The Talent Development of American Physics Olympians

Feng, Annie; Campbell, James Reed; Verna, Marilyn Ann

doi:10.1080/15332276.2001.11672972

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In most of these contests, students compete in multiple rounds against each other, first through remote problem solving and eventually through in-person live contests [8]. Students participating in these competitions report positive effects on their interest and career decisions [11]. Furthermore, research on former participants suggests that the vast majority of the competitors in the higher rounds pursue a math or sciencerelated career and exhibit performance above average [12].…”

Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging young women in physics: An intervention to support young women’s physics identity development

Wulff

Hazari

Petersen

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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This study presents findings on the physics identity development of female students in the German Physics Olympiad who participated in an intervention designed to support their engagement in physics. Enrichment programs such as the Physics Olympiad have been found to positively impact students' engagement and intent to pursue a career in science. However, many enrichment programs, including the Physics Olympiad, suffer from an underrepresentation of young women. The intervention investigated in this study capitalizes on gender-related research in physics education in order to explore ways in which gender equity can be raised in enrichment programs. To this end, we designed an identity-safe learning environment that facilitates participating young women's physics identity development. For example, same-sex groupings and considerately adopted physics contents that particularly acknowledge young women's interests (e.g., relation to medical issues and the human body) were utilized. Overall, 30 Olympians took part in a one-day intervention (13 females, 17 males). Positive effects in two important physics identity constructs, namely, interest and competence, for young women were found, while at the same time no effects were found for young men. Furthermore, the young women were more likely to participate in next year's Physics Olympiad, compared to the overall female Physics Olympiad population. These results indicate that the careful design of an intervention based on gender research and science identity theory can support young women's physics identity development.

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Section: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging young women in physics: An intervention to support young women’s physics identity development

Wulff

Hazari

Petersen

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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show abstract

“…The latter research finding has been verified by Chan (1996), who reported that adolescent gifted students were more likely to attribute failure to lack of effort than to attribute it to low ability. The American and Taiwanese Olympians have also attributed success and failure more to effort than to ability (Feng, Campbell, & Verna, 2001;Wu & Chen, 2001). Heller and Lengfelder (2000) investigated 100 German Olympian finalists and 135 Prefinalists in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.…”

Section: Mathematical Giftedness and Attribution Stylesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The SaaS questionnaire included 18 items measuring the students' attributions based on self-attribution theory (Weiner, 1974). Although Weiner's original conceptualization contained four attributions (ability, effort, difficulty, and luck), the statistical analysis based on numerous empirical samples produced only two distinct scales: Effort and Ability (Campbell, 1996a(Campbell, , 1996bFeng et al, 2001;Heller & Lengfelder, 2000;Tirri, 2001). In each of these studies, a consistent factor structure was found for the Ability and Effort scales.…”

Section: Measurement Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Influence of Attribution Styles on the Development of Mathematical Talent

Nokelainen

Tirri

Merenti-Välimäki³

2007

Gifted Child Quarterly

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In this article, the authors examine the influence of attribution styles on the development of mathematical talent. The study employs a Self-Confidence Attitude Attribute Scale questionnaire, which measures ability and effort attributions. Participants are three groups of highly, moderately, or mildly mathematically gifted Finnish adolescents and adults (N = 203). The results of Bayesian classification modeling show that items attributing success to effort and failure to lack of effort are the best predictors for the level of mild mathematical giftedness and gender (females). The results of multivariate analysis of variance show that highly and moderately mathematically gifted students reported that ability was more important for success than effort, but mildly mathematically gifted tended to see effort as leading to success. Moderately and mildly mathematically gifted students attribute failure to lack of effort, whereas highly mathematically gifted students attribute failure to lack of ability.Putting the Research to Use: It is essential that educators and parents understand the influence of different attribution styles on the development of mathematical talent. This study provides understanding of how highly, moderately, and mildly mathematically gifted adolescents and adults differ in their specific reasons for success and failure. Differences in attribution styles between the three groups of mathematically gifted, as measured with the Self-Confidence Attitude Attribute Scales questionnaire, indicate that it is important to know if the attributions for success or failure are stable or unstable, external or internal.Knowledge of how learners or trainees use attributions to account for success and failure can help educators and parents gain a deeper awareness of the mathematically gifted and, thus, predict their expectancies and plan intervention strategies when needed. The information is also applicable to courses concerning the needs of the gifted. Furthermore, the information can be presented directly to mathematically gifted students to help them develop more insight into their own behavior.

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“…In studies of academic Olympians using Weiner's theory, the Finnish Olympians tend to attribute success and failure both to ability and to effort, and identify effort as being slightly more important for talent development than ability (Tirri, 2001). Similarly, the Taiwanese of China and the American Olympic participants attribute achievement more to effort than to ability (Feng, Campbell, & Verna, 2001;Wu & Chen, 2001), while the German participants attribute their achievements more to ability (Heller & Lengfelder, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Do Students’ Mindsets in Learning Reflect their Cultural Values and Predict Academic Achievement?

Zhang¹,

Kuusisto²,

Tirri³

2019

IJLTER

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Inspired by previous research indicating implicit beliefs about the malleability of human qualities, namely mindset, to affect learning outcomes, this article compares how Chinese and Finnish students' mindsets and attributions for success reflect their cultural values and predict their academic achievement. The study was conducted in one Chinese (N=705) and two Finnish (N=495) middle schools utilizing Dweck's mindset inventory, Weiner's attribution scale and students' school marks. The results illustrated that both Chinese and Finnish students held a growth mindset, and all identified the nature of intelligence as being more malleable than giftedness. However, Chinese students did not differentiate between intelligence and giftedness as clearly as Finnish students. Both students attributed the cause of their academic achievements to effort and ability, but placed more emphasis on effort. Furthermore, Chinese students' preference for effort significantly accounted for higher language marks, whereas Finnish students with fixed mindsets about giftedness achieved higher mathematics marks. Cultural interpretation, implications and limitations of the results were discussed.

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The Talent Development of American Physics Olympians

Cited by 16 publications

References 16 publications

Engaging young women in physics: An intervention to support young women’s physics identity development

Engaging young women in physics: An intervention to support young women’s physics identity development

Investigating the Influence of Attribution Styles on the Development of Mathematical Talent

How Do Students’ Mindsets in Learning Reflect their Cultural Values and Predict Academic Achievement?

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