Conservation of Weight with the Gifted

Acquisition of Formal Operations by Intellectually Gifted Children

“…The present study was designed to investigate differences between gifted and normal children during the transition to, and progression through, the stage of formal operations. It differs from earlier work in three respects: (1976) and Brekke et al (1976) studies. Either situation precludes the possibility of testing for an age-by-ability interaction, such as has been hypothesized here.…”

“…Some studies have indicated significant differences between gifted children and their normal-ability age-mates (e.g., DeVries, 1973aDeVries, , 1973bRader, 1975;Webb, 1974); other studies show the two groups to be similar if not equivalent (e.g., Brekke, Johnson, Williams, & Morrison, 1976;Brown, 1973). A reconciliation of these conflicting results seems to lie at least partly in the age range under investigation.…”

“…For example, for the age range 10-5 to 12-10, Kuhn (1976) found a nonsignificant correlation of .22 between MA and performance on three formal operational tasks, while the correlation between CA and these same tasks was .51. Similarly, Brekke et al (1976) reported no significant difference on a conservation of weight task, between gifted (mean IQ = 138) and average-intelligence (mean IQ = 103) students ranging in age from 9-6 to 12-6. In the Webb (1974) study, CA seemed to be a more important variable than intelligence for predicting success on Piagetian tasks.…”

An application of cognitive‐developmental theory to the identification of gifted children

“…When tasks with an inadequate ceiling are used to detect differences between gifted and normal children, discrimination is not possible because both groups show mastery. The Brekke et al (1976) study is a case in point.…”

“…Most researchers analyzed their data by combining subjects into age ranges rather than using a discrete age (e.g. Brekke et al, 1976). The procedure precludes detecting performance differences between homogeneous age levels (i.e.…”