PPP on gifted education

1. GIFTED AND TALENTED
STUDENTS IN EDUCATION
F
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2. CONTENTS
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Topic 1: Implications of:
• Underachievement
• Definition
• Prevalence
• Characteristics
• Strategies to
reverse patterns
• Classroom
Environment
• Social & Emotional
Aspects
• Not homogenous
• Overexcitabilities
• Inside emotions
• Support
Topic 2:
• How much is needed?
• Off level testing
• Why it is needed
• Curriculum
differentiation
• School & Classroom
level
• Content, process,
learning environment,
product
• What it is not
• Acceleration
• Controversy
• Compacting
• Models

3. Topic One:
Implications of
Underachievement and
Social & Emotional
Aspects for GATS
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4. Underachievement
 A definition: discrepancy between
actual and potential achievement
 Not reaching level of attainment
 Measure of discrepancies:
◦ Tests & exams
◦ Observations
 classroom & home
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5. Prevalence
 As high as 50% of GATS with high
potential are underachieving
 Needs aren’t being catered for:
◦ Unsuitable coursework - unchallenging,
repetitive, busywork
◦ Neglected by gifted programs
5

6. Supporting document
Greenburg, P. (2006). Understanding the
underachieving gifted child.
