James Van Haneghan

The Gifted and the Shadow of the Night: Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities and Their Correlation to Insomnia, Death Anxiety, and Fear of the Unknown.

Purportedly fear of the unknown, death anxiety, and insomnia are prevalent problems among some gifted individuals. The present study tested this assertion and examined the relationship of these variables to Dabrowskis (1967) overexcitabilities. The study involved 73 gifted and 143 typical middle and high school adolescents who were given a death anxiety questionnaire, a fear of the unknown scale, an insomnia scale, and the Overexcitabilities Questionnaire II (R. F. Falk, S. Lind, N. B. Miller, M. M. Piechowski & L. K. Silverman, 1999). Gifted adolescents reported higher levels of fear of the unknown and insomnia than regular students. They also scored higher on three of Dabrowskis overexcitabilities. Higher levels of overexcitability in gifted students were associated with higher anxiety and insomnia. The results suggest that some gifted students who are experiencing overexcitabilities, insomnia, fear of the unknown, and/or death anxiety may benefit from curriculum aimed at social and emotional development, bibliotherapy, fantasy gaming, relaxation techniques, and counseling.

Teacher Beliefs about Motivating and Teaching Students to Carry out Engineering Design Challenges: Some Initial Data

The present study examines middle school teachers’ beliefs about seven learning outcomes related to a project that involves developing and examining the effects of a set of engineering design modules constructed for use by middle school math and science teachers. Overall, the teachers involved in the intervention appear to believe they have the instructional skills, professional development, and resources to carry out the modules. Teachers from all of the schools (both intervention and comparison schools) for the most part valued the outcomes as important. Results of the study indicate that, although teachers believe they value and can obtain most of these outcomes; beliefs vary by school and other factors. One area where teachers do not seem strongly efficacious in some schools is that of fostering intrinsic motivation in their students. Teachers in one of the schools where the modules were implemented did not feel their students were capable of becoming intrinsically motivated. The implications for implementing engineering education in middle school of these beliefs and other attitudes are discussed.

Smith-Magenis syndrome.

Most people with Smith-Magenis syndrome have a broad, square-shaped face with deep-set eyes, full cheeks, and a prominent lower jaw. The middle of the face and the bridge of the nose often appear flattened. The mouth tends to turn downward with a full, outward-curving upper lip. These facial differences can be subtle in early childhood, but they usually become more distinctive in later childhood and adulthood. Dental abnormalities are also common in affected individuals.