A Follow-Up Study of Taiwan Physics and Chemistry Olympians: The Role of Environmental Influences in Talent Development

Thirty-one Taiwan physics and chemistry Olympians (29 males and 3 females) participated in a study that asked three questions: (1) What are their current statuses? (2) What family and school factors contribute to development of their scientific talents? (3) What impact did the Olympiad program have on them? By means questionnaire survey and in-depth interview, the related data were collected. The questionnaires were originally developed by Campbell (1996) for cross-cultural studies. The major findings were as follows: (a) The Olympians were all top university students, and the majority were majoring in physics or chemistry (71 and 76%, respectively): (b) the Olympians were mostly the first-born child in small families and were "discovered" at an early age (86% of them had been in a gifted class); (c) the socioeconomic status (SES) of the Olympians families were varied, although the majority were in the high SES range: their family support and learning environment were reported strong and positive: (d) both the Olympians and their parents considered "encounter a good teacher" as the most important factor for the development of the Olympians’ scientific talents; (e) the Olympiad experiences were, in general, positive for the participants, especially in their learning attitude toward the sciences and self-concept; on the other hand, over half of them felt "burned out" during training and competition; (f) there were very few special programs designed for the Olympians during their college years; (g) few Olympians (19%) had published research papers, and most had not yet shown special achievement in areas other than the sciences since they were still students; and (h) although the Olympians were individuals with unique characteristics, they held a strong commitment to the sciences in common. Strong congruence was found between these findings and the follow-up study of Taiwan Mathematics Olympians (Wu & Chen, 1998).