Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy (BJSEP), Volume 2, N - PDF document

251 Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy (BJSEP), Volume 2, Number 2, 2008 INTELLECTUALLY GFTED ADULTS: FE ACCOMPL S ujala Vidyadhar WAT Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology, INDIA A Difference in groups of gifted individuals, having undergone and not having undergone enriched educational programme (EEP) was investigated. 0ales idenWi�ed as giIWed in sFKRRl age  IrRP ((3 and  IrRP nRrPal sFKRRls were studied in their late thirties. Standardized intelligence test, and factual data were used to measure their academic, practical and social accomplishments. The experimental and control groups and their subgroups were compared statistically and TXaliWaWivel\ OXW RI sWaWisWiFall\ FRPSared  variaEles �ve Zere IRXnd WR Ee signi�FanWl\ diIIerenW 7Ke grRXSs diIIered Rn variaEles IrRP aFadePiF and sRFial accomplishments; EEP contributed to difference in academic and social areas- es - pecially, school to academic and youth activities to social. This can be implemented to design and modify existing EEP. Keywords : India, intellectually gifted, enriched educational environment, life accomplishment Introduction After combining several results of studies, conducted in USA Marland Report described concept of giftedness more precisely. Gifted are “the youth ZKR are idenWi�ed aW WKe SresFKRRl elePenWar\ Rr seFRndar\ sFKRRl level as possessing, demonstrating or showing, potential that gives evidence of high performance or capabilities in areas such as intellectual, creative think - ing, academics, leadership, visual and performing arts, and, requires servic - es Rr aFWiviWies nRW Rrdinaril\ SrRvided E\ WKe sFKRRl´ 3assRZ  7Ke 252 de�niWiRn addresses WKe age RI idenWi�FaWiRn and alsR WKe need IRr sSeFial educational programme. The need for special education of the gifted has been considered by many of the educationists and psychologists. A large number of educa - tional programmes for gifted have been suggested by different researchers. &rXiFNsKanN -RKnsRn  3assRZ  .iWanR .irE\  Southern (1991) have elaborated some of the major provisions for the spe - cial education of gifted. Telescoped programmes, curricular compacting, individualized studies, self-paced instruction, learning centers, early ad - mission to school, grade skipping, subject matter acceleration, acceler - ated enriched classes, advanced placement, extracurricular programmes are some of these. Through all these notions acceleration, segregation and enrichment of curriculum – horizontal and vertical seem to be the main directions of gifted education. Some of the experiments focused on enriching the curriculum and were FRnsidered WR Ee Eene�Fial 7Ke &alasanFWiXs 6FKRRl lRFaWed in %XIIalR 1eZ York, Major Work Programme in Cleveland, Ohio, the Marlborough and the Yehudi Menuhin School are examples of special enrichment programmes. Feldhusen (1998) provides a detailed account of Renzulli’s Enrichment Tri - ad/Revolving Door Model. Countries, other than USA also seem to have made some special pro - visions for the special education of the gifted. McCann (2000) has high - lighted some special provisions regarding educating gifted in various Asian countries. Extracurricular supplements, segregated classes, separate special schools for gifted students are commonly mentioned. Acceleration imple - mented in China, holistic approach in Australia, separate special schools in 7aiZan and .Rrea enriFKPenW SrRgraPPe in +Rng .Rng are sWaWed E\ 0F - Cann (2000). Japan is rXnning sSeFial sFKRRls Eased Rn *XilIRrd¶s  Structure of Intellect (SOI) model since around 30 years. Indonesia has been rXnning µ+igKsFKRRls RI ([FellenFe¶ sinFe  7Kailand Kas esWaElisKed WKe µ&enWre IRr WKe 'evelRSPenW RI *iIWedness in &Kildren¶ ,n *reaW %riWain %renWZRRd &Rllege RI (dXFaWiRn (sse[ sFKRRls Zere iPSlePenWing sRPe type of special education programmes. Evaluations of these programmes aIWer sKRrW inWervals Zere IRXnd WR Ee eIIeFWive lRngWerP inÀXenFes Zere nRW sWXdied WKRrRXgKl\ 3assRZ  :KaW is WKe SRliF\ RI ,ndian *Rvern - ment in this regard? 253 L ,n iWs reSRrW ,ndian (dXFaWiRn &RPPissiRn  FriWiFi]ed segre - gation and hence did not appear very enthusiastic to have separate education for gifted. A special committee, appointed to evaluate the existing educa - WiRnal s\sWeP NnRZn E\ naPe as .RWKari &RPPissiRn Pade Pan\ valXaEle recommendations including a few about gifted-education. It admitted the importance of enrichment programmes and vacation programmes. ,n  WKe gRvernPenW reali]ed need IRr Zidening KRri]Rns in giIWed edXFaWiRn and esWaElisKed  segregaWed sFKRRls IRr idenWi�ed giIWed in  sWaWes 7Ke\ are NnRZn as µ1avRda\a 9id\ala\as¶ (TXal RSSRrWXniW\ raWKer than equality, of education to all, especially from disadvantaged section, was the purpose behind these schools. All sorts of residential and other educa - tional facilities are provided. The objectives are said as “to foster national integrity, to preserve and nurture intelligence in socially and economically disadvantaged group, to give education for all-round development of chil - dren” and so on. The entrance to school is given on the basis of scores on intelligence tests. 