NBA Basketball Game Is Important Sport In U.S.A.: 4月 2012

2012年4月30日星期一

Famous English and British Battles and Wars from 59 AD to Present

Soldiers in the trenches of the First World War would often quote that they fought for each other. It makes us English a united culture, the envy of so many around the world. It is part of the English Enigma. It is why the English can laugh at themselves and celebrate defeats. It is their confidence and their very character.

In peacetime we English played and invented many sports and Games which we gave the world including Football, Rugby, Cricket etc.

Queen Boudecca and the Rebellion of 59 AD Boudicca was the wife of Prasutagus, who was head of the Iceni tribe in East England, in what is now Norfolk and Suffolk.After Prasutagus died in 59 AD the Romans arrived to take over half the kingdom and seize control. To humiliate the former rulers, the Romans beat Boudicca publicly, raped their two daughters, seized the wealth of many Iceni and sold much of the royal family into slavery.

Led by Boudicca, about 100,000 British attacked Camulodunum (now Colchester), where the Romans had their main centre of rule. With Suetonius and most of the Roman forces away, Camulodunum was not well-defended, and the Romans were driven out. The Procurator Decianus was forced to flee. Boudicca's army burned Camulodunum to the ground; only the Roman temple was left.

Immediately Boudicca's army turned to the largest city in the British Isles, Londinium (London). Suetonius strategically abandoned the city, and Boudicca's army burned Londinium and massacred the 25,000 inhabitants who had not fled. Archaeological evidence of a layer of burned ash shows the extent of the destruction.

List of Anglo Welsh Wars from 446 AD to 598 AD This is a list of wars and battles between the English or England and the Welsh from the Adventus Saxonum in c.446AD to the late Middle Ages when they ceased.

The Battle of Mons Badonicus 490 - 517 AD The Battle of Mons Badonicus (English Mount Badon, Welsh Mynydd Baddon) was a battle between a force of Britons and an Anglo Saxon army, probably sometime between 490 and 517 AD. Though it is believed to have been a major political and military event, there is no certainty about its date or place.

Battle of Edington 878 AD In the late 9th century the Danes had slowly but surely infiltrated the British Isles and pushed back the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. They already held the north and east of the country. A temporary defeat at Ashdown had interrupted, but not stopped, the Danish advances. Under Guthrum, they pushed into Wessex from the south and east. They launched a winter attack on a surprised King Alfred at his court of Chippenham.

The Battle of Ethandun by King Alfred The Great 878 AD Alfred won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Ethandun, which may have been fought near Westbury, Wiltshire. He then pursued the Danes to their stronghold at Chippenham and starved them into submission. One of the terms of the surrender was that Guthrum convert to Christianity; and three weeks later the Danish king and 29 of his chief men were baptised at Alfred's court at Aller, near Athelney, with Alfred receiving Guthrum as his spiritual son.

Battles of Brunanburh 937 AD was an Anglo-Saxon victory in 937 by the army of thelstan, King of Angle-Land, and his brother, Edmund, over the combined armies of Olaf III Guthfrithson, Norse-Gael King of Dublin, Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen I, King of Strathclyde.

The Battle of Maldon AD 991Took place on the shores of the River Blackwater in Essex. There was a heroic stand by the Anglo-Saxons against the Viking invasion which ended in utter defeat for Brithnoth and his men. The battle's progress is related in a famous Anglo-Saxon poem, only part of which survives.

Battle of Fulford - 1066 AD and Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066.The Battle of Fulford, on the outskirts of York, has been overshadowed by the other great battles of 1066 at Stamford Bridge and Hastings.

The Battle of Hastings 1066 AD The Battle of Hastings which took place on October 14th. 1066 is considered to be the decisive battle resulting in the Norman conquest of England. The battle took place at Senlac Hill, about eighteen miles from Hastings.

Battle of The Standard or The Battle of Northallerton 1138 AD The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, in which English Forces repelled a Scottish Army which took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire.

Lincoln (First Battle of Lincoln) 1141 AD The contest between Stephen of Blois and his cousin Maud ( Matilda ) for the throne of England was a messy affair, with first one side and then the other side gaining the upper hand. A supporter of Maud's cause, Ranulf de Tailebois, seized control of Lincoln Castle and fortified it against attack. The citizens of Lincoln appealed to King Stephen for help.

Lincoln ( Second Battle of Lincoln ) - 1217 AD King John's conflict with his powerful barons was at the root of the conflict known as the Battle of Lincoln Fair. The king was forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. Louis, Dauphin of France, sent troops to aide the baron's cause.

Battle of Lewes 1264 AD The reign of Henry III was beset by conflict with the Barons. Henry's autocratic rule, his favouritism at Courttowards unpopular French nobles, particularly his despised half brothers, his foreign policies, and his refusal to discuss or negotiate policy with his Barons led ultimately to the Barons War of 1263 1267.

Battle of Evesham 1265 ADThe Battle of Evesham in 1265 restored Henry III to the English throne where he stayed until his death in 1272. He was succeeded by his son Edward I who went on to conquer Wales and nearly Scotland. Monks recovered de Montfort's mutilated body and buried him at Evesham Abbey. Today his grave is marked by a stone on which an inscription commemorates his death.

Battle of Stirling Bridge 1297 AD In 1297 a commoner by the name of William Wallace was starting to oppose the English rule by attacking small English garrisons. The word soon spread through out Scotland and in a short time Wallace soon had enough followers to defend Scotland. When Edward heard of Wallace and his followers, he decided to send a large English army to wipe out Wallace before he got too big. When the word got out that a large English army was heading for Stirling to meet Wallace, thousands of Scots came down from the Highlands to join Wallace and confront the advancing English army. They met at Stirling. The Scots heavily defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297) which brought most of Scotland back to the Scots.

Battle of Falkirk 1298 AD Wallace was knighted in 1298 and became a Guardian of Scotland, Wallace's army then continued over the border to ravage the north of England, sacking many towns and causing mayhem before returning back to Scotland. This prompted Edward into invading Scotland again. Edward's army advanced back into Scotland in 1298, and met Wallace at Falkirk.

Battle of Bannockburn 1314 AD By 1314, only Stirling Castle was held by the English, and was not long till the Scots took it back. In a last attempt to stay in control of Scotland, Edward II and a large army marched north to relieve the castle. But was met by the Scots led by Robert the Bruce just outside of Stirling at Bannockburn.

The Hundred years War 1337 to 1453 AD The Hundred Years' War (French: Guerre de Cent Ans) was a series of separate wars lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings.

The Battle of Crecy 1346 AD France, August 26, 1346: after a long march from Cherbourg to the town of Crcy, the invading English forces faced off against an overwhelmingly larger French and Genoese army. It was a battle royale that shook France and showed the lasting ability of the English to defeat overwhelming odds.

Battle of Stalling Down 1405 ADOwain Glyndwr (variously called Glendower, Glyn Dwr, and Owain ap Gruffydd) was a noble Welshman and a descendent of Llewelyn the Last. For most of his life he lived - and fought - as an Englishman, but by 1400 his growing sense of Welsh patriotic pride - and a squabble over land with his English neighbour - led him to raise an insuurection against the English in Wales.

Battle of Agincourt 1415 AD On 11 August 1415, Henry V, the English king for two years, set sail for France with an army to substantiate his claim to the French Throne. His plan was to take Harfleur as a bridgehead before marching down the Seine to Paris and Bordeaux. There are a number of possible reasons for this campaign. It was an attempt not only to reclaim what Henry believed to be his lawful birthrights, the Duchy of Normandy and the French Throne, but also as a means of securing his reign by diverting attention from the problems at home. Moreover, it was not without provocation by the French who had raided the English coast. After a generation of defeats and setbacks, this English force held three main strengths. If properly deployed, the English archer was one of the most formidable fighting forces in Europe, the strength of Henry as a general and the disorder of the French leadership under the frequent insanity of a weak king.

List of Battles during War of The Roses: Yorkshire V Lancashire 1455 - 1487

The first Battle of St. Albans 1455

The Battle of Blore Heath 1459

The Battle of Northampton 1460

The Battle of Wakefield 1460

The Battle of Mortimer's Cross 1461

The Second Battle of St Albans 1461 AD

The Battle of Ferry Bridge 1461 AD

Battle of Towton 1461 AD

The Battle of Hedgeley Moor 1464 AD

The Battle of Hexham 1464 AD

The Battle of Edgecote Moor 1469 AD

The Battle of Losecote Field 1470 AD

Battle of Barnet 1471 AD

Battle of Tewkesbury 1471 AD

Battle of Bosworth 1485 AD

The Battle of Stoke 1487 AD

Battle of Flodden 1513 AD Even before the political significance of England's resounding thumping of the Scots at Flodden Field, where almost a third of the Scottish army were slaughtered in Northumbria, military historians have cause to note the Battle Of Flodden Field. The most disastrous battle in Scotland's history was a watershed for medieval combat, where the decisive thrust of the longbow, so favoured by England, began to cede, giving way to a new weapon more suited to lusty battle at close quarters.

