Intellectual contributions and mutual support among developmentally advanced children in homogeneous and heterogeneous work/discussion groups

To investigate previous claims that close association among gifted children provides them with the intellectual stimulation and socioaffective support they need, 32 eighth grade students (18 males and 14 females), divided according to their educational program placement, were observed working on various tasks in either homogeneous or heterogeneous ability groups. Homogeneously congregated gifted children in a self-contained program exchanged constructive types of knowledge and prosocial feedback significantly more frequently than either homogeneously grouped nonidentified students or heterogeneously mixed gifted and nonidentified youth. Gifted children within the mixed group tended to congregate among themselves; they varied widely in the frequency and nature of their interactions with nonidentified group mates.