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Lucy Griezel
Lucy Griezel completed a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Psychology in 2006, graduating with Distinction and being the recipient of the Dean’s Medal. In 2007, she gained first-class Honours for her thesis examining the nature and effects of cyber bullying for Australian secondary students, and was the recipient of the APS Prize and the University of Western Sydney Medal. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Centre for Positive Psychology and Education and specialises in educational psychology throughout the lifespan. Her PhD research focuses on how to best educate high-ability students, with a particular emphasis on the academic and psychosocial effects of differing educational environments.
Qualifications
BSocSc (Psych), BArts (Hons) Psych
Awards
- University of Western Sydney Top-Up Award (2008 – 2010)
- Research Training Scheme (2008 – 2010)
- University of Western Sydney Medal (2007)
- Australian Psychological Society Prize for first place in an APAC-accredited fourth year program in psychology (2007)
- Dean’s Medal (2006)
- Zonta Award for first place in the unit ‘Developmental Psychology’ (2006)
Thesis Title
Which pond suits which fish? An investigation into the effects of differing educational environments on the academic achievement and psychological wellbeing of high-ability students
Supervisors
Professor Rhonda Craven, Dr Marjorie Seaton & Associate Professor Geoff Munns
Abstract
In 2002, Vinson’s landmark report into the provision of education in NSW revealed that “despite the popularity of selective high schools, relatively little research into the short-and long-term academic and other outcomes of different settings for gifted students has been conducted” (p. 19). Rather, governmental policies seem to have been largely based on assumptions about the benefits of selective schools that have remained untested by rigorous research. In fact, an emergent body of robust research-based evidence (e.g., Marsh, Trautwein, Lüdtke, & Köller, 2008) has repeatedly established that students who are educated in high-ability environments possess lower academic self-concepts than their equally able counterparts who are educated in low-ability environments – a phenomenon labelled “the big-fish-little-pond-effect” (BFLPE). Government bodies, researchers, educators, and parents alike are motivated to provide the nation’s most intelligent students with the most optimum education possible to deliver not only academic attainment, but heightened psychological wellbeing for all students. Research within the area of high-ability education is sparse and dated, failing to capture the true experiences of high-ability students in differing educational settings. The present investigation well attempt to redress this paucity of empirical research by: (a) examining the impact of academically segregated settings on academic achievement and psychological wellbeing; (b) identifying individual student characteristics which make students more suited to a particular educational setting; and (c) testing for the presence of the BFLPE in the largest Australian sample to date and searching for potential moderators.
Publications
Griezel, L., Craven, R. G., Yeung, A. S., & Finger, L. (2009). The development of a multi-dimensional measure of cyber bullying. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, December 1-4, 2008. Brisbane, Australia.
Griezel, L., Craven, R. G., Yeung, A. S., & Finger, L. (2009). Elucidating the effects of traditional and cyber bullying experiences on multidimensional self-concept domains. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, December 1-4, 2008. Brisbane, Australia.