The Spanish Armada 1588 AD The spectacular but unsuccessful attempt by King Philip II of Spain to invade Elizabethan England. The Armada is for the us English the classic foreign threat to our country.

The English Civil War 1641 1651 AD The English Civil War (16411651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first (164246) and second (164849) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (164951) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

Battle of Edgehill 1642 ADEdgehill was the first major set-piece battle of the Civil War. A clear victory for either side at this point could have meant a rapid end to the conflict. Instead a combination of the particular circumstances surrounding the battle and poor leadership of both armies saw the clash end indecisively. The war would drag on for four bloody years yet.

Battle of Marston Moor 1644 ADMarston Moor has some claim to being the biggest battle ever fought on British soil, and it was certainly one of the most decisive in our history, tipping the scales in the Civil War very much the way of the Parliamentary cause.

Battle of Naseby 1645 AD The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On the 14th of June 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.

Battle of Worcester 1651 AD in August 1651 Charles and his largely Scottish forces found themselves in Worcester, resting before either moving further south, or meeting Parliament's New Model Army in battle.

The Monmouth Rebellion 1685 AD The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, was an attempt to overthrow James II, who had become King of England, King of Scots and King of Ireland at the death of his elder brother Charles II on 6 February 1685. James II was unpopular because he was Roman Catholic and many people were opposed to a papist king. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II, claimed to be rightful heir to the throne and attempted to displace James II.The rebellion ended with the defeat of Monmouth's forces at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685. Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July, and many of his supporters were executed or transported in the "Bloody Assizes" of Judge Jeffreys.

Battle of Sedgmoor - 1685 AD took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, England.It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion and followed a series of skirmishes around south west England between the forces of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and the crown he was trying to take. The royalist forces prevailed and about 500 troops captured. Monmouth escaped from the battlefield but was later captured and taken to London for trial and execution.

The War of the Spanish Succession (the Duke of Marlborough) 1701-1714 AD Battle of Blenheim 1704 , Battle of Ramillies 1706

The War of the Austrian Succession 1742 to 1748 AD
Battles of: Dettingen 1743, Fontenoy, Roucoux and Lauffeldt.

The Jacobite Rebellion 1745 to 1746 AD
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in the British Isles occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by Parliament during the Glorious Revolution. The series of conflicts takes its name from Jacobus, the Latin form of James. Battles of: Prestonpans, Falkirk and Battle of Culloden 1746.

The Seven Years War 1756 to 1763 AD
The Seven Years War was the first global conflict. It had two main fronts. The first, in Europe, was the hostility between Prussia and Austria, still simmering after the War of the Austrian Succession , which expanded through alliances to include all of Europe.

Battles of : Rossbach 1757, Minden 1759, Quebec 1759, Emsdorff 1760, Warburg 1760, Kloster Kamp 1760, Vellinghausen 1761 and Wilhelmstadt 1762.

The French and Indian War 1755 to 1763 AD
Braddock on the Monongahela, Ticonderoga 1758, Louisburg and Quebec 1759.

The American Revolutionary War 1775 to 1783 AD
Battles of: Concord and Lexington, Bunker Hill, Quebec 1775 - 1776, Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, Fort Washington, Trenton, Princeton, Ticonderoga 1777, Hubbardton, Bennington 1777, Brandywine Creek, Freeman's Farm, Paoli, Germantown, Saratoga, Monmouth 1778, Camden, King's Mountain, Cowpens, Jersey 1781, Guilford Courthouse and Yorktown.

Battle of The Nile 1798 AD

The Battle of the Nile was Nelson's famous victory over the French fleet on 1st August 1798, leaving Napoleon stranded with his army in Egypt. It was fought in Aboukir bay near Alexandria, Egypt, on the 1st and 2nd of August 1798. The British fleet was under the command of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson and the French fleet under Admiral Paul D'Brueys.

Battle of Trafalgar 1805 AD
The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on the 21st of October 1805 off Cape Trafalgar on the Spanish coast, between the combined fleets of Spain and France and the Royal Navy. It was the last great sea action of the period and its significance to any invasion of England by the French and Spanish was ended and helped in the dominance of the Seas by us British for over 100 years.

The Napoleonic Wars 1802 to 1814 AD
Trafalgar and Quatre Bras.

The Peninsular War 1808 to 1814 AD
Vimeiro, Corunna, Douro, Talavera, Busaco, Barossa, Fuentes de Onoro, Albuera, Salamanca and Vitoria.

The War of 1812 AD between USA and GB On June 18, 1812, the United States stunned the world by declaring war on Great Britain. Supporting its allies in Spain and Portugal, Britain's army was on the Iberian Peninsula, involved in a struggle with Napoleon Bonaparte, who had marshaled the forces of Revolutionary France under his penumbra.

Despite losing the Thirteen Colonies to George Washington and the American revolutionaries twenty-five years earlier, England, like many on the European continent, did not take the United States that seriously. Despite the fact that most of Britain's supplies for the Napoleonic war came from America and Canada -from beef to feed the Duke of Wellington's army, to the oak trees essential to maintain Britain's majestic navy. Britain found itself faced with another war, a war they had assiduously tried to avoid.

The Battle of Waterloo AD 1815
The Battle of Waterloo took place near Waterloo, Belgium on June 18, 1815. In this battle, the forces of the French Empire under the leadership of Michael Ney and the Dictator Napoleon Bonaparte were defeated by an Anglo-Allied Army commanded by the Duke of Wellington.

The First Afghan War 1839 to 1842 AD in which Britain suffered the humiliation of a British and Indian force massacred by Afghan tribesmen as they struggled to reach India from Kabul and saw an Army of Retribution exact revenge.
Battles: Ghuznee, Kabul and Gandamak, Jellalabad and Kabul 1842.

The Second Afghan War 1879 to 1882 AD which saw three British/Indian armies invade Afghanistan, fighting the battles of Ali Masjid and Peiwar Kotal, the death of the British envoy Cavagnari in the Billa Hissar citadel at Kabul and the second invasion of Afghanistan by General Roberts, leading to the battles of the Sherpur Cantonment (Kabul), Ahmed Khel, the disaster of Maiwand and the final victory of Kandahar, following Roberts' spectacular march from Kabul.
Battles: Ali Masjid, Peiwar Kotal, Charasiab, Kabul 1879, Ahmed Khel, Maiwand and Kandahar.

The First Sikh Wars 1845-1846 AD The Sikhs fought First Anglo Sikh War with the British and lost Kashmir as they were defeated in the battle.

The Second Sikh War 1848-1849 AD
The Second Anglo-Sikh War fell out between the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. The war led to the subjugation of the Sikh kingdom and the annexation of Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province by the British East India Company.

The Crimean War 1854 to 1856 AD Everyone interested in history has an impression of the Crimean war, if only because of the famous battle of the Charge of the Light Brigade, mistakenly charging the Russian cannon at the battle of Baklava in the aftermath of the Heavy Brigade's triumph in breaking the Russian line. The latter passed into oblivion but the former took on immortality after Alfred Tennyson, doing a good day's work as Poet Laureate. The battles included: Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sevastopol.

World War One 1914 1918 The start of World War 1 was caused by the assasination of Archduke Francis Ferdinandon on June 14th. 1914 and the alliances throughout Europe which led to the first World War.

World War Two 1939-1945 Europe : Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany 1933. He rearmed the country, in violation of a treaty signed after World War One, and soon began to threaten other European nations. After the invasion of Poland in 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany and Italy declared war on Britain and France. At this time in 1939 the Soviet Union had a pact with Germany. After the fall of France, Britain and its Commonwealth stood alone for 18 monthe against Hitler and Stalin. Once Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Britain signed an accord with the Soviet Union against Hitler. The end of the war came shrotly after Hitler commited suicide at the end of April 1945.

World War Two 1941-1945 Japan In December 1941 The japenese bombed pearl Harbour and declared war on the USA. Hitler shortly afterwards declared war on the USA. This led to Britain to declare war on japan.

The Soviet Union joined Britain and its Commonwealth plus the USA in the war against Japan, and shortly after the soviets joining war against Japan the USA dropped a second Atom Bomb and shortly afterwards Tokyo surrendered within days, with V-J Day declared on 15 August 1945. On 2 September 1945 World War II ended when representatives of Japan signed the instruments of surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) in Tokyo Bay.

