Gifted and nongifted middle school students: Are their attitudes toward school different as measured by the new affective instrument, my class activities ... ?

This paper describes a study in which the attitudes of gifted middle school students were compared with other middle school students, using a survey i nstrument that measures the dimensions of interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment-dimensions rooted deeply in gifted education and central to learn ing. Although statistical differences were found between the two groups, th e effect size was so small that the findings were interpreted to indicate t hat gifted students viewed their class activities essentially the same as t he other students in this study. Each group reported their class activities were only slightly more than "sometimes" interesting, challenging, and enj oyable and that they were slightly more than "seldom" offered choices in th eir educational activities. These findings offer insight into how gifted an d other students view their class activities and have implications for prac tices that may affect motivation and learning for all students.