Myth busting: Do high-performance students prefer working alone?

ABSTRACT

There has been a longstanding assumption that gifted, high-ability, or high-performing students prefer working alone; however, this may not be true in every case. The current study expanded on this assumption to reveal more nuanced learning preferences of these students. Sixty-nine high-performing and community-school students in Grades 5 and 6 participated. A 26-item questionnaire addressed students’ learning preferences. Nine students were interviewed after completing the questionnaire to further explore their answers. Substantial evidence supported high-performing students’ preferences for working with others. These preferences were complex and varied depending on the learning situation. Implications for future research were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Classrooms
• collaboration
• friends
• gifted
• group work
• learning context
• learning preferences
• working alone

Acknowledgments

We are especially grateful to the Lester B. Pearson School Board and the participating school communities for their critical collaboration.

Funding

This study was supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, McGill Graduate Studies Fellowships, and team research funding from the Fonds québécois de la recherché sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (an FQRSC Regroupement stratégique), and the Faculty of Education, McGill University.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, McGill Graduate Studies Fellowships, and team research funding from the Fonds québécois de la recherché sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (an FQRSC Regroupement stratégique), and the Faculty of Education, McGill University.

Notes on contributors

Cheryl L. Walker

Cheryl L. Walker graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with a PhD in School/Applied Child Psychology in 2013. Her research has addressed inquiry-based learning, including social interactions in classrooms and friendships and social perspective taking involving gifted students. She currently works as a psychologist with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Bruce M. Shore

Bruce M. Shore is a licensed teacher and psychologist, Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. His research is on intellectual giftedness and inquiry-based learning and teaching at all levels of education. His most recent book is The Graduate Advisor Handbook: A Student-Centered Approach (University of Chicago Press, in the series Chicago Guides to Academic Life).