The Korean War 1950-1957 The first British units to arrive at Pusan on 28 August 1950 were the 1st Battalion The Middlesex Regiment and 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders under the 27th British Infantry Brigade.

The Suez Conflict 1956 AD In 1956, the Suez Canal became the focus of a major world conflict. The canal represents the only direct means of travel from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, making it vital to the flow of trade between Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. Normally, free passage was granted to all who used the canal, but Britain and France desired control of it, not only for commercial shipping, but also for colonial interests. The Egyptian government had just been taken over by Gamal Abdel Nasser, who felt the canal should be under Egyptian control. The United States and Britain had promised to give aid to Egypt in the construction of the Asw_n High Dam in the Nile. This aid was retracted however, and in retaliation Nasser nationalized the canal. He intended to use the funds raised from the operation of the canal to pay for the Dam.

The Falklands War 1982 AD The Falklands War started on Friday, 2 April 1982 with the Argentine invasion and occupation of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. The war lasted 74 days, and resulted in the deaths of 255British and 649Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders. It is the most recent conflict to be fought by the UK without any allied states and the only external Argentine war since the 1880s.

The First Iraq War 1990-1991 AD international conflict that was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Iraq's leader, addm ussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of acquiring that nation's large oil reserves, canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait, and expanding Iraqi power in the region.

The Second Gulf War 2003 AD to 2008 Prior to the war, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a threat to their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. These were lies by Tony Blair and George W. Bush just to get the support of the UN and the populations of the Brits and Yanks.

The ongoing Afghan War 2001 to Present the War in Afghanistan is an ongoing coalition conflict which began on October 7, 2001, as the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) that was launched, along with the British military, in response to both the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. The UK has, since 2002, led its own military operation, Operation Herrick, as part of the same war in Afghanistan. The character of the war evolved from a violent struggle against Al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters to a complex counterinsurgency effort.

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2012年4月29日星期日

Development and Validation of Giftedness Assessment Instrument (GAI) for the Identification of Creative –Productive Giftedness ability

INTRODUCTION

Every society, and every school (formal or non-formal) within it, has its own gifted and talented persons. Across cultures and over period in history, such gifted and talented persons have been recognized either through their significantly outstanding positive contributions to society or for some spectacular achievements or positive behavioural manifestation. Children are said to be gifted if their cognitive powers, when developed qualify them to become high level innovators, evaluators, problem solvers, leaders or perpetuators in the complex society in which they live (Oghounu & Oniyama, 2004). They are said to be talented if in the process of doing things, evidences of positive exceptionality and creativity is manifested (Onu, 2002). Sometimes, it is difficult to separate or even distinguish between the two terms since often; one connotes the other (Anih, 2001).

Most countries of the world deliberately and systematically id entify and nurture such of their children who are of high intellectual ability. Those who show evidences of exceptional performance or demonstrate very high degree of creativity, memory, motivation, physical dexterity or psycho-motor ability, social adeptness or leadership ability, aesthetic sensitivity or pronounced ability in visual and performing arts, or who demonstrate potential ability in any of these areas (Senate, 1988).

Often times, some of such countries are jolted into action by specific instances or factors like the sputnik which shocked America, or Israel finding herself in the desert or Japan after the Second World War, or Korea after some unfavourable experiences or even some countries planning to dominate world sports and gymnastics (Yoloye, 1986).

Nigeria is anxious to take-off technologically to revamp her economy and improve over-all standards of life and living for the generality of her citizens. The decision therefore to identify Nigerian c hildren who by virtue of outstanding ability are capable of High performance is of paramount importance. Onu (2002) opines that children thus identified require differentiated educational programmes, experiences and services beyond those normally provided by the regular school programme.

However, the development and recognition of giftedness in children started to be of major concern to the Federal Government of Nigeria within the last two decades (Anih, 2001). The National Policy on Education (2004) recognized the existence of the gifted and talented individuals by emphasizing that:

People (children and adult) who have/posses very high intelligence quotient (IQ) and are naturally endowed with special traits (in arts, creativity, music, leadership, intellectual precocity, etc.) and therefore find themselves insufficiently, challenged by the regular school/college/university programmes (p. 47-48).

The policy further enumerated that opportunities should be provided for exceptionally gifted and talented children to develop their talents, natural endowments/traits at their own pace in the interest of the nations economic and technological developments.

In the continued efforts of the Federal Government to see the gifted and talented through in her educational system, an operation catch the genius was launched in 1982 with the help of Aminu the Federal Minister of Education at that time (Makinde, 1998). The Minister clearly stated that the purpose of the policy was to ensure that children in Nigeria were not neglected any longer. This policy was buttressed by the establishment of the Suleja Academy for the Gifted and Talented which took off on the 25th of May 1990 (Omoegun, 1998).

Silverman (2003) opines that Giftedness is like developmental delay, which must be identified in children as early as possible. According to her, early intervention is essential for optimal development. She further states that Gifted fou r or five year olds are mentally like six or seven year olds, and usually have excellent attention spans, so this is an ideal time for testing. In Nigeria, selection into the gifted programme is done at primary six levels which fall within the average age of 12 years, according to the Blue print on Education of the Gifted and Talented (1986), it is the ideal age when the children must have finished primary school and are about to start secondary school.

However, the task of identifying the gifted and talented children has become a growing concern for our Nations public and private school systems. For years, our society has judged intelligence on performance records and equated high grades with high intellect. Even though many educators and researchers long realized that many of our brightest students are not necessarily the A students. Apart from this, some current definitions of giftedness have also grown out of the awareness that IQ alone does not define all the pos sible areas of giftedness. Some people have advanced talents in socially valued endeavours that cannot be measured by intelligence tests. Intelligence tests are as Guilford (1985) suggests only a small sample of intellectual activity in limited areas of human endeavour.

The concept of giftedness has also expanded in recent times to include many talents that have contributed substantially to the quality of life for both individual and society (Robinson, 2003). For instance, the contributions of gifted individuals such as William Jerferson, Philip Emeagwali,Wole Soyinka to mention but a few have called for the re-definition of what makes giftedness and how to identify the real gifted persons for placement in the special programmes. Since our main challenge as educators in Nigeria is to create the conditions that convert potentials into performance, it is pertinent therefore to identify the creative productive gifted persons, by the use of proper identification instrume nt (Renzulli, 2005).

Renzulli (2005) conceptualized creative productive giftedness as the cluster of three interlocking abilities namely, above average, creativity and task commitment /motivation. He further explain that gifted and talented children are those possessing or capable of developing this composite set of traits and applying them to any potentially valuable area of human performance.

Fig: 1 RENZULLIS Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness

The above clusters of abilities focused on the cognitive and non-cognitive/ affective domains of educational objective. Unfortunately, all the instruments used in Nigeria and abroad to identify gifted children have been focusing on the cognitive domain which is based on intelligence test and observation with rating scales by teachers.

Of recent, the Blooms taxonomy of Educational Objectives has been expanded to include the sixth one which is creativity. This can only be assessed properly by the use of attitude scales. Depending on observations also is not reliable as Nigerian teachers cannot be visiting homes to observe, nor to keep accurate record of their observations (Obe & Nna, 2004). They reliable approach is through the use of attitude scales, they affirmed.

Aiken & Groth-Marnat (2006) opine that one of the affective variables that has received a great deal of research attention is attitude scale. Allport as cited by Obe & Nna (2004), defined attitude as a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and dynamic influence upon an individuals response to all objects and situations with which it is related. Ramsden (1998) also sees attitude as the cognitive, emotional and action tendency components, because it is this action- tendency that leads to particular behavioural intents.

An overview of the gifted programme currently going on in Nigeria seems that the children have not made any impac t in the society like their other counterparts in the USA, Canada, UK and Israel, despite the entire amount spent on the programme (Onu, 2002, Anih, 2001). The reason also seems to be based on the fact that the real gifted- creative- productive persons are left out as a result of over- reliance on cognitive ability/ intelligence test only in the selection process. This is akin to Renzullis (2005) definition that giftedness is made up of three inter locking clusters of ability namely above average (cognitive ability), creativity and task commitment/motivation, with their underlining attributes. The cognitive ability test currently in use is measuring only two attributes (verbal and numerical (quantitative) aptitude among all other attributes enumerated by Renzullis (2005) conception of giftedness. Secondly, the length and complexity of administration, scoring and interpretation make its use difficult for teachers and career masters with littl e sophistication in psychometrics.

