Article2009

Developing and Fostering Passion in Academic and Nonacademic Domains

Jennifer A. Fredricks · Corinne Alfeld · Jacquelynne S. Eccles

136 citations0/0 files storedGifted Child Quarterly

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Education, Achievement, and Giftedness Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation Psychological and Educational Research Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how passion was manifested among gifted and talent youth selected from a larger longitudinal study of child and adolescent development. The gifted sample included 25 high school and college students who were selected because they were in a gifted program in elementary school. The talent sample included 41 high school students who were selected because they were highly involved in athletics and the arts in middle childhood. The authors found that passion was more characteristic of participation in nonacademic activities (i.e., sports and the arts). Talented youth were more likely to talk about wanting to do their activity all the time, experiencing flow, getting emotional release from participation, and internalizing the activity into their identity. The authors also found that school settings, and especially regular classrooms as compared with gifted and advanced classes, appeared to undermine rather that support passion. The authors discuss implications of their findings for creating school environments that can foster passion. Putting the Research to Use We found very little evidence of passion in our interviews with gifted high school and college youth. Instead, most of these youth talked about being bored and that little motivated them besides demonstrating their ability. Unfortunately, many of the youth talked negatively about aspects of both the academic and social environment. We offer suggestions for teachers and schools on how to increase passion in the classroom. Students are more likely to experience passion in environments where they feel supported by peers who are of similar ability and motivation levels, where teachers model enthusiasm and press for understanding, where there is adequate challenge, and where are opportunities to work on varied, meaningful, and cognitively complex tasks.

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References

2000Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.1985Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior 1990Qualitative evaluation and research methods 1990Qualitative evaluation and research methods 1988Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior 2004School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence 2000Positive psychology: An introduction.1932A Handbook of Child Psychology

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