http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2586&context=etdThe Davidson Fellows: case studies in science
talent development
Ann M. Batenburg
University of Iowa
July 2011
ABSTRACT
This study examined the talent development of five Davidson Fellowship science
winners using the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent. The Davidson
Fellowship program recognizes students under the age of 18 who have completed a
significant piece of original work in one of six fields: science, technology, mathematics,
music, literature, or philosophy. Parents of four of the Fellows also participated in the
multiple-case study, which used semi-structured phone interviews to gather data.
The cross-case analysis of this multiple-case study revealed that the Fellows
traveled multiple pathways to success. Each Fellow and his family took advantage of
different educational options, formal and informal. No consistent educational
programming existed across participants from different schools in different areas of the
country, except AP® courses and science fairs. The Fellows encountered a number of
different negative catalysts in the environment, including a lack of challenge in the public
schools, inconsistent treatment by teachers and administrators, variable availability of
challenging school and extracurricular opportunities, difficulties with peers, and
challenging logistical arrangements necessary for participation in extracurricular
opportunities.
The strength of these negative catalysts was offset by a number of protective
factors, or positive catalysts. The positive catalysts were both strong and numerous in
each of the Fellows. Each Fellow presented evidence of very high ability. They were
healthy. They were raised in supportive learning environments that encouraged taking
risks, striving for excellence, and improvement over earning good grades. They had
multiple supportive adults in their lives: parents, teachers, and mentors who created a
layered support system. When one adult was not available, there were others on whom
the student could depend in a crisis. The parent relationship was particularly strong. Each
Fellow reported, and each of the parents confirmed, a uniquely supportive relationship
with their parents marked by mutual respect and admiration. Each Fellow presented
strong motivation for his work. Each displayed a candid awareness of his own strengths
and weaknesses, and a willingness to confront and apply himself to remedy weaknesses.
They all presented compelling evidence of a tenacious perseverance. Stronger than the
negative catalysts, these positive catalysts worked in concert to protect the individual
against failure or resignation.