Moreover, percentile norms are used for the selection process of the gifted .Unfortunately, percentile ranks are unequal score units and also ordinal- level rather than interval measures, hence, the units are not equal on all parts of the scale. The fact that percentile rank units bunch up in the middle and spread out at the extremes of the scale causes difficulty in the interpretation of changes and differences in the transformed scores (Aiken & Groth-Marnat, 2006)

The other two clusters of giftedness (creativity and task commitment / motivation are totally neglected as selection measures. Although, some scales have been developed by psychologists to measure creativity and task commitment / motivation, its application to the selection criteria for the gifted programme is yet to be effected by stakeholders. Similarly, this scale did not also cover all the attributes of creative-productive giftedness, as enumerated by Renzu lli (2005). Even for use outside African context, some other properties which call for urgent revision of these present instruments include their considerable length which makes their uses rather time-consuming and method of scoring which is rather cumbersome, for the gifted programme. It is in the light of these numerous problems that the present instrument is being developed with the use of factor analysis.

The theoretical underpinning of the measurement of creative-productive giftedness is that the use of non-cognitive factors like creativity and task commitment are as important as the ability to process information, reason analytically, understand spatial relations and think conceptually that is associated with the use of intelligence/cognitive test. This means that giftedness must incorporate non- academic or non- cognitive components and also the interaction of extraordinary character traits and the socio-cultural adaptive skills that appear to be essential to i t.

The traditional method of identification of giftedness relied solely on intelligence tests with evidence from the works of Terman 1925, Getzels & Jackson (1962), Witty (1958) and Dehaan (1962). A review of the literature shows that most of the intelligence tests used for instance Wechsler intelligence test for children (WISC-iv), Wechsler (2003) has four indices namely verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed. The Slossons Intelligence Test (SIT) for children and Adults Slosson (1985) which measures the general intelligence and the Differential Ability Scales (DAS) which is found particularly useful with visual spatial children (Silverman 2003). The Gifted Children Education screening examination paper 1&2 (English, and verbal and Mathematics and quantitative) (NECO 2005) have four subsections of 80 items. The main demerits of I.Q tests of this nature, is that they underestimate childrens abilities rather than overest imating them.

Secondly, these tests are cumbersome to administer, they require training and expertise to do so, and the time for administration is rather long as a result of which testees sometimes feel bored and disinterested in the exercise. The use of IQ tests for identification was partially remedied in tests like Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance 1998), Scales of Rating the Behavioual Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS) (Renzulli 2004), Ibadan Creative Assessment Scale (ICAS) (Akinboye 1979).

Although, these tests measure creativity which is an aspect of giftedness, they have their own problems. For instance, SRBCSS requires only the teachers ratings which may be subjective. ICAS has 5 subsections and 75 items; TTCT has 4 sub sections and 72 items. The gifted children education programme screening examination I & II has 2 sections each with 80 multiple choice questions on each. The numerous items in these tests and t he lengthy time it takes to complete them makes them unsuitable as tests that can be used for quick screening for the identification of gifted children for placement in a gifted programme. Secondly, these tests are each measuring an aspect of giftedness which is either creativity (affective) or above average ability (cognitive).

Another aspect of the literature review is in respect of effort that has been made to use multiple criteria approach for identification of gifted children in Nigeria Blue print on the identification of the gifted and Onu (2002).

Even though a lot of instruments were developed to discover the cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics of the gifted. For instance, standardized tests, test of special abilities, cumulative school History, teachers information questionnaire, peer observation technique and pupils checklist. The basic assumption of the authors is that pupils who scored 80 percent and above in all these measures put together sho uld be rated as gifted. The focus of the above multiple measures were rather narrow as the instruments did not go through proper validation and standardization process (Fakolade, 2006). Moreover, Nigeria is still over relying on the use of intelligence test only which is just an aspect of giftedness.

These numerous problems of the various cognitive and non cognitive instruments for the identification of giftedness are the main challenges that have been tackled in the development of Giftedness Assessment Instrument (GAI). The GAI is integration, of cognitive and non-cognitive measures. The cognitive aspect covers the characteristics of above average ability which is one of the domains of giftedness and the non-cognitive measures dealt with the affective (creativity and Task commitment /motivation) domains of giftedness respectively (Renzulli 2005).

The main purpose of developing and validating GAI is to produce a reliable and valid instrument that will possess thes e characteristics by Renzulli (2005) for the identification of creative-productive giftedness ability among Basic six school pupils. To achieve this objective using a large enough sample size as well as minimising the short comings of the existing instruments that have been enumerated. It is therefore hypothesised that GAI will have adequate psychometric properties.

Methodology

Participants

The participants for the study were 600(males=275, females =325) in the age of 9-13 (mean=12.24,S.D=1.94) years randomly selected from both public and private primary schools in Lagos state. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select four schools (two public and two private) from each educational district in Lagos, while intact classes were adopted for the study in order not to eliminate the target group-creative-productive gifted persons. The locations of the schools cut across all the local Governments in the state.

INSTRUMENTATION

The following instruments were used to obtain relevant data for the study.

(1) Above average/Cognitive ability test (GAI-1)

(2) Creative ability scale (GAI 2)

(3) Task Commitment/Motivation Scale (GAI 3)

(4) Gifted Children Education Programme Screening Examination (2005) paper I (Mathematics and Quantitative aptitude)

(5) Gifted children Education Programme screening Examination (2005) paper 2 (English language and Verbal Aptitude).

(6) Answer sheet (OMR form)

(7) Lagos State (2007) Primary Six Mock Examination in Aptitude test and General Paper / Civic

(8) Ibadan Creativity Assessment Scale (ICAS)

(9) Ibadan Task Commitment/Motivation Scale (ITCMS)

(10) Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS)

Above Ability/Cognitive test (GAI-1): It is the first component of GAI. It is a 40-item multiple choice aptitude test designed by the researcher and her supervisors, to measure the cognitive ability of the participants. It has five options lettered A-E, testees are expected to choose the letter that bears the answer to the question. They are allowed 20 minutes to finish the test. It is presently going through a process of validation.

Creative Ability Scale (GAI -2). It is the second component of GAI made up of a 22 item inventory also designed by the researcher and her supervisors, to measure the pupils creative ability. It yields scores on a 4-point responds format ranging from 1-4. The scale is also going through a process of validation.

Task commitment/Motivation scale: This is the third component of GAI measure that comprises of a 21-item inventory designed by the researcher and her supervisors to measur e the pupils motivation and competent ability in pursuing a certain task. It is also a self rating scale that yields score on a 4-point responds format ranging from 1-4. It is also a section of the newly constructed instrument going through the process of validation.

Gifted Childrens screening examination Paper I & II

This examination was designed by the National Examination Council of Nigeria (NECO 2005), to identify the pupils that are gifted for placement in the Gifted Childrens Academy in Suleja.It consists of an 80-item multiple choice aptitude test respectively for both mathematics and quantitative in paper I and English and verbal aptitude in paper II. The time allocated for the examinations is 1 hours respectively. NECO reported a three week test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.88 and 0.85 respectively. It has an internal consistency of 0.87.

Scoring: Each question carries 1 mark for the 80 questions. T he test scores for each testee is converted into percentile and the highest score in the percentile rank is regarded as gifted and is admitted into the school for the gifted and talented in Suleja. The aim of using this test is to determine its construct validity with the GAI-1.

Answer sheet: This is an OMR form, designed to be used by the pupils to supply the answers to the multiple choice questions. They are three types- the form used for the GAI-I test contains 40-items with 5 options A-E while the form for the screening and mock examinations contain 80-items with 5 options A-E and 50 items respectively. The pupils are expected to use HB pencil to shade the correct answer, since the OMR is being scored by the computer. The form is divided into two sections; section A contains the pupils demographic information while section B contains the options.

Basic Six Mock Examinations 2007 (General paper): This is mad e up of a 50-item multiple choice aptitude test and also a 50-item multiple choice questions in general knowledge/civic developed by the Lagos State Examination Board. The first test is specifically designed to measure the pupils aptitude in Mathematics, quantitative, English, verbal aptitude and vocational aptitude. The developers obtained a test-retest reliability of 0.82 and an internal consistency of 0.88 with Cronbachs alpha method. The second part of the mock examination is testing the pupils knowledge of the world around them. The test developers also obtained a test-retest reliability of 0.73 and an internal consistency of 0.86 with Cronbachs alpha method.

Scoring: Each test type has a total score of 100% with 2 marks for each correct answer. The total score is calculated by multiplying the overall correct answers by 2.

