Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capacity to perform and accomplish goals. Specifically, academic self-efficacy refers to a student’s perception of their ability to engage and successfully complete academic tasks. Self-efficacy affects students’ behavioral choices, motivation, thought patterns and responses, perception of control, and academic productivity.
Success is the greatest factor affecting a student’s self-efficacy and gifted elementary school students are regularly successful academically in mainstream United States classrooms. However, in the face of a true intellectual challenge, rather than be inspired to learn and grow, the literature reports that gifted students’ academic self- efficacy can falter because of perfectionism, a character trait common amongst this population. According to the literature, perfectionism can paralyze gifted students with fear of failure and reduce their academic self-efficacy, causing them to underachieve.
The purpose of this research is to document the best practices for helping gifted elementary school students develop their self-efficacy. Interviews with educators of gifted students reveal strategies elementary school teachers can implement in their mainstream classrooms to help gifted students expand their learning and develop the self- efficacy necessary to become confident, inquisitive, life-long learners.
","abstract_html":"<p>Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capacity to perform and accomplish goals. Specifically, academic self-efficacy refers to a student’s perception of their ability to engage and successfully complete academic tasks. Self-efficacy affects students’ behavioral choices, motivation, thought patterns and responses, perception of control, and academic productivity.</p> <p>Success is the greatest factor affecting a student’s self-efficacy and gifted elementary school students are regularly successful academically in mainstream United States classrooms. However, in the face of a true intellectual challenge, rather than be inspired to learn and grow, the literature reports that gifted students’ academic self- efficacy can falter because of perfectionism, a character trait common amongst this population. According to the literature, perfectionism can paralyze gifted students with fear of failure and reduce their academic self-efficacy, causing them to underachieve.</p> <p>The purpose of this research is to document the best practices for helping gifted elementary school students develop their self-efficacy. Interviews with educators of gifted students reveal strategies elementary school teachers can implement in their mainstream classrooms to help gifted students expand their learning and develop the self- efficacy necessary to become confident, inquisitive, life-long learners.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Merriman, Lauren"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:44Z","subjects":["Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/397","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Merriman, Lauren"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/397"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capacity to perform and accomplish goals. Specifically, academic self-efficacy refers to a student’s perception of their ability to engage and successfully complete academic tasks. Self-efficacy affects students’ behavioral choices, motivation, thought patterns and responses, perception of control, and academic productivity.
Success is the greatest factor affecting a student’s self-efficacy and gifted elementary school students are regularly successful academically in mainstream United States classrooms. However, in the face of a true intellectual challenge, rather than be inspired to learn and grow, the literature reports that gifted students’ academic self- efficacy can falter because of perfectionism, a character trait common amongst this population. According to the literature, perfectionism can paralyze gifted students with fear of failure and reduce their academic self-efficacy, causing them to underachieve.
The purpose of this research is to document the best practices for helping gifted elementary school students develop their self-efficacy. Interviews with educators of gifted students reveal strategies elementary school teachers can implement in their mainstream classrooms to help gifted students expand their learning and develop the self- efficacy necessary to become confident, inquisitive, life-long learners.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Developing Academic Self-Efficacy: Strategies to Support Gifted Elementary School Students"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Merriman, Lauren"],"dc:description.abstract":["Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capacity to perform and accomplish goals. Specifically, academic self-efficacy refers to a student’s perception of their ability to engage and successfully complete academic tasks. Self-efficacy affects students’ behavioral choices, motivation, thought patterns and responses, perception of control, and academic productivity.
Success is the greatest factor affecting a student’s self-efficacy and gifted elementary school students are regularly successful academically in mainstream United States classrooms. However, in the face of a true intellectual challenge, rather than be inspired to learn and grow, the literature reports that gifted students’ academic self- efficacy can falter because of perfectionism, a character trait common amongst this population. According to the literature, perfectionism can paralyze gifted students with fear of failure and reduce their academic self-efficacy, causing them to underachieve.
The purpose of this research is to document the best practices for helping gifted elementary school students develop their self-efficacy. Interviews with educators of gifted students reveal strategies elementary school teachers can implement in their mainstream classrooms to help gifted students expand their learning and develop the self- efficacy necessary to become confident, inquisitive, life-long learners.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/397"],"dc:subject":["Education"],"dc:title":["Developing Academic Self-Efficacy: Strategies to Support Gifted Elementary School Students"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:44Z"}