Pursuing Qualitative Differences in the Flexible Use of Problem-Solving Strategy by Young Children

Abstract

Research literature has offered educators little guidance in their efforts to respond to demands for qualitatively differentiated education for the gifted. To address this state of neglect, an interactive assessment environment was designed to explore a number of qualitative and quantitative dimensions of young children's learning as they generalized a problem-solving strategy learned on one version of the Tower of Hanoi to a similar but different version of the task. Eighty-nine 4- to 8-year-olds were assigned to one of four groups based on their IQ and age: young average IQ (n = 20, CA = 58.3 months, IQ = 105.2); young high IQ (n = 22, CA = 59.3 months, IQ = 153.5); older average IQ (n = 22, CA = 94.5 months, IQ = 103.2); and older high IQ (n = 25, CA = 94.8 months, IQ = 155.4). Quantitative comparisons of the children's performances on the two tasks confirmed the expected benefits of intellectual ability and age on the generalization of learning. The qualitative data suggest that the high IQ children had a more accurate conception of the problem; preferred to “own” their solution to the problems; learned more from their illegal moves, and more frequently recognized the similarity of features of the two tasks. In some cases the 4 and 5 year-old high IQ children were superior to the 7 and 8 year-olds of the same mental age. Based on these findings recommendations for the design of appropriate learning opportunities for high IQ children are offered.