Ibadan Creativity Assessment Scale (ICAS): This is a self-rating attitude scale designed by Akinboye (1979) to assess an individuals degree of creativity. The scale has four subsections namely: ideative fluency, flexibility, originality and task motivation. It is a 75-item inventory with 9-point scale. Akinboye reported a test-retest reliability of 0.79 and internal consistency with coefficient alpha of 0.76.

Scoring: It yields a 9-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (totally unlike me) to 9 (very much like me).It has both direct and reverses scoring method. Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS): It was developed by Obe (2002) to measure an individuals attitude towards mathematics. It consists of 30-items that yield scores on a 5-point Likert scale. Obe (2002) recorded a high stability coefficient of 0.79 and Cronbachs coefficient alpha ranging between 0.76 to 0.82.

Scoring: Scoring of the instruments was by assigning 5,4,3,2 and 1 for positively stated items. The points were also awarded in the reversed order for ne gatively stated items.

Development of the Instrument The development of GAI started by item selection based on the attributes and theories of Giftedness. For GAI-1 an initial pool of 64 items were generated. These items were then assessed for face and content validity with the help of experts in measurement and evaluation and psychology including the supervisors of this work. Based on the recommendation of these individuals some items were removed and others revised or reworded, as a result of which the number of items was pruned down to 50.

The draft of the instrument was then written out on a five option multiple choice test designed to measure the aptitude of the respondents. It was then administered to a selected sample of 100 male and 100 female Basic six pupils from Owerri-Imo state for the initial pilot study. The test was scored according to the provision in the manual and the scores were subjected to item analysis. In the item analysis , items whose index ranges from 0.5 and 0.9 are selected as good, while those having below 0 and 0.4 were eliminated as bad items (Ilogu, (1994) & Doran, (1980). This brought the final test to 40 items. A table of specification was also used in the construction of the test which also indicates the content validity of GAI.

Table 1: Table of specification for GAI-1

Content / behaviour objectives

Weight

Knowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Total

30%

20%

15%

14%

100%

Abstract th inking

30%

9, 3, 4

2,8,34

1,7

Verbal reasoning

24%

10,11,12,13

14, 36

15, 17

Numerical reasoning

18%

19,24,25,

Special reasoning

14%

35, 32,33

26,28

Vocational Aptitude

14%

39,37,5

Total

100%

Scoring: There is no special rule in the scoring of GAI-1.The whole test carries 40 marks of 1 mark for e ach correct answer. A participants overall score is calculated by counting the total number of right answers. The higher the score, the higher the possession of above average ability.

The development of creative Ability scale (GAI-2) also followed the same process; an initial pool of 48 items was generated and given for assessment by experts. This was also reduced to 22 items after item analysis. The draft was also written with 4-point Likert scale response from 1-4 which is generally accepted format for instruments designed to measure attitudes.

Scoring: The total score was obtained by reversing the values of items 2, 4,6,9,12,14,17,20,21 and using direct scoring for the remaining items. The sum of the reverse and direct score items gave a participants overall score in GAI-2.The higher the score, the higher the possession of a creative ability by the individual.

Development of the third section of the GAI also followed the same method, after generating an initial pool of 45 items which was given to experts for assessment. The items were reduced to the final draft of 21.

Scoring: The total score was also obtained by reversing the values of items 2, 4,7,9,10,14,17,19,21 and using direct scoring for the remaining items. The sum of the reverse and direct score items gave a participants overall score in GAI-3.The higher the score, the higher the possession of a task commitment/motivation ability by the individual.

Procedure

The first set of the instruments comprising the GAI were administered to them. The second day, the Gifted Children Screening test was administered to them in the morning period, the afternoon period was used for ICAS, ITCAS and MAS.The third and last day was used for the Mock Examination. As a sort of reinforcement and also to sustain their interest and continued presence for the duration of the exercise, the researcher brought a lot of refreshment which was shared after each section of the test. The pupils were happy and each time promised to participate in the next session The well-behaved ones were given cash rewards as a sort of encouragement to others.

Data Analysis and Presentation of Results

The data obtained in this study were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) programme to compute for mean, standard deviation, standard scores, Cronbachs alpha, correlation coefficients as well as factor analysis by principal factoring with iteration.

Norms: To obtain norms for the measure of creative-productive giftedness (GAI), the three components were administered to the participants. Mean scores, standard deviation and standard scores (Z-score to T-score) obtained across gender and type of school under the normal testing condition were computed as the local norm.

T able 2: Mean scores, Standard Deviation of the participants on GAI

Sex

Descriptive statistics

GAI-I

GAI-2

GAI-3

Male

Mean

19.88

5.30

275

74.78

7.63

275

54.12

7.65

275

Female

Mean

21.17

5.40

325

74.65

7.05

325

56.03

7.58

325

Total

Mean

20.54

5.40

600

74.71

7.31

600

55.15

7.67

600

Type of school

Descriptive statistics

GAI-I

GAI-2

GAI-3

Public

Mean

17.43

4.4

350

74.02

7.1

35 0

53.56

7.3

350

Private

Mean

24.9

3.4

250

75.67

7.5

250

57.39

7.7

250

Total

Mean

20.54

5.4

600

74.71

7.31

600

55.15

7.7

600

The descriptive data presented in Table 3 indicates that females recorded higher scores in the GAI-I and GAI-3 while males recoded higher scores in GAI-2. Consequently, the pupils in private schools recorded higher scores than their public school counterparts.

To further enhance the interpretation of norms for the GAL-1, the raw scores of the participants were grouped and converted to standard scores (T-score) as presented in table 3.

Table 3: T-score Norms for GAL-1 (N=600)

CLASS INTERVAL

Z - SCORE

T SCORE

7-9

-2.3

10-12

-1.7

13-15

1.2

16-18

-0.6

19-21

118

-0.1

22-24

0.5

25-27

127

1.0

28-30

1.6

31-33

2.1

Table 3 indicates that T - Scores of 60-71 fall above the mean scores. The T Score is useful in order to enable a layperson to understand the scores and for easy interpretation to the parents (Nwadinigwe, 2002).

In order to determine the reliability coefficient of the GAI, a two week test retest with Pearson product moment statistical technique, Cronbachs Alpha for internal consistency and split half were computed.

Table 4: Reliability Coefficient of GAL Components

GAI COMPONENTS

Sd1

Sd2

Cronbachs

alpha

Split- half

GAI 1

200

29.17

28.40

4.83

5.35

0.89

0.94

0.89

GAI 2

200

66.56

65.68

7.41

9.28

0.78

0.87

0.86

GAI 3

200

61.42

60.97

6.26

7.21

0.84

0.86

0.78

*Significant at P<.05 df 198 r crit. = 0.139

The result in table 6: Shows that GAL has a significa nt high test- retest and internal consistency reliability coefficient, with GAI I having r = 0.89, Alpha of 0.94 and split half reliability coefficient of 0.89, respectively. GAI 2 recorded a remarkable value of r = 0.78, alpha of 0.87 and split half reliability coefficient of 0.86 especially, while the analysis also produced for GAI -3 an alpha coefficient of 0.86, r of 0.84 and split half of 0.78.

In order to determine the concurrent and discriminant validity of GAI, Pearson Product movement statistics was used to correlate the scores of the 600 participants in the three components of GAI and other psychological measures (criterion) as indicated in table 6.

Table 5: Intercorelation matrix of GAI Components and other measures (Criterion).

GAI-1

GAI-2

GAI-3

Mock (Aptitude test)

ICAS

MAS

GCSE-1

GCSE-2

IBTCMAS

Mock(General kn owledge/civic)

GAI-1

GAL-2

.129**

GAL-3

.251**

.038

Mock (Aptitude test)

.823**

.153**

.235**

ICAS

.151**

.679**

.306**

.116**

MAS

-.074

-.085*

-.009

-.080

.033

GCSE-1

.203**

.145**

.075

.191**

.247**

-.010

GCSE-2

.361**

.103*

.148**

.296**

.197**

.041

.474**

IBTCMAS

.148**

.183**

.64 6

.166**

.297**

-.085

.146**

.111**

Mock(General knowledge/civic)

.123**

.035

.056**

.265**

.171**

.018

.121**

.189**

.026

** Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The above table indicates that the components of GAI have significant relationships with other convergent and divergent criterions.

Factorial Validity: To determine the factorial validity of GAI the technique of principal component analysis with iteration was used to factor analyse the scores of 200 participants as indicated in table 6.

Table 6: Initial Eignevalues of the extracted Factors of GAI 1.

COMPONENTS

TOTAL

% OF VARIANCE

CUMULATIVE %

5.16

12.90

5.86

12.15

25.05

3.21

8.06

33.11

2.79

6.97

40.08

2.64

6.61

46.69

1.91

4.77

51.45

1.73

4.39

63.32

1.67

4.17

59.94

1.36

3.39

63.32

10.

