Perceptualand Motor Skills, 1992, 75, 463-466. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1992

SPECIFIC AND DIVERSIVE CURIOSITY IN GIFTED ELEMENTARY STUDENTS ' LEIGH JOHNSON AND JOHN BEER North Central Kansas Special Education Coop Summary.-Twenty-nine gifted students in Grades 2 to 6 from the small school districts in north central Kansas completed the Maze test and the Which-to-Discuss test. Background information such as age, sex, grade, and marital status of parents was also collected. There were no significant differences between boys and giuls or for students from divorced and nondivorced parents on either the Wluch-to-Discuss test (specific curiosity) or the Maze test scores (diversive curiosity). The students scored significantly higher on the former test than chance guessing which suggests the students were displaying specific curiosity. Scores of these gifted students on these two tests of curiosity were significantly and positively correlated.

The Maze test is described as a measure of diversive curiosity on which changelessness, repetition, or monotony are conditions set to arouse diversive curiosity, while the Which-to-Discuss test provides a measure of specific curiosity for which complexity, incongruency, or novelty are pertinent stimuli for this form of curiosity. The two tests, simple paper-and-pencil tasks, were shown by Silverstein, Pearson, Dunnick, and Ford (1981) to measure different constructs when administered to a group of adolescent educable mentally handicapped students. This would be expected on the basis of Berlyne's (1971) report that different and distinct traits are expected for individuals who show a tendency towards one type of curiosity. In a study of Special Education students (Beer, 1986) gifted students performed significantly higher on the Which-to-Discuss test (specific curiosity) than students who showed learning disabilities, personal and social problems in adjustment, and mentally handicapped children. The latter students performed significantly lower on the Maze test (diversive curiosity) than did the other groups. While no difference on the Maze test and the Which-toDiscuss test was reported in a study of mentally handicapped adults (educable and trainable mentally handicapped), these men selected significantly more unbalanced figures than the women (Beer & Beer, 1986). Scores on the first two tests did not correlate significantly which suggests they assess different constructs. On the Maze test (Howard, 1961; Howard & Diesenhaus, 1965) are presented open-ended identical mazes with no single correct path. The task is not finding one correct path through the maze, but rather, it is to take a different path than was taken on the previously completed maze. On the 'Request reprints from Mr. John Beer, 909 5th, Natorna, KS 67651.

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Which-to-Discuss test (Maw & Maw, 1961, 1962) are 20 pairs of figures and symbols; one of each pair is more balanced or symmetrical than the other. The subjects were asked if they could hear a story about only one of the figures of a pair to indicate which figure they would select. The present study investigated in a sample of gifted school students the relationships among scores on the two measures of specific and diversive curiosity since t h s group might perform very differently from previously tested groups.

Subjects The subjects were 29 gifted students recruited from the small north central Kansas elementary school districts. They were attending gifted seminars conducted twice a year across the 14 school districts in the special education coop. The students volunteered to participate. There were 3 second graders, 5 third graders, 7 fourth graders, 7 fifth graders, and 7 sixth graders. Seventeen percent or five of the students had parents who were divorced; see Table 1. TABLE 1 NUMBERSOF STUDENTS, TOTALS, A N D PERCENTS BY GRADES FORGnus OF DIVORCED A N D NONDNORCED PARENTS Grade Boy

Nondivorced Parents Girl Total

2

1

1

2

3

3

5

4

3

5

1 3 11

2 4 4 2 13

6

Total

7

5 5 24

%

7 17 24 17 17 83

Boy

Divorced Parents Girl Total

AND

BOYS Total

%

I

0

1

3

3

0

0 0

0 0

0

5

0

1

0

2 2

1

5

7 7 17

7 7 7 29

0 1 2 4

Procedure Background information was collected from each subject including age, grade, marital status of the parents, and sex. Teachers of the gifted children administered the pencil-and-paper questionnaires, the Maze test, and the Which-to-Discuss test in that order. The Maze test consisted of five identical copies of a printed open-ended maze, without a correct path. A subject's score was the number of changed paths minus the number made on the preceding trial. The Which-to-Discuss test was comprised of 40 pairs of geometric figures. I n each pair one of the figures was balanced, familiar, or symmetrical while the other figure was unbalanced, unfamiliar, and asymrnetrical. The subjects were shown the figures and asked to indicate which one they would choose if they could hear a story about only one of the pair. The

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CURIOSITY OF GIFTED ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

total number of unbalanced, unfamiliar, and asymmetrical figures selected was the score.

RESULTSAND DISCUSSION Descriptive statistics for this small sample on age and specific and diversive curiosity by sex are presented in Table 2. TABLE 2 NUMBERSOF STUDENTS, MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS, AND RANGES FORMAZE TEST, SCHOOLSTUDENTS WHICH-TO-DISCUSS TEST,A N D AGE FORGIFTEDELEMENTARY Group

N

M

SD

Range

Age, yr.

Maze Test Boys

Girls Divorced Patents Nondivorced Parents Which-to-DiscussTest Boys

Girls Divorced Parents Nondivorced Parents Analyses of variance by sex were performed on each dependent measure (Maze and Which-to-Discuss scores). There were no significant differences by sex on the Maze scores (F,,2, = 0.35, p>O.O5) and none on the Whichto-Discuss scores (F,, = 1.67, p > 0.05). A t test was performed on the mean Which-to-Discuss test scores against the arbitrary mean of 10 since there were two figures from which to choose for each of the 20 paired items. This is equivalent to an hypothesis of no difference between pairs. The t ratio was significant (t = 4.04, p ~ 0 . 0 1 , n = 29). The students scored significantly higher than they would be expected to if they were merely guessing so their responses showed they were displaying some specific curiosity. The Pearson correlation between scores on the Maze and Which-to-Discuss tests (r = 0.38, p < 0.01, n = 29) was significant and indicated that these tests perhaps, given the 15% overlap, were measuring somewhat similar aspects of curiosity in t h s small sample of gifted students from northern Kansas. REFERENCES BEER,J. (1986) Specific and diversive curiosity in students in special education. Psychological Reporh, 59, 307-309. BEER,J., & BEER, J. (1986) Specific and diversive curiosity in mentally retarded adults. Psychological Reports, 59, 846. BERLYNE,D. E. (1971) What next? Concluding summary. In H. I. Day, D. E. Berlyne, & D.

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E. Hunt (Eds.), Intrinsic motivation: a new direction in education. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart &Winston. Pp. 186-196. HOWARD, K. I. (1961) A test of stimulus-seeking behavior. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 13, 416. HOWARD, K. I., & DIESENHAUS, H. I. (1965) Handbook for the Maze Test. Research Reports of the Institute for Juvenile Research Department of Mental Health, State of Illinois, 2, No. 2. MAW, W. H., & MAW,E. W. (1961) Nonhomeostatic experiences as stimuli of children with high curiosiry. Califarnra journal of Educational Research, 12, 57-61. m w , W. H., & f i w , E. W. (1962) Selection of unbalanced and unusual designs of children high in curiosity. Child Development, 3 3 , 917-922. SILVERSTEIN, A . B., PEAHSON, L. B., DUNNICK, D. F., & FORD, T. M. (1981) Psychometric properties of two measures of intrinsic motivation. Perceptual and Mofor Skills, 53, 655658. Accepted Azlgust 3, 7992

Specific and diversive curiosity in gifted elementary students.

Twenty-nine gifted students in Grades 2 to 6 from the small school districts in north central Kansas completed the Maze test and the Which-to-Discuss ...
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