Graduate Research Papers
Availability
Open Access Graduate Research Paper
Abstract
This study was concerned with how the media specialist could meet the leisure reading needs of gifted students. The specific purpose of the study was to find out what categories of fiction academically gifted students grades four through six choose to read. It was this writer's hypothesis that academically gifted students read all types of fiction on an equal basis, and there would be no variation among the types of categories that these students choose to read.
To test the hypothesis, each student with an I.Q. of 130 or above at Westridge Elementary School in Waterloo, Iowa, was given a questionaire to fill out in regard to their interests. Students were given nine categories from which they could indicate if they choose to read the category often, sometimes, or seldom. Points were assigned each response and totals added up for each category. In order for the hypothesis to be accepted, there could not be more than a 20% variation between the most popular fiction category and the least popular category.
The researcher used the formula of dividing the most preferred category (mpc) by the least preferred category (lpc) to find the percentage of the difference. The percent the least preferred category was of the most preferred category was 40. Hence there was a 60% difference between the two. The hypothesis that there would be no more than a 20% variation between the two was rejected.
Students revealed definite likes and dislikes favoring humor and disfavoring poetry and folktales. Even though the hypothesis was rejected the study serves as a model for media specialists in accessing fiction reading interests of individual students. By using the questionaire, a media specialist can determine trends or preferences, and assist each student through reading guidance on an individual basis. There was not enough students in the study to make generalizations as pertaining to grade level, age, or sex.
Year of Submission
1977
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Library Science
First Advisor
Elizabeth Martin
Date Original
1977
Object Description
1 PDF file (iii, 35 pages)
Copyright
©1977 Kathy Kelly
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Kathy, "An Investigation of Reading Interests of Fiction for Academically Gifted Students Grades Four Through Six" (1977). Graduate Research Papers. 3184.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/3184
Comments
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