1.34

3.35

66.68

11.

1.25

3.12

69.78

12.

1.03

2.57

72.38

Evidence from table 6: Shows that the analysis extracted 12 component factors that conformed to Kaisers Criterion by each having eigenvalues greeter than one before rotation. The result also shows that the 12 factors accounted for 72.38% of the total variance.

The extracted factors were maximized using varimax rotation. Using Burt-Bank formula to determine significant factor loading, 5 factors were extracted that conformed to Kaisers criterion and Thurnstons principle as indicat ed in table 7.

Table 7: Names, Eigenvalues and Percentages of variances of Varimax Rotated Orthogonal Factors of GAI - 1.

FACTORS

NAME

EIGENVALUE

% OF Variance

CUMULATIVE %

Abstract Reasoning

4.64

11.59

Verbal Reasoning

4.53

11.33

22.93

Numerical Reasoning

3.59

8.97

31.89

Spatial Reasoning

3.17

7.92

39.82

Vocational Aptitude

2.75

6.92

46.69

The result shows that 46.69% of the total variance was accounted for by the 5 factors. The factors were named on the basis of the items which significantly loaded or distinctively clustered on each factor.

Table 8: Initial Eigenvalues of the extracted component of GAI 2

FACTORS

EIGENVALUE

% OF Variance

CUMULATIVE %

2.45

11.15

2.06

9.34

20.49

1.93

8.76

29.28

1.80

8.19

37.47

1.42

6.45

43.92

1.29

5.89

49.82

1.19

5.40

55.22

1.097

4.99

60.22

This table indicates that the analysis for GAI-2 extracted 8 component factors that conformed to Kaisers Criterion by each having eigenvalues greater than one before rotation. The result also shows that the 8 factors accounted for 60.22% of the total variance. The extracted factors were maximized using varimax rotation. Using Burt-Bank formula to determine significant factor loading, 7 factors were extracted that conformed to Kaisers criterion and Thurnstons principle as indicated in table 9.

Table 9: Names, Eigenvalues and Percentages of variances of Varimax rotated orthogonal factors of GAI-2.

FACTORS

NAMES

EIGENVALUES

% OF VARIANCE

CUMULATIVE

Fluency

2.00

9.09

Flexibility

1.80

8.19

17.29

Originality

1.79

8.16

25.46

Curiosity

1.73

7.85

33.31

Speculative

1.71

7.79

41.09

Adventurous

1.59

7.20

48.29

Elaboration

1.52

6.92

55.22

Table 9 shows that 55.22% of the total variance was accounted for, and se ven factors were extracted that conformed to Kaisers Criterion and Thurnstons principle. Hence, the factors were named on the basis of the items which significantly loaded or clustered on each factor.

Table 10: Initial Eigenvalues of the extracted component of GAI 3

FACTORS

EIGENVALUES

% OF Variance

CUMULATIVE %

2.07

9.87

1.76

8.37

18.24

1.63

7.77

26.01

1.56

7.55

33.56

1.33

6.35

39.91

1.18

5.61

45.52

1.14

5.41

50.93

1.04

4.97

55.90

Evidence from table 10 shows that the analysis for GAI -3 extracted 8 component factors that conformed to Kaisers Criterion by each having eigenvalues greater than one before rotation. The result also shows that the factors accounted for 55.90% of the total variance.

The extracted factors were maximized using varimax rotation. Using Burt Bank formula to determine significant factor loading, 7 factors were extracted that conformed to Kaisers Criterion and Thurnstons principle. The result is presented in table 11.

Table 11: Names, Eigenvalues and Percentages of variances of Varimax rotated orthogonal factors of GAI-3.

FACTORS

NAMES

EIGENVALUES

% OF VARIANCE

CUMULATIVE

Interest

1.70

8.10

Enthusiasm

1.61

7.69

15.79

Fascination

1.55

7.38

23.17

Perseverance

1.49

7.08

30.25

Endurance

1.49

7.07

37.33

Determination

1.45

6.91

44.24

Self-confidence

1.41

6.69

50.93

The result in table 11 shows that 50.93% of the total variance was accounted for by the 7 factors. Hence, the factors were named on the basis of the items which significantly loaded or clustered on each factor.

DISCUSSION

The results, which are basically the psychometric properties of GAI, reflect the extent to which it is a reliable and valid measure of creative-productive Giftedness. The norms in Table 2 indicate the cut-off points for evaluating the relative potentials of individual participants and hence the performance level for decision making in recruitment and screening of pupils (Omoluabi, 2006). The importance of the norms lies in the fact that such decision making is not arbitrary but one that is based on objective criterion. This view t herefore negates the common practice of arbitrary taking 80% performance as the criterion for decision making when the cognitive test only was adopted for the recruitment of students into the Gifted Academy. A norm therefore represents an equitable value of the relative performance of all the participants in the standardization sample.

The reliability coefficient obtained: Cronbach alpha, test retest and split half are both high and significant (p <.05) and thereby confirming the hypothesis stated. This result is in consonance with Aiken (2006) who affirmed that the acceptable reliability coefficient of a new test must not be less than .70.

In respect of the validity of GAI, the result in Table 5 shows that its components have very high convergent validity coefficient with different related criterions and expected direction (negative) divergent validity coefficient with non-related measures (criterion).The low value is expected because it shows that GAI comp onents and these measures are not related eventhough the are both cognitive and attitude measures (Anastasi & Urbina, 2004).The abilities required to perform GAI-1 are very different from those required for GAI-2 or ICAS.The fact that a modicum of relationship between GAL components and other measures may be due to the similarity in the abilities required for the subscales.

Tables 6-11 reported the factorial validity of GAI with factor analysis. The 5, 7 and 7 orthogonal factors extracted by the different GAI components indicate that similar items or those describing similar manifestations are grouped together. The factors may be regarded as different domains of creative- productive giftedness as contained in the GAI components because they conformed to kaisers criterion in the process of initial factoring. The fact that these factors fulfilled Thurnstones principle suggests that the domains or clusters are separate and distinct entities. Also, the fact th at all the factors have each eigenvalues greater than one suggests that they are independent of one another. This implies that an individual may score high in one factor and low in another suggesting lack of overlapping of items. This apparent lack of overlapping of items also implies the enhanced factorial validity of GAI.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The psychometrics properties of GAI indicate that it is a reliable and valid measure of creative-productive Giftedness ability and its use can be generalized to other populations owing to the heterogeneous characteristics of the sample.GAI has therefore objectified the works of Akinboye (1979), NECO (2005), Wechsler (2004), Torrance (1998) and Renzulli (2004).Generalization will be enhanced if this study is replicated with adult sample.

Specifically, individuals whose scores are equal to or above the norms of the components qualify for placements in the gifted Academy.

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Cronbach,L.J.(1971).The Validation.In R.I Thorndike Educational Measurement (Ed). Washington D.C: American council of education.

Doran, R.L.(1980). Basic Measurement and Evaluation in Sciences.Washington D.C:STANL.

Torrance, E.P (1998).Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Retrieved 6th September, 2006. http://www.creativelearning.com/assess/test 72.html

Terman, L.(1925). Genetic Studies of Genius: Vol 1 Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousand Gifted children. Stanford, CA: Stanford university press.

Witty,P.A.(1958). Who are the gifted? In W.B.Henry (Ed.), Education of the gifted. Fifty-Seventh yearbook of the National Society for the Study of the Education, 2,41-63.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.

DaHaan,R.G.(1962). Educating the Gifted.Chicago:University press.

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2012年4月26日星期四

Basketball Skills & Stats Improvement - It is Going to Amaze You!

If you'd like to find out about dramatically improving your basketball skills & stats then you simply must look over the information that follows - it'll transform everything you now understand about basketball. What if we told you that you can enhance your competence in the game by an astounding 30%? Even better, it is possible to do it from the comfort of your own home. If you're beginning to doubt this, or may think the concept is absurd, take a look at the rest of this review - it is going to astonish you.

First of all, it is necessary to understand a simple but crucial observation - in basketball, it is not just a matter of who is better at dunking, jumping, or shooting, it's also a matter of decision-making and avoiding unnecessary mistakes on the court. The power to know your rival's game strategy, or make quick and precise steals or assists, for instance, is linked to your cognitive or thinking abilities, to put it simply - brain skills. Most people mistakenly consider these skills as something athletes are born with, but the truth is that they are not necessarily inborn talents, but rather entirely learnable brain skills.

