title: Realising potential: investigating the life stories of gifted New Zealand adults

authors: Moltzen, Roger

subjects: Gifted New Zealand Adults

abstract: The aim of this study was to better understand the development of talent across the lifespan by examining the life stories of a group of gifted New Zealand adults. Twenty-eight high achievers participated in this study, representing the following seven broad domains of talent: logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and business-entrepreneurial. 
This study involved a pre-selection process, where experts in each of the seven talent domains nominated four living New Zealanders who they considered had achieved to the highest level in their field. From these nominations, invitations to participate were extended to the four most frequently nominated individuals in each of the seven domains.
Life history inquiry was considered the most appropriate methodology to meet the aim of this research. This involved individual, face-to-face interviews, best described as 'guided conversations'. Consistent with a life history approach, interviewees were accorded a significant degree of control over the direction and the focus of the interviews. However, the researcher had identified beforehand some broad themes he wished to pursue in all interviews, including: participants' ascriptions of their achievements, the influence of parents, family and home, educational experiences, and participants' social and emotional development.
One of the most significant findings from this study was that high achievers, irrespective of the domain of achievement, have developed the traits conducive to the realisation of potential. Consistent with numerous other studies, the attributes of drive, persistence, perseverance, hard work and self-discipline appear to be essential to achieving highly. While almost all the individuals who were included in this study showed early evidence of above average general intelligence, and while many displayed precocity in a particular domain, it was their high levels of motivation and task commitment, more than any natural ability, which distinguished them from their peers.
The childhood homes of the participants varied considerably, but poverty was more common than privilege. Few could be classified as having an advantaged childhood and the experience of early adversity was relatively common. As a group, their parents, while not highly educated, valued learning and education and provided opportunities for their children to engage with ideas. The family homes of most were environments where a love of books and a love of reading was modelled and encouraged.
Few could recall anything of great significance from primary school, but their recollections of high school were much more acute. The most positive accounts of high school came from those who attended schools where high achievement, particularly in academic subjects, was encouraged and valued. Those who provided the most negative recollections of schools were the creators, some of whom said that they failed to fit in at school. In fact marginalisation, both in childhood and adulthood was the experience of many. Some of the participants believed that as children and adolescents they were more emotionally sensitive and emotionally intense than their peers, and some said that they seemed to have a greater concern about issues of social justice than most others in their age group. 
While some of the conditions that support talent development seem universal, there was some evidence from this study that talent develops differently in different domains. The most notable differences appear to be between those who had made their names in the more creative domains, such as art, writing, and to a lesser extent music, and those who had achieved in the other domains. 
This study links closely to other retrospective studies of gifted adults, although there are some findings unique to this study, the majority of which may be explained by socio-cultural factors. Consistent with other retrospective studies, there are numerous areas of difference between the results of this study and the findings from longitudinal studies of gifted children.

text: Realising potential: investigating the life stories of gifted New Zealand adults The aim of this study was to better understand the development of talent across the lifespan by examining the life stories of a group of gifted New Zealand adults. Twenty-eight high achievers participated in this study, representing the following seven broad domains of talent: logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and business-entrepreneurial. 
This study involved a pre-selection process, where experts in each of the seven talent domains nominated four living New Zealanders who they considered had achieved to the highest level in their field. From these nominations, invitations to participate were extended to the four most frequently nominated individuals in each of the seven domains.
Life history inquiry was considered the most appropriate methodology to meet the aim of this research. This involved individual, face-to-face interviews, best described as 'guided conversations'. Consistent with a life history approach, interviewees were accorded a significant degree of control over the direction and the focus of the interviews. However, the researcher had identified beforehand some broad themes he wished to pursue in all interviews, including: participants' ascriptions of their achievements, the influence of parents, family and home, educational experiences, and participants' social and emotional development.
One of the most significant findings from this study was that high achievers, irrespective of the domain of achievement, have developed the traits conducive to the realisation of potential. Consistent with numerous other studies, the attributes of drive, persistence, perseverance, hard work and self-discipline appear to be essential to achieving highly. While almost all the individuals who were included in this study showed early evidence of above average general intelligence, and while many displayed precocity in a particular domain, it was their high levels of motivation and task commitment, more than any natural ability, which distinguished them from their peers.
The childhood homes of the participants varied considerably, but poverty was more common than privilege. Few could be classified as having an advantaged childhood and the experience of early adversity was relatively common. As a group, their parents, while not highly educated, valued learning and education and provided opportunities for their children to engage with ideas. The family homes of most were environments where a love of books and a love of reading was modelled and encouraged.
Few could recall anything of great significance from primary school, but their recollections of high school were much more acute. The most positive accounts of high school came from those who attended schools where high achievement, particularly in academic subjects, was encouraged and valued. Those who provided the most negative recollections of schools were the creators, some of whom said that they failed to fit in at school. In fact marginalisation, both in childhood and adulthood was the experience of many. Some of the participants believed that as children and adolescents they were more emotionally sensitive and emotionally intense than their peers, and some said that they seemed to have a greater concern about issues of social justice than most others in their age group. 
While some of the conditions that support talent development seem universal, there was some evidence from this study that talent develops differently in different domains. The most notable differences appear to be between those who had made their names in the more creative domains, such as art, writing, and to a lesser extent music, and those who had achieved in the other domains. 
This study links closely to other retrospective studies of gifted adults, although there are some findings unique to this study, the majority of which may be explained by socio-cultural factors. Consistent with other retrospective studies, there are numerous areas of difference between the results of this study and the findings from longitudinal studies of gifted children.

