The Influencing Factors and Mechanism of Academic Development for Outstanding Innovative Talents Cultivation: An Exploratory Study Based on Grounded Theory
Abstract：The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to adhere to the priority development of education, self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology, and talent-driven development, accelerating the construction of an educationally strong, a technologically strong and a talent-strong country. The urgency and importance of cultivating outstanding innovative talents will become increasingly prominent. Exploring the influencing factors and mechanisms of academic development of outstanding innovative talents in research universities is of great significance for accelerating the construction of an educationally strong country. Currently, Chinese research universities have conducted many forward-looking practical explorations in promoting the academic development of outstanding innovative talents, and related studies have recognized the complexity of the academic development of the talents. However, most discussions on the area are based on scattered perspectives, lacking systematic and comprehensive exploration and interpretation.
Based on grounded theory, this study conducted in-depth interviews with relevant students and teachers who met the research conditions regarding the key influencing factors of academic development of outstanding innovative talents. The interviews included 25 students and 5 teachers specializing in student academic development counseling, resulting in approximately 150,000 words of textual data. The study explored the influencing factors and mechanisms of academic development of outstanding innovative talents, aiming to provide empirical evidence for subsequent reforms and optimization of talent cultivation in research universities to promote the academic development of outstanding innovative talents.
Through open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and saturation testing, this study formed 119 local concepts, 36 initial categories, and 17 subcategories, finally clustered into 5 main categories: institutional context, nurturing community, student traits, and participatory learning activities and self-regulated learning behaviors. By following the three-stage coding based on the grounded theory, this study compared and analyzed the theoretical model proposed by Pasqualini. Following the “input-process-output” logic, adjustments and revisions were made to the above model. In the “input” dimension, this study merged institutional context and nurturing community into external context. Meanwhile, student personality traits, learning abilities, academic cognitive goals, and student family environment were summarized as student traits. Internal context mainly manifested as students’ self-regulated learning behaviors. Participatory learning activities of students constituted the “process” dimension of the model. The external environment affects the entire process of outstanding innovative talents’ participation in participatory learning activities, effectively stimulating students to generate self-regulated learning behaviors, thereby promoting the quality and effectiveness of students’ participatory learning activities. Finally, the “output” dimension is concretized as students’ academic development performance.
It is recommended to fully leverage the leading role of nurturing communities, strengthen students’ sense of mission in learning and participation in participatory and inquiry-based learning, comprehensively improve the quality of academic development of outstanding innovative talents, and focus on enhancing the effectiveness of nurturing outstanding innovative talents in research universities, providing references for promoting research universities to be the top world-class universities.
郭文刚 郑尧丽 孙源. 拔尖创新人才学业发展的影响因素及其作用机制——基于扎根理论的探索性研究[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 0, (): 1-.
Guo Wenggang Zheng Yaoli Sun Yuan. The Influencing Factors and Mechanism of Academic Development for Outstanding Innovative Talents Cultivation: An Exploratory Study Based on Grounded Theory. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 0, (): 1-.
