Giftedness
Gifted children -children identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance.
- general intellectual ability
- specific academic aptitude
- creative or productive thinking
- leadership ability
- visual and performing arts
- psychomotor ability
Prodigies - characterized by a more highly focused but very outstanding skill or ability
- music/visual arts
- mathematics/chess
Identifying Gifted Children
- teacher observation
- group intelligence test
-individual intelligence test
Teachers generally note:
- high ability
- high creativity
- high commitment
Formal identification procedures usually only address general intellectual ability and academic achievement.
Assessing Creativity
Measures of divergent thinking - coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions
Paper-and Pencil Tests
a. How many uses can you think of for a sock/brick/flower pot?
b. Make 30 different drawings with 30 circles.
Responses are scored for:
Originality - response is given by fewer than 5 or 10% of people who take the test.
Fluency - the number of different responses
Flexibility - the number of different categories of responses.
Creativity and intelligence are highly correlated up to an IQ of about 120.
Issues in identifying gifted children:
- availability of special programs
- limited definitions/biased measures
- under representation of culturally different children
Programs for the Gifted
1. Acceleration - students are moved more rapidly through the curriculum
- "skipping" grades
Disadvantage - may move children beyond their level of social and psychological devp't
- acceleration in specific subjects
2. Enrichment - providing additional and different school experiences
- science projects
- creative projects
- research of source materials
Advantage: children are not removed from their age and grade levels
In practice, there may be considerable overlap between Acceleration and Enrichment.
3. Tutoring - providing one-on-one instruction
4. Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs)
- programs individually designed according to a students special needs and/or talents
- may combine self-directed and independent study with mentoring, enrichment and perhaps acceleration
5. Special Schools/Weekend and summer programs
Promoting Creativity and Giftedness
Terman's longitudinal study (initiated 1922)
- 1 500 California school children
- IQ of 140 or higher
Terman & Olden (1959)
- compared 100 most successful with 100 least successful participants
- family backgrounds significantly different
- successful group were from highly educated families: encouraged exploration, independence, achievement and ambition
- results replicated by Pyryt in 1993
- additional finding: importance of schooling
Factors Affecting Achievement (besides intellectual resources)
1. Personality:motivation
persistence
love of challenge
high energy
love of one's work
sense of purpose in life
2. Family: loving and supportive
provide intellectual stimulation
provide a range of experiences
stability
3. School:encourage divergent thinking
emphasize self-initiated learning
encourage co-operative learning
Eight Gripes of Gifted Students
1. No one explains what being gifted is all about.
2. The stuff we do in school is too easy and it's boring.
3. Parents, teachers, and friends expect us to be perfect, to "do our best" all the time.
4. Kids often tease us about being smart.
5. Friends who really understand us are few and far between.
6. We feel too different and wish people would accept us for what we are.
7. We feel overwhelmed by the number of things we can do in life.
8. We worry a lot about world problems and feel helpless to do anything about them.