year: 2005

title: Macroinvertebrates and water quality: a teaching guide

authors: Hicks, Brendan J.

subjects: stream

abstract: Streams support a diverse community of plants and animals on or in the stream bed. These organisms comprise the benthos. Among the benthos are worms, molluscs, crustaceans, and larval insects. Insect larvae are usually the most numerous animals of the benthos. Collectively the animals of the benthos are known as benthic macroinvertebrates because of where they live, and their large size (often 10-35 mm).

text: Macroinvertebrates and water quality: a teaching guide Streams support a diverse community of plants and animals on or in the stream bed. These organisms comprise the benthos. Among the benthos are worms, molluscs, crustaceans, and larval insects. Insect larvae are usually the most numerous animals of the benthos. Collectively the animals of the benthos are known as benthic macroinvertebrates because of where they live, and their large size (often 10-35 mm).

year: 2002

title: The 2020 cannabis referendum: Māori voter support, racialized policing, and the Criminal Justice System

authors: Dempster, Craig

abstract: In the New Zealand 2020 cannabis referendum, 50.7% of all voters rejected the creation of a legally-regulated cannabis market and instead supported retaining the current prohibitionist policy. Although the referendum failed to pass, a majority of Māori voted in favor of cannabis law reform. This paper suggests that within the Māori community there is a more nuanced appreciation of the impact of policing cannabis. Māori perceive that greater harm is caused by the racialized policing of cannabis than by the usage of it. Following McCreanor, et al. (2014), this paper employs a thematic, content analysis of the New Zealand Herald’s coverage of the 2020 cannabis referendum to investigate the presence of race-based targeting/policing in discussions of the legislation. The results reveal that racial disparities emerged as secondary to framing both the impact of cannabis and the referendum as race-neutral and affecting everyone in society equally. This paper argues that the impact of the policing of this particular drug impacts Māori differently, wherein they bear the brunt of racialized policing. Thus, Māori possess a more sophisticated understanding that warrants consideration because it is inextricably linked to lived experiences of policing that differ from wider social narratives of policing and drug policy in New Zealand.

text: The 2020 cannabis referendum: Māori voter support, racialized policing, and the Criminal Justice System In the New Zealand 2020 cannabis referendum, 50.7% of all voters rejected the creation of a legally-regulated cannabis market and instead supported retaining the current prohibitionist policy. Although the referendum failed to pass, a majority of Māori voted in favor of cannabis law reform. This paper suggests that within the Māori community there is a more nuanced appreciation of the impact of policing cannabis. Māori perceive that greater harm is caused by the racialized policing of cannabis than by the usage of it. Following McCreanor, et al. (2014), this paper employs a thematic, content analysis of the New Zealand Herald’s coverage of the 2020 cannabis referendum to investigate the presence of race-based targeting/policing in discussions of the legislation. The results reveal that racial disparities emerged as secondary to framing both the impact of cannabis and the referendum as race-neutral and affecting everyone in society equally. This paper argues that the impact of the policing of this particular drug impacts Māori differently, wherein they bear the brunt of racialized policing. Thus, Māori possess a more sophisticated understanding that warrants consideration because it is inextricably linked to lived experiences of policing that differ from wider social narratives of policing and drug policy in New Zealand.

year: 2022