It doesn't really matter if you are only interested about dramatically improving your basketball skills & stats, or whether you are a student in junior high, highschool, or college - it became possible to really better your capacity to compete at a high level by learning some valuable pointers. A team of professionals has produced an exceptional software application that assists on achieving that; using the very user-friendly format of a "video game", the user simply "plays" it for only 20 to 30 minutes, one or two times per week, for just several weeks - you won't believe the results! Head coaches from all across the country, including memphis, uconn, and others, have noticed a dramatic upswing through the use of, with individual athletes and even enti re teams, this unbelievable system.

Prior to continuing your search about dramatically improving your basketball skills & stats, you have the opportunity to try out this "life changing" new system. And now the very ambitious goal of playing basketball at a professional level for a lot of school to college players becomes so near and so possible; athletes who have tried it out have said they saw a remarkable overall performance improvement after "practicing" with this system for less than a month.

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友站連結。痞客邦，Joe's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，Joe's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

Joe's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

http://joeball.pixnet.net/blog

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2012年4月25日星期三

友站連結。痞客邦，Mark's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，Mark's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

Mark's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

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友站連結。痞客邦，Helen's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，Helen's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

Helen's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

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Basketball Drills To Increase Your Stats - Special Notice !

If you are interested about basketball drills to increase your stats then you have to take a look at this report - it'll transform everything you know about playing basketball. What would you do with the knowledge that you can enhance your abilities in the game of basketball by a whopping 30%? And better yet, you can make this progress without even leaving your chair. If it haven't yet convinced you to be possible, or may think the concept is absurd, scan the information that follows - you will find it most amazing.

Before going any further, you need to know a simple but key fact - in basketball, it is not just a matter of who is better at dunking, jumping, or shooting, it's also a matter of decision-making and avoiding unnecessary mistakes on the court. The ability to anticipate your opponent's moves, or when to attempt a fast break, a steal, or other moves, relates to your cognitive or thought process, to put it simply - b rain skills. A lot of people have the incorrect notion of these athletic abilities as something athletes are predisposed to, while in reality, they are not "born instincts," but actually are cognitive skills anyone can acquire.

It doesn't make any difference whether you just wish to learn about basketball drills to increase your stats, or whether you are still a student - in junior-high, high-school, or university - it's possible to greatly improve your ability to play a competitive game by using this brain training solution. A team of scientists has created a unique software system that enables you to do that; it is based on a "video game", and you need to "play" this game for only twenty to thirty minutes, one to two times a week, for few short weeks - the outcome is astonishing. Coaches and trainers from all over the united states (tennessee, connecticut, and elsewhere) reported outstanding results after one-on-one coaching sessions with players, and even entire te ams, with this excellent program.

Prior to continuing your search about basketball drills to increase your stats, i recommend that you try this "secret weapon" by yourself. And now the once unlikely goal of making it big on the basketball court for a lot of motivated players has never been realer or more reachable; people who've tried this program reported an overall dramatic improvement after using the software for no more than a month.

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2012年4月24日星期二

友站連結。痞客邦，Jack's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，Jack's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

Jack's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

http://jackball.pixnet.net/blog

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友站連結。痞客邦，Garry's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，Garry's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home。

Garry's NBA Basketball Game Sharing Home

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

http://garryball.pixnet.net/blog

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Basketball Help For Improving Your Stats - Check this Right Now !

If you are interested about a special basketball help for improving your stats then you simply must look over the information that follows - it is likely to revolutionize all of your current knowledge of basketball. Just imagine that you were to learn that it is absolutely possible to strengthen your abilities in the game of basketball by an astounding 30%? Even better, it can be accomplished without even leaving your chair. If you find yourself doubting this, or find it just plain unimaginable, scan the information that follows - it is going to astonish you.

First of all, you need to know a crucial piece of information - in this sport, it's not a simple question of running, jumping, and shooting better than the next player, but also about making the right choices and the right moves. The expertise to figure out what your opponent is planning, or make fast and accurate steals or assists for example, has to do with cognitive abilities, in other words, brain skills. Most athletes have the incorrect view of these skills as something athletes are born with, but actually, they are not entirely natural "gifts," but rather absolutely trainable brain skills.

It doesn't really matter if you just need to know more about a special basketball help for improving your stats, or whether you currently play in junior-high, highschool, or university - you can greatly improve your game intelligence and start scoring like a pro with this unique brain training technique. A group of scientists developed an exceptional software application that assists on achieving that; using the format of a video "game", the user practices or "plays" with it for brief sessions of 20-30 minutes, once or twice a week, for just a few weeks - you will be amazed by the results. Coaches and trainers from all over the united states (tennessee, connecticut, and elsewhere) reported outstanding results just after working with individu als as well as entire teams with this astounding application.

Before you learn more about a special basketball help for improving your stats, it is a good idea to sample this amazingly effective and innovative solution. And now the very ambitious goal of becoming a dominant and successful basketball player for a lot of school to college players becomes so near and so possible; people who've tried this program have said they saw a remarkable overall performance improvement after "practicing" with this system for less than a month.

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2012年4月23日星期一

友站連結。痞客邦，2012 NBA Basketball Game Sharing Space。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，2012 NBA Basketball Game Sharing Space。

2012 NBA Basketball Game Sharing Space

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

http://basketball2012.pixnet.net/blog

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A Fresh Perspective in Pursuing a Graphic Arts Care

As soon as you watch a TV show, pick up a magazine, inspect an item at the supermarket, browse a website from the internet, or view a billboard, you're most probably looking at the creation of a graphic artist. Graphic artists nowadays use both traditional instruments such as pencils and paper as well as the most up-to-date and high-end digital applications. Some of the most frequently used graphic arts software includes PRIMO pdf, Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD 3-D Modeling software and Adobe Flash software for web designs that require flash. In order to maximize the use of these software, appropriate training is always an advantage.

Designing an Ad for Sneakers

The primary role of graphic designers is to come up with a message with the use of line, shape, color and texture. The product can be enhanced with the message that was created or the message itself can be utilized to promote branding and visual appeal.

A good example would be the prom otion of a new line of sneakers intended when playing basketball. The manufacturer would know if the shoes were promoted effectively if a lot of young adult men buy them regardless if the buyer plays basketball or not.

You are currently working as a graphic artist and one day you receive a phone call from the marketing director of an advertising agency for the launch of the new sneakers. You were asked by the marketing director to come up with an ad for the Internet for the sneakers. The ad needs to have a dynamic, fresh and exciting look. It's also possible for a professional basketball player to be featured in the ad.

As a graphic artist, do you think a summer theme with pretty yellow daisies would be effective? Most probably you won't. While daisies would be appealing, it might not be as appealing to incorporate in an ad for basketball sneakers. How about a cute puppy? Again, that might not be a good choice. Puppies can really be attractive; however using it in an ad campaign for basketball sneakers might not be effective.
With the help of graphic arts software such as CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, you might probably come up with a concept that is set on an asphalt parking lot and a bunch of city teenagers playing basketball. The time of the day may be at night, and the only source of light is an overhead street light. Black, silver and purple might be your choice of colors. If there is text involved, you might choose something that's dynamic and slanted. You can feel the passion for basketball of the teenagers who are wearing the sneakers.

As a graphic designer, you most probably already have some ideas even before starting the ad. No matter if you are coming up with the packaging of the sneakers, an ad for the sneakers, or even the design of the logo attached to either side of the sneakers, your creativity can make or break the way consumers perceive the product.

Is This Career Really Promising as it Sounds Like?

Your level of training will really speak for your outputs, just like any other profession. An associate or bachelor's degree is mandatory for a lot of graphic designers who are just starting out. The appropriate training can be obtained from an accredited school or college. It shouldn't be a challenge to find a good school since the National Association of Schools of Art and Design takes care of accrediting about 250 postsecondary institutions with courses in design and arts.

So what is the guarantee of getting a job once you have obtained a degree? Based on statistics from the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor, about 40,000 new posts will be opened in this specific field within the next ten years starting 2008 through 2018. In May 2008 the average salary is $42,400; however for those who are really successful, annual salaries can go beyond $100,000.

Graphic designers specializing in animation and website have an advantage. Also, positions that continue to increase include support for video games, celphones, personal digital assistants and the like. A good background in digital design applications is also a good edge.

Is this field a competitive one? Definitely! But remember that this career is just as fulfilling as it is challenging. Think of how many people will be viewing your graphic art creation and even how it can possibly become a part of popular culture. As long as you get the appropriate training, get the creative juices flowing and get the best motivation, it won't be long before you reap the fruits of your labor.

