NAGC 2012 Operation Houndstooth presentation

1. Neag Center for Gifted Education
and Talent Development
SAVE TIME…
Pick Up This Flash Key At
Our Booth In the
Exhibit Hall
All the Resources in One Location
www.gifted.uconn.edu

2. How Good Gifts Can Promote Good Works:
The Role of Gifted Education In The
Production of Social Capital
gi f t e d
o f the
Teachers are the
<
unacknowledged
legislators
of the world.
Ashley Montagu
Related Gifted Education Assumptions
1.Young people with high potential will emerge to positions of influence and policy
making responsibilities in all walks of life – science, literature, government,
business, religion, the arts, and our culture at large.
2. Therefore, a challenge for our field is to provide these young with opportunities,
resources, and encouragement to devote some of their talent potential to the
production of social capital.

3. What is Social Capital?
Actions that benefit others -- single individuals or targeted
groups, entire communities, the culture or society-at-large, the
Earth’s resources…
…as distinct from actions that are only taken only to
benefit one’s own financial gain, status, power or
authority, or how one is viewed in the eyes of others
 Social Capital is produced when people take
action in the following areas:
Social Justice, Economic Fairness, Political
Activity, Cultural Enhancement, Ecological
Preservation, and Ethical, Moral, and Spiritual
Leadership

4. Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (adj) (German)
Ga-mein-shafts-ga-fuel
lack of ego involvement; focusing on problems outside
one’s self; social interest; feeling of kinship with others;
democratic character structure; unhostile sense of
humor; kindness; regard for fellow human beings.
Filotomo (Greek)
Giving of yourself and expecting nothing
in return

5. Giftedness!
1. Who are they?
1a. What causes some people to use their
gifts and talents in socially constructive
and action oriented ways?
2. How do we develop it?
2a. How can we promote more socially
constructive giftedness and action
orientation on the parts of young people?

6. A good head and
a good heart are
always a
formidable
combination.
Nelson Mandela

7. Operation Houndstooth
Intelligences Outside The
Normal Curve
Related Gifted
Education Assumptions
1.Young people with high potential
will emerge to positions of
influence and policy making
responsibilities in all walks of life.
2. Therefore, a challenge for our
field is to provide these young with
opportunities, resources, and
encouragement to devote some of
their talent potential to the
production of social capital.

8. Keeping the previous two assumptions in
mind, a good answer to questions about an
expanded vision for gifted education might
be…
We are not engaged in producing just
good performers in the market place or
able technocrats. Our task is the
education of good human beings,
purposeful and wise, themselves with a
vision of what it is to be human and of the
kind of society which makes that
possible.
Dr. George Carey
Former Archbishop of Canterbury

10. A Focus on Creative Productivity
The Development of Social Capital
The Three-Ring Conception
of Giftedness
Fully
Functioning
Executive Functions
Self-Actualized
Operation Houndstooth
Individual
Leadership in a Changing World

13. "The things that will
destroy us are: politics
without principle; pleasure
without conscience; wealth
without work; knowledge
without character; business
without morality; science
without humanity; and
worship without sacrifice."
Mohandas Gandhi

14. bt that a small group of
, committed citizens can
e world; indeed, it’s the
that ever does.
Ma

19. Malala Yousafzai (Pashto: ‫ ملله یوسفزۍ‬Malālah Yūsafzay, born 12 July 1997) is
a school student and education activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat
District of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for her
education and women's rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban
had at times banned girls from attending school. In early 2009, at the age of
11/12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her
life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her
views on promoting education for girls. The following summer, a New York
Times documentary was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military
intervened in the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai
began to rise in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television and
taking a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat.
She has since been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize
by Desmond Tutu and has won Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize.
A number of prominent individuals, including the Canadian Minister of
Citizenship, are supporting a petition to nominate Yousafzai for the Nobel
Peace Prize.

20. On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an
assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a
school bus. In the days immediately following the attack, she remained
unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved
enough for her to be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for
intensive rehabilitation.
On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā
against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent
to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin.
Former British Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global
Education Gordon Brown launched a United Nations petition in
Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding
that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015.
Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan's President Asif Ali
Zardari in November. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has announced
that November 10 will be celebrated as Malala Day.

26. Intelligences Outside
the Normal Curve
ROMANCE WITH A TOPIC OR
PHYSICAL/MENTAL
DISCIPLINE
ENERGY
VISION/SENSE OF DESTINY SENSITIVITY TO HUMAN
CONCERNS
COURAGE
OPTIMISM
Operation Houndstooth

