Nurturing cognitive talent: Understanding the role of classroom social experiences in high-ability students’ academic engagement

To secure a society’s innovative capacity, it is key to foster talents of all youth, including students with outstanding cognitive abilities. However, research suggests a loss of academic engagement among high-ability youth, increasing their risk for underachievement. Integrating giftedness models with general developmental and motivational models on student engagement, this project aims to shed light on the role of classroom social experiences (i.e., interactions with teachers and peers) in supporting or undermining academic engagement of high- and average-ability youth. To this end, a large-scale longitudinal study investigating peer network and teacher influences on engagement and achievement trajectories is combined with an experience sampling study examining how engagement evolves from dynamic social learning experiences in real-life classes. Generalizability versus specificity of processes across ability groups is tested.

Keywords:classroom social interactions, engagement, high-ability, peer network influences

Disciplines:Educational and school psychology