How to Get Started

If you have an inclination towards visual design and want to make the most out of it, then you'll need to look for a suitable college or school offering traditional courses or online ones, which offers courses on graphic design. But where do you go looking for the right school? Searching through a reputable college directory online is one way to start. Keywords can include "associate degre e" or "graphic design" and you can include your home town or zip code or both and you should be able to come up with results. Feel free to compare what each school can offer, such as courses, career services, scholarships and class schedules. Check your priorities and then make your choice. All these can definitely contribute to a rewarding career in graphic design.

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2012年4月22日星期日

Salmon is a great ingredient for many easy healthy recipes

We all know that there are certain foods which are healthier for you than others but sometimes it is hard to choose these options when you think they're going to be less tasty and less satisfying and that is why it is really important that people know just how delicious and easy healthy recipes can be.

Basic principles apply to healthy eating such as knowing which meats and fishes are fattier and higher in cholesterol, eating a balanced diet and making sure we take in at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. It is no good starving yourself or just eating fruit and vegetables because the body can go into survival mode and store the fat you already have in your body in reserves making it extremely hard to shift.

Instead, think about the amount you are eating (on other words portion control) and make sure you are getting vitamins, good fats (found in things like nuts, seeds, avocado and oily fish), calcium, protein and carbohydrates. This doesn't have to be complicated and once you know which foods fall into which food category you'll be almost all the way to completely changing the way you see food and to a new and healthier you.

There are certain basic foods which can form the basis for many easy healthy recipes, ingredients such as salmon, chicken, brown rice and pasta and vegetables and choosing something like a salmon recipe instead of a recipe which is full of cheese, red meat or simple carbohydrates (such as sugar), can make the difference between feeling sluggish and low in energy after eating to feeling satisfied but full of energy and with glowing skin and healthy hair and nails. One great salmon recipe which is simple and easy as easy to cook for the whole family as it is to cook for you is salmon fillets with watercress and baby new potatoes.

Simply buy the right number of good quality salmon fillets and pan fry these in olive oil until the skin is crispy and the salmon is cooked through but still pink, this should take around four minutes on either side. Add lime juice for the last two or three minutes and serve with new potatoes and wilted watercress for a really tasty, delicious and healthy meal.

Easy healthy recipes are often based around salmon or chicken because these are naturally lean and low in fat and as long as they're served with equally as healthy ingredients they can bring together fulfilling and hearty meals for the whole family.

Choose a salmon recipe for the perfect in easy healthy recipes which can be cooked midweek after work or for a dinner party with friends.

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友站連結。痞客邦，NBA Basketball Game Sharing Web。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，NBA Basketball Game Sharing Web。

NBA Basketball Game Sharing Web

Basketball things sharing.

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連結網址：

http://basketweb.pixnet.net/blog

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2012年4月21日星期六

Hello!2012-04-22

Hello!2012-04-22
Today is nice.

友站連結。痞客邦，NBA Basketball Game Sharing Page。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，NBA Basketball Game Sharing Page。

NBA Basketball Game Sharing Page

Basketball game news.

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連結網址：

http://nbapage.pixnet.net/blog

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友站連結。痞客邦，Janne's NBA Basketball Game News About Space。

網路文章/版主：廣利

部落格：http://basketballnews2012.blogspot.com/

友站連結。痞客邦，Janne's NBA Basketball Game News About Space。

Janne's NBA Basketball Game News About Space

Basketball game news.

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連結網址：

http://jannenbaball.pixnet.net/blog

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Baseball, Title Ix and Jackie Robinson: It's All About Discrimination

The baseball world recently celebrated "Jackie Robinson Day." On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball when he stepped onto Ebbets Field as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Many commentators have lamented the fact that 60 years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, today, only 8.4% of Major League Baseball (MLB) players are black. In fact, MLB has been going backwards. The current percentage of black players is the lowest in more than 20 years. Just over a decade ago, in 1995, 19% of MLB players were black.

No one disputes that the numbers of black professional baseball players is declining, the controversy is over why.

One article I read recently attributed the decline to baseball's legacy of segregation and racism. The writer argued that because of its history, baseball fails to "capture the imagination" of today's young black athletes.

Others have argued that inner-city black athletes face various economic challenges that limit their access to baseball fields, equipment, etc.

All of these arguments have some merit to them. But, ultimately, they fall short because other sports, like football and basketball, share baseball's legacy of segregation and racism. Yet, black participation in those other sports has continued to grow.

Last week, a co-worker sent me an article about Title IX by Hubert Mizell of Gainesville.com. It hit me like a thunderbolt that Title IX is the most obvious reason there are so few blacks in pro baseball.

The way Title IX has been interpreted and implemented, it effectively restricts the number of baseball scholarships colleges and universities offer. In fact, most schools, even major schools like the University of Florida, do not offer any "full-ride" college baseball scholarships at all.

I was shocked when I found that out.

Obviously, without a scholarship, many, many young black athletes cannot afford to go to college and play college baseball or, later, professional baseball. Naturally, young black athletes will gravitate towards football and basketball; sports that offer more scholarships. Over the past generation, this shift has become pronounced.

Title IX was enacted by the Congress in 1972. The law, itself, is not controversial at all. It simply states that "No person in the United States, shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
So, Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. It applies to discrimination in athletics. So far, so good. The problem comes in the interpretation of the law.

In 1979, The U.S. Department of Heath, Education, and Welfare (this was before we had a separate "Department of Education") issued a policy interpreting Title IX. The policy provided that, in order to comply with Title IX, a college or university must pass one of three tests. The college or university must show that it:

1. Provides athletic opportunities substantially proportionate to student enrollment; or,
2. Demonstrates a continual expansion of athletic opportunities for the underrepresented gender; or,
3. Provides full and effective accommodation of the interest and ability of the underrepresented gender.

Many schools try to comply with Title IX by passing the third test. The problem is that this test is very subjective. How do you prove you are providing "full and effective accommodation of interest and ability.?" You can take surveys to get some gauge of interest. But, in the end, if a school relies on the third test, it will be vulnerable to a law suit by someone who thinks it has not complied.

Some of the larger, financially strong, schools comply with Title IX by meeting the second test. They "demonstrate a continual expansion of athletic opportunities for the underrepresented gender" by adding a women's sports team. Every time a school does that, it is "good to go" for about five years. But, adding new sports is a money-losing proposition and smaller, less affluent, schools can't afford to do that. At least, not forever.

So, ultimately, all schools will want, or need, to comply with Title IX by meeting the first test. And, it is this first test that has really caused the problems.

If a school has a Division I football team, it can award up to 85 football scholarships (per NCAA rules). The school can also award up to 13 scholarships for it's men's basketball team. Of course, to compete in these sports, at the Division I level, the school will have to award these 98 men's athletics scholarships.

Women now make up a whopping 58% of college enrollment. So, to pass the first test, and award scholarships "substantially proportionate" to student enrollment, the school has to award about 110 scholarships to women just to equal the scholarships provided for men's football and basketball.

And, when you add in other men's sports it becomes impossible to meet the "substantially proportionate" test without severely cutting scholarships in other men's sports or dropping some sports altogether.

So, that's exactly what schools do. When you look at sports like Tennis, Golf, Track and Field/Cross Country, Swimming/Diving there are more scholarships awarded to women than men in each of these sports. Even in basketball men's college basketball teams get 13 scholarships; women's teams get 15.

Wrestling is one of the biggest sports at most high schools. There is a large base of college wrestling fans. But, thanks to Title IX, there are few college wrestling scholarships.

James Madison University is the latest school to announce it will be dropping 10 sports; 7 men's teams; 3 women's teams in order to meet the "substantially proportionate" test of Title IX.

You might say: "well, they should just get rid of football." The problem with that idea is that football is the only college sport that makes money. Men's basketball about breaks even (if the school is lucky). No other college sport pays for itself.

This means the college will likely lose money on every other sports team it adds, including every women's sports team. Football is the bill-payer for many of these sports at many schools. So, getting rid of football is not the answer.

So, what does all this have to do with Jackie Robinson and the lack of black professional baseball players today?

Here's what.

Because of the way Title IX has been interpreted and implemented, college baseball programs are only allowed 11.7 scholarships. Since about 30 players are on a college baseball team, normally, no one gets a full scholarship.

So, baseball is becoming, increasingly, a sport for the relatively affluent. The reason is simple. You have to be able to afford to pay for college to play college baseball.

By contrast, in football and basketball, almost everyone on the team has a full scholarship.

For a young, black athlete, football and basketball offer a much more likely scholarship opportunity. It's not surprising, then, that black athletes have gravitated toward football and basketball and away from baseball. It's common sense.

It's ironic that, Title IX, a law intended to limit sex discrimination in athletics has morphed into, perhaps, the most significant cause of sex, race and class discrimination in college athletics today.

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