Marburg gifted project
The Marburg Gifted Project (MHP) (also known as the Rost study ) is one of the few prospective studies with an unselected research group on the subject of giftedness . The MHP is one of the world's largest studies on this topic. The project is characterized by extremely precise methodology (test planning, test execution and statistical evaluation). The main question of the project is the comparison of the development of the gifted and the high- performing with an emphasis on non- cognitive variables (school adaptation, personality , social behavior , motivation , work attitude , interests , self-concept etc.). The project is led by the Marburg psychology professor Detlef H. Rost .
The study not only examines the development of the gifted, but also the so-called high performers . Although many gifted people achieve top performances, giftedness is neither a necessary nor sufficient requirement for these achievements: Neither do all gifted people belong to the high performers, nor are all high performers highly gifted. Both groups are therefore examined separately.
Gifted Study
As part of the study in 1987/1988, around 7,000 third-grade elementary school students were examined with several intelligence tests. From this sample , those children were selected who had achieved a value of 130 or higher in a combined value (weighted sum of the intelligence tests; the weights were determined on the basis of the saturation of each test with the general intelligence g ) of the IQ tests carried out, i.e. to belonged to the two percent best in their age group. There were a total of 151 gifted students, 43% girls and 57% boys. This target group was then assigned a comparison group of 136 children with average intelligence and a similar socio-economic status . Although the third graders were selected solely on the basis of their intelligence test performance, the highly gifted were disproportionately often from the upper social classes. The subjects did not find out whether they were gifted or belonged to the control group.
A year later (1988/1989) the parents' homes of these children were visited. The children themselves and their fathers and mothers were psychologically examined and questioned. The children's class teachers were also included in the surveys. Both groups were retested six years later when the children were 15 and were usually in ninth grade. Here, too, the parents, German and math teachers were interviewed. Further postal surveys are carried out at regular intervals.
High-performing study
The study group of high performers was made up of 118 young people from the ninth grades of 156 randomly selected high schools in the new federal states. The only selection criterion was school performance. The 9th grade pupils who had the best school performance were considered to be high-performing. Here, too, a comparison group was formed with average performers, made up of 112 ninth graders. Among the high-performers, girls were clearly in the majority with 58% compared to 42% boys, whereby this ratio also corresponds to the actual gender ratio at East German grammar schools. Two thirds of the high performers came from the upper class , while this was the case for only about a quarter of the average performers. The high and average performers and their caregivers (fathers, mothers, teachers) - as in the gifted group - were examined in detail psychologically.
Results of the investigations
The study does away with popular clichés. As a result, Rost describes characteristics such as outsiders, aggressiveness and concentration problems , which are often ascribed to gifted people in popular media, as mere prejudices. The research results of the project have so far been presented and evaluated in 9 monographs (see the information below under literature ) and more than 40 articles in psychological and educational journals.
Intelligence distribution
The intelligence measurement in the two ability groups and the comparison with the two gifted groups produced interesting, but overall not particularly surprising results. It was found that the average performers, as far as their intelligence is concerned, corresponded to the average gifted; her mean IQ was around 100.
On the other hand, there were clear differences between the group of high achievers in school and that of the gifted. The top students had a statistical mean IQ of about 117, with a standard deviation of 11.5. That means that around 15 percent of high performers were also to be regarded as highly gifted. On the other hand, this distribution also means that around 15% of students in the 9th school year with average intelligence achieve excellent school results.
Proportion of highly gifted people with unexpectedly low school performance (underperformers)
The study shows that only less than a sixth of the gifted are underperformers . This means that only a few highly gifted students do not achieve school performance that would be expected based on their high level of intelligence. The study refutes the prejudice that the majority of gifted people are underperformers.
Overall, it was found that the gifted (here the highly intelligent) do not represent a risk group. The differences to the average gifted were small and were more often in favor of the gifted.
Integration of the gifted in the school system
Another question dealt with the competence of teachers (and peers) to identify gifted people. What was surprising here was the “empirically found range from almost complete agreement to zero correlation between teacher judgment and test”. Since pupils have a “right to individual and not just statistical justice”, the determined situation is “a direct obstacle to the use of teacher judgments”.
In conclusion, the researchers of the Marburg gifted project came to the following conclusion: “In summary, gifted students can be characterized as being well integrated in the school system, successful in school, socially inconspicuous, psychologically particularly stable and self-confident. If one also takes into account the comparable findings of the Marburg project for gifted students in elementary school age, the particular psychosocial problems of gifted students that are repeatedly highlighted in the (predominantly non-empirical) literature can be exposed as simple prejudices. "
literature
- Detlef H. Rost (Ed.): Environment analysis of gifted children. The Marburg gifted project. Hogrefe, Göttingen 1993, ISBN 978-3801704797 .
- Detlef H. Rost (ed.): Gifted and high-performing young people. Findings from the Marburg gifted project. 2nd, expanded edition. Waxmann, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-8309-1997-1 .
- Annette Tettenborn: Families with gifted children. Waxmann, Münster 1996, ISBN 3-89325-396-3 .
- Inez Freund-Braier: giftedness, high performance, personality. Waxmann, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-8309-1070-3 .
- Susanne R. Schilling: Gifted young people and their peers. Waxmann, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8309-1074-6 .
- Corinna Schütz: Performance-based thinking in highly talented young people. Waxmann, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-89325-685-7 .
- Christiane Pruisken: Interests and hobbies of gifted primary school children. Waxmann, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-8309-1472-5 .
- Jörn R. Sparfeldt: Professional interests of highly talented young people. Waxmann, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-8309-1672-8 .
- Klaus Peter Wild: Identification of gifted students. Teachers and students as data sources. Asanger, Heidelberg 1991, ISBN 3-89334-190-0 .
- Claudia Wetzel: Soft skills in studies and work. A comparative study of gifted students and business consultants. Waxmann, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-8309-1815-8 .