The Scientific Hypothesis Formulation Ability of Gifted Ninth-Grade Students

An exploratory study was conducted to compare selected cognitive and noncognitive variables' relationships with highly intelligent ninth-grade students' ability to formulate hypotheses about realistic, ill-defined situations. Three hypotheses were tested in this study: whether boys' and girls' abilities to formulate hypotheses differed; whether significant relationships existed between hypothesis formulation ability and cognitive and noncognitive factors; and the extent to which there was a relationship between the quality and the quantity of students' responses. Results indicated that there were no differences between male and female subjects' abilities to formulate hypotheses. The results of a principal-component analysis indicated that the ability to formulate hypotheses may be independent of intelligence for high-ability students. Finally, a positive relationship was found between the quality and the quantity of subjects' responses.