Special talents and defects : $b Their significance for educationHollingworth, Leta Stetter
Science
Special talents and defects : $b Their significance for education
Hollingworth, Leta Stetter
Educational psychology; Educational tests and measurements; Exceptional children
The boy D, of IQ 184, was described first by Terman, in _The
Intelligence of School Children_. His achievements are most remarkable
in every kind of intellectual activity, including music and drawing.
Among his favorite pastimes since infancy has been the manipulation of
numbers. His calculations, dating from the time his hand could wield a
pencil, have covered hundreds of pages. As a child of 7, 8, and 9 years,
D found the keenest satisfaction in deriving formulæ to render himself
unbeatable at family games based on number. At the age of 12 years he
has completed the mathematical curriculum of the elementary and
secondary schools, through arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and
trigonometry. (It should be added that he has also completed the
curriculum of the elementary and secondary schools in all other
respects, and is ready at 12 years to enter college.)
Figure 15 shows D’s calculations on Test 2, of Army Alpha, Form 5, five
minutes being allowed for the performance. Figure 16 shows his
calculations on Test 6, of the same form of Alpha, three minutes being
allowed. D was 10 years 11 months old on the date of these calculations.
He had never previously seen either of these tests.
[Illustration:
FIG. 15.—Showing D’s calculations on Test 2, Army Alpha, Form 5, at
the age of 10 years 11 months, five minutes being allowed for the
performance. The only figuring done on paper appears in the margin.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 16.—Showing D’s calculations on Test 6, Army Alpha, Form 5, at
the age of 10 years 11 months, three minutes being allowed for the
performance.
]
The second child to whom we wish to refer briefly is R, of IQ 187. He,
too, has delighted in number from about the third year of life. When
first seen by the present writer, at the age of 6 years 6 months, R’s
memory span for digits was at least eight (beyond this he was not
tested), and he could easily reverse seven digits at least (beyond this
the test did not go). He has been taught short cuts and other mechanics
of lightning calculation till now, at the age of 8, he can with great
speed calculate the answer to such a series as “2 × 2 × 2 × 2 multiplied
by twice the square of 2; square it,” or “2255^2 − 2245^2.”
In Figure 17 is shown R’s calculation on Test 2, Army Alpha, Form 5, and
in Figure 18, his performance in Test 6, the time limits being the same
as indicated for D. R was 7 years 6 months old on the date of these
performances. The ordinary child of that age can, of course, make no
score whatever. R had never previously seen either of the tests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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