Learning resources and talent development from a systemic point of view.

System theories postulate that a system needs resources in order to evolve and function as an entirety. According to the actiotope model of giftedness, exogenous and endogenous resources needed to develop excellence include five forms of educational capital (economic, cultural, social, infrastructural, and didactic) and five forms of learning capital (organismic, telic, actional, episodic, and attentional), independent of domain and level of talent development. In three studies, we addressed several blind spots in the empirical basis of the educational and learning capital (ELC) approach. The studies were conducted in different domains, with different samples, and on various levels of talent development, as well as with regard to different functions for which resources can be used. Study 1, comprising 365 sixth graders, showed that ELC have an incremental validity beyond IQ for predicting scholastic achievement. In study 2 with 90 women holding a university degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), we provide evidence that in the collegiate actiotopes of women who were later successful in STEM, more ELC had been available and was used to serve different functions than in the actiotopes of less successful women in STEM. In study 3 with 74 long-distance runners, we found a similar pattern of results for different achievement levels in an athletics domain.

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