6RPe SXEliF sFKRRls in 'elKi 1ava\Xg 9id\ala\a and 9id\a 1iNeWan sFKRRls are a sRrW RI giIWed sFKRRls 1eWWXrKXW in %iKar and alsR %angalRre have schools for gifted. The criteria of selection, however, are not necessar - ily the same. There are some schools, run by non-governmental agencies, all over India, each one implementing its own criteria for selection and picking up the cream of society. All of them have major focus on academic excel - lence and performance in examinations. Jnana Prabodhini, a Pune based institute in Maharashtra State, was set up E\ an edXFaWiRnal Ss\FKRlRgisW /aWe 'r 993endse ZiWK sSeFial inWenWiRn to impart enriched educational programme by segregating the intellectually giIWed sWXdenWs aIWer Sassing sWandard  7Ke insWiWXWe Zas FRndXFWing aIWer school classes in the evening for selected gifted from secondary and higher seFRndar\ sFKRRls sinFe  7Ken a sSeFial KigK sFKRRl IRr giIWed Zas sWarWed in  7Ke sFKRRl SrRvided an alWRgeWKer diIIerenW SaWWern RI sFKRRl education. It emphasized enrichment to nurture multiple facets of intelli - genFe and SersRnaliW\ ,n $Sril  /RndRn 7iPes 1) published an interview of Dr. Pendse in the light of a new experiment he started in India- the Jnana Prabodhini: a special school for gifted. The article highlighted the ‘venture ZiWKRXW *RvernPenW KelS¶ and Pan\ RWKer neZsSaSers in %riWain reFeived it well. All-round development of students, to give eminent leadership in variRXs areas WR IXl�ll naWiRn¶s needs Zas WKe Pain REMeFWive 6eleFWiRn Zas based on a battery of standardized intelligence tests. The enrichment con - sisted of motivated teachers, special methods of teaching, some unique extra curricular and co-curricular programmes, and celebration of some special occasions. Thus it is a classic example of segregation and enrichment. A retrospective study of past students of Jnana Prabodhini was under - taken. The purpose was to see if the students who were selected as gifted, studied in the Jnana Prabodhini have become different than those who stud - ied in normal schools. This paper presents the report regarding comparison of life accomplishments of gifted from Jnana Prabodhini and the gifted from normal schools. Comparison of personality, life perspectives and life goals will be covered in separate paper. M Design The study follows ‘only post test nonequivalent control group quasi- experimental’ design. Variables ,ndeSendenW 9ariaEle : Enriched Educational Programme – A segregated school programme for the gifted with addition of uncommon extra curricular activities; 'eSendenW 9ariaEle : Life accomplishments in academic, practical and social areas- named as Academic Accomplishments, Practical Accomplish - ments and Social Accomplishments; &RnWrRlled 9ariaEles : Gender, selection criterion and intelligence level as PeasXred E\ WKe 5aven¶s  6Wandard 3rRgressive 0aWriFes WesW5630 age at the time of intelligence testing, age at the time of data collection, and parents’ socio economic status. Hypotheses The study proposes to test the following null hypothesis: there is no sig - ni�FanW diIIerenFe EeWZeen WKe liIe aFFRPSlisKPenWs ± WKe $FadePiF 3raFWi - cal and Social, of the EEP-gifted group and the non EEP-gifted group, where  $FadePiF $FFRPSlisKPenWs inFlXde edXFaWiRnal TXali�FaWiRns ad - ditional educational achievements, courses and training programmes attend - ed, acquisition of languages, literature published, presentation of papers in conferences, seminars, etc.; 255 2. Practical Accomplishments include occupational status, achieved level of occupational status, income, material-possessions, type of dwelling, tours to foreign countries; 3. Social Accomplishments include membership of groups related to so - cial work, membership of groups other than social work (discussed qualita - tively), leadership performed, special recognitions achieved, participation in unique activities, talks delivered, training programmes conducted for others. Participants The sample consisted of 53 individuals, all men, in the age group of ± \ears 7Ke\ Kad Eeen in WKeir sFKRRl \ears ± seleFWed E\ an authorized psychological agency (Jnana Prabodhini’s Psychology Depart - ment- now known as Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology) on the basis of standardized intelligence tests and standing 95 PR or above, on Ra - ven¶s 6Wandard 3rRgressive 0aWriFes WesW 7KRse ZKR saWis�ed WKe FriWeriRn of having experienced the enrichment educational programme for at least six years, formed the Study group (enriched educational programme EEP) and those, who had not experienced the EEP at all, formed the C group (non en - riched educational programme group). The S group was further subdivided inWR WZR grRXSs as grRXS 6 RI  ZKR e[SerienFed WKe ((3 sFKRRl SrR - gramme for six years and S2 (of 10) who experienced the EEP through three years in school and three more years through the youth activity programme. 6iPilarl\ PaWFKed Rn age RI idenWi�FaWiRn and WKe age aW WKe WiPe RI daWa Measures 7RRl 1R  ³3ersRnal ,nIRrPaWiRn )RrP´ It included personal information about name, address, birth date, date 7RRl 1R  ³%rieI %iR'aWa´ This was a descriptive form encompassing information regarding gen - eral and special achievements; 7RRl 1R  ³$ERXW