27. Operation
Houndstooth
Co-Cognitive
Factor Scale

28. Self
Assessment of
Interest and
Comparison to
Peers

29. Young Person’s Houndstooth Survey
I am in grade: Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Agree
I am a: Girl Boy Disagree Agree
24. I am always happy.
Color in the face that most closely matches how you feel about each sentence. As your teacher to
explain any you don’t understand. 25. I have a lot of energy.
26. If I help someone out, I expect them to help me
Strongly Strongly later.
Disagree Agree
Disagree Agree 27. If someone is being mean, I tell them so.
1. I help others without being asked. 28. I often think about what I want to be when I grow
2. I stand up for what I believe is right. up.
29. I know the world will be a better place in the
3. I know what I want to be when I grow up.
future.
4. I look for the good in every situation. 30. I have the energy to finish projects that interest me.
5. I am eager to learn new things. 31. I feel awful when someone gets hurt, even if it
6. I look at things from other peoples’ points of view. wasn’t my fault.
7. If a friend asked me to do something that was 32. I am able to do what is right, even if it is not the
wrong, I would say no. cool thing to do.
8. I know that I will do something important when I 33. I make goals for myself.
grow up. 34. I have many good things to look forward to.
9. I am hopeful about the future.
35. I am always thinking up new ideas.
10. I am a curious person.
36. I keep working on something I enjoy, even after
11. I think about other people’s feelings.
other people get bored.
12. If an adult asked me to do something that was
wrong, I would say no.
13. I can change my life to make it better. For these questions you will be asked to think about something that you enjoy
14. If I have a bad day, I know tomorrow will be doing. Try to think of one thing that you really enjoy.
better.
Write it here: . For the rest of this
15. I ask a lot of questions.
survey, the thing that you wrote above will be called your “Interest Area.”
16. I think of how my actions affect other people.
17. I say what I think, even around people who may Strongly Strongly
feel differently. Disagree Agree
Disagree Agree
18. I can make the world a better place.
37. I love to learn about my interest
19. I often feel there is nothing to be hopeful about. area.
20. I am a hard worker. 38. I like to spend a lot of time working
21. When I help others, I don’t expect anything in on my interest area.
return. 39. I am happy when I get to do
22. I am brave. something in my interest area.
40. I would enjoy taking a lesson or
23. I know that I will be successful in the future. class in my interest area.

30. Examples of Items from The Young Person’s
Houndstooth Survey
I am always happy.
I help others without being asked.
I am able to do what is right, even if it’s not the cool thing to do.
I am hopeful about the future.
I make goals for myself.

31. THE IMPACT OF A PEER LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
ON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SOCIAL CAPITAL,
AS MEASURED BY CO-COGNITIVE FACTORS OF
THE RENZULLI HOUNDSTOOTH THEORY
The National Association for Gifted Children
November, 2012
Michelle M. Sands, EdD
Nancy N. Heilbronner, PhD
Western Connecticut State University
31

32. We must remember that intelligence is not
enough.
Intelligence plus character- that is the goal
of true education.
Martin Luther King
32

33. Purpose
To explore the impact of
different types of school-
based experiences (Direct
Involvement I and II) on the
development of high school
students’ social capital.
To provide further validation
of the Co-CFS Instrument
(Sytsma, 2003).
33

34. Figure 1 Operation Houndstooth (Renzulli, 2002)
34

35. Operation Houndstooth
Intervention Theory
Figure 2. Operation Houndstooth Intervention
35 Theory (Renzulli, Koehler, & Fogarty, 2006)

36. Description of Intervention
16 Weeks
36

37. Examples of Projects
Peer Leadership Key Club
Literacy Event for ELL March of Dimes Walk
Shoe4Africa Special Olympics
Fireman’s Breakfast Blood Drive
Helping Military Heroes Pies for Custodians
Freshman Orientation Volunteer in
Classrooms
37

38. Instrumentation
Co-Cognitive Factor Scale, Form F (Co-CFS) (Systsma,
2003)
26 items with Likert-type response ranging from 1 to 5.
Six subscales: Physical/Mental Energy, Sensitivity to
Human Concerns, Romance with a Topic/Discipline,
Vision/Sense of Destiny, Optimism, Courage
Open-ended Survey Items
38

39. Quantitative Findings
Students in the Peer Leadership Program scored
significantly higher on Physical/Mental Energy
than students in the control group (p = .015).
Students in the Key Club scored significantly
higher on Sensitivity to Human Concerns than
students in the Peer Leadership Program (p = .
011) and control (p =.008) groups.
39

40. Qualitative Responses
From Key Club Participants…
“I learned to think about other people
besides myself…”
“I found out that I love giving more than
receiving. I mean, receiving is good, but
I found out that I like to give more.”
40

41. From Peer Leadership
Participants…
“I took the opportunity to choose something that I
thought would change me.”
“I believe that working with others is extremely
important. There were so many times we found
ourselves with conflicts or disagreements.
Though we overcame these obstacles they taught
me to be a team player.”
“The whole process of organizing an event was a
huge learning experience. I learned to be
extremely organized and to plan ahead of time.”
41

42. Qualitative Findings
Peer Leadership Program = Project Logistics
Key Club = People-Oriented Outcomes
Key Club: “I made
Peer Leadership:
others happy. I really
“Coordinating a experienced that it
fundraiser takes a lot was better to give than
more work and time receive. It brought me
than I expected. joy… I have never
There are many really felt that.”
crucial steps to take
that I was not aware
of before taking on
this project. I learned
how to work for
success.”
42

43. Key Club:
Peer Leadership:
Wanting to Make a
Personal Connection Difference
“I was inspired by a family
“My motivation is to help
that has two children with
people who live in poverty or
Cystic Fibrosis, so it is near
those who are less fortunate
and dear to me.”
than me.”
43

44. Impact on Students’ Views of Helping Others
Peer Leadership Program
“ I have always
“My desire to
felt it was
help and the
important to help
importance of
others. The
it definitely
program
became
provided
stronger.”
opportunities,
skills, and
motivation to do
“It made me something.”
realize some of
the things people
are going through “I am used to
and made me projects like this.”
want to do more.”
44
Key Club

45. Implications for Practice
45

46. Future Research
How may Direct Involvement I and II activities be
structured for the maximum development of social
capital?
Do factors such as type and frequency of contact with
recipients of students’ efforts impact the development
of the co-cognitive factors?
Does the experience of initiating and facilitating a Direct
Involvement II experience increase the likelihood of
becoming involved in similar projects in the future?
46 Future empirical studies validating instrumentation

47. Character, in the long run, is the
decisive factor in the life of an individual
and of nations alike.
Theodore Roosevelt
47

48. Questions?
48