Eunsook Hong

Normative and Validation Studies of the Nine-Hole Peg Test with Children:

This study evaluated norms for fine motor dexterity skills on elementary school children of ages 5 through 10 and conducted reliability and validity studies utilizing the Nine-hole Peg Test. The sample included 826 students in 10 elementary schools. Moderately high test-retest reliability (rs = .81 and .79) and high interrater agreement (rs >.99) were obtained. Older students had shorter completion time that measured fine motor dexterity than younger students. Significant sex differences were found in completion time, but only for the dominant hand. Correlations of – 80 and –.74 between the scores on the Nine-hole Peg Test and Purdue Pegboard Test at all tested ages indicated adequate concurrent validity of the measures and a significant difference in test scores between regular and special education groups provided further evidence of construct validity. The findings supported the Nine-hole Peg Test as an effective screening tool for fine motor dexterity of school-age children.

Instructional strategies to help learners build relevant mental models in inferential statistics.

A mental model analysis was conducted with experts and intermediates in the domain of statistical hypothesis testing to determine the nature of relevant mental models that can be taught to novices. Two instructional strategies were investigated: a presentation sequence (separate vs. combined) and a presentation mode (diagrammatic vs. descriptive). Protocol analysis on the posttest revealed that students (i.e., novices) who received either the separate or the diagrammatic presentation strategy performed better and developed fewer misconceptions than those who received either the combined or the descriptive presentation strategy

Development and Validation of an Instrument for Student Evaluation of the Quality of Web-Based Instruction.

We developed an instrument that allows instructors to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of Web-based courses. Development and validation of the instrument involved four phases. In Phase I, an instrument was developed based on survey results from students and instructors of Web-based courses and an extensive literature review. In Phase II, the instrument was placed on the World Wide Web to collect data. Phase III was a validity study using the data collected in Phase II. In Phase IV, the instrument was revised using feedback from the first three phases.

Original thinking in preschool children: A validation of ideational fluency measures

Abstract: This investigation examined the original thinking of preschool children (N=48). The instruments were lenient and stringent solution‐standard measures of original problem solving and two subsets of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Scores for popular and original responses were computed for the lenient and stringent measures. Findings supported the construct validity of conceptualizations of original problem solving based on ideational fluency within the lenient measures, but not within stringent measures. Findings also indicated that the lenient measures are better predictors of real‐world original behavior than stringent measures, especially for young children. The need for development of more reliable and valid measures for assessing real‐world creative behavior is discussed.

Out-of-School Activities in Gifted Adolescents as a Predictor of Vocational Choice and Work Accomplishment in Young Adults.

The long-term predictive validity of out-of-school activities in adolescence as predictors of later vocational choice and accomplishment was investigated in 91 young adults who had been identified as intellectually gifted as adolescents. The baseline measure tapped leisure activities and accomplishments in eight specific activity domains (science/mathematics, social, dance, music, art, creative writing, drama, and sports). It was administered when research participants were in the senior year of high school. The criterion measure was administered approximately 13 years later and provided a classification of current occupation according to the Roe vocational fields and a measure of adult work accomplishment. We found a significant relationship between the domain of out-of-school activity in adolescence and the domain of vocational activity in adulthood. Moreover, subjects whose adolescent out-of-school activities matched adult occupation had a higher level of work accomplishment than subjects for whom such a match was absent.

Knowledge Democracy and Action Research: Pathways for the Twenty-First Century

The chapter examines issues faced by action researchers working within the context of democratizing knowledge. Four vantage points were delineated regarding the origin of knowledge democracy, progress toward knowledge democracy, and current and future prognosis and recommendations. Knowledge monopoly is discussed by examining progress from intellectual colonialism to global South–North convergences. The monocultural view of knowledge production and the role of universities are critiqued in relation to neoliberal globalization and epistemological diversity. The contribution of action research and the global action research community to knowledge democracy and alternative globalization is underscored. The authors introduce strategies for implementing practitioner-research, including knowledge production and dissemination based on practice-based research evidence as a way to increase knowledge democracy.

Incorporating Technology and Web Tools in Creativity Instruction

The Global world is constantly transforming, with new technologies changing the way we learn, communicate, and collaborate. The ways of working and learning change with emerging innovations through the World Wide Web and Web 2.0, and 3.0 tools, a trend expected to continue (PEW Internet & American Life Project, 2010).

Creative Thinking Abilities: Measures for Various Domains

Although creativity and creative thinking have been mentioned in schools as part of an identification process of gifted and talented students, they have been largely neglected in the mainstream education scene. The measurement issue is one of the reasons for neglect in the development of creative talent, along with the high-stakes testing environment of recent years which has narrowed the curriculum to exclude the teaching and assessment of creativity. In this chapter, the need for measures of creative potential will be discussed by describing macro components that are foundations for realizing creative potential along with the need for developing quality measures of creative potential. Clarifying definitions of creativity and creative thinking are offered, as an informative definition for any psychological construct is a condition for developing quality measures. The chapter, then, focuses on the measures of creative-thinking ability, distinguishing domain generality and domain specificity of creative-thinking ability. As most of the creative-thinking measures have been domain-general, the chapter briefly describes the domain-general measures, followed by an in-depth description of domain-specific measures, especially Creative Real Life Problem Solving measures (e.g., Creative Real Life Problem Solving: Thinking and Imagination, Las Vegas, NV), with a hope that the measures of creative potential discussed will enable researchers and practitioners helping individuals learn to be more creative.

Children’s and Teachers’ Conceptions of Creativity: Contradictions and Implications in Classroom Instruction

Personal beliefs about a construct are formed based on individuals’ experiences in sociocultural contexts. Personal beliefs are powerful as individuals tend to plan, take actions, and evaluate their own and others’ actions based on their belief system. In this chapter, we review pervasive creativity myths, followed by an examination of teachers’ implicit theories of creative children and creativity and children’s views of creative people and creativity. Contradictions found between teachers’ conceptions of creativity and classroom practices and discrepancies between teachers’ and children’ creativity conceptions are discussed along with instructional implications. Themes of contradictions include: (a) Yes, developing creativity in students is important, but no, not my priority; (b) I may do it if things are ready for me; (c) I am almost there, but they are not; (d) Creativity is art; (e) Amicable trait, but not in my class; (f) Not in our culture; (g) Anyone can be creative; sounds good, but really?; and (h) Assessment of creativity? I have no clue. We underscore the need for professional development and offer a few items that might help in teacher preparation for classroom instruction.

Learning styles of gifted adolescents with in-school versus out-of-school accomplishments in literature.

The learning styles of two groups of adolescents gifted in literature, one composed of subjects with high grade point averages in school in literature (n = 232) and one of subjects who had high scores on talented out-of-school accomplishments in literature (n = 192), were compared. Six of the 22 elements measured by the Learning Styles Inventory distinguished between the two groups. The out-of-school gifted group preferred to work with peers and felt comfortable learning in a variety of different ways. They tended to be less visual and more auditory learners and expressed a greater preference to learn by experiential or hands-on activities than the in-school gifted group. The implications for teaching and counseling gifted learners, differently defined, are discussed.