or engineering

This paper provides the motivation, goals, components, and eligibility requirements for a university summer program designed for high ability precollege students who have shown interest in a career in mathematics, science, or engineering. The paper details the results that Texas Tech University has experienced in running such a program for the past two summers.

Research projects in a summer mathematics program for gifted junior high students

This article describes a summer enrichment program for gifted junior high students, identifies dilemmas inherent in the implementation of this and similar programs, and outlines a series of research projects intended to address some of these dilemmas. Implications of these research efforts are briefly discussed as they relate to gifted child education.

TTU/GTE‐PREP: An example of corporate industry's impact on a high‐ability programme for pre‐college students

This paper details the immediate results that a corporate gift of

Mathematical modeling in psychophysics

600 000 had on a university summer programme designed for high‐ability pre‐college students.

Power Models and Error Terms

This paper illustrates mathematical modeling (using differential equations) in psychophysics in order to gain theoretical improvement on a psychophysical model and, hence, possibly better analytical results.

Attrition patterns in a high ability programme for precollege students

An example is presented to illustrate potential problems of working with logarithmic transformations to linearize an intrinsically nonlinear power model. Recommendations to avoid the pitfalls identified herein are offered.

Measuring economic inequality using the Lorenz curve

Completion and performance data from 92 high ability seventh and eighth grade students in an eight‐week summer programme conducted in 1989 and sponsored by the GTE Service Corporation are examined.

Geometric perception in the classroom

The Gini Coefficient is a widely used index for measuring economic inequality [1‐5] as defined by a Lorenz curve. This paper illustrates an analytical approach to measuring economic inequality. This approach bypasses certain problems associated with the use of the Gini and affords the researcher the opportunity to more carefully define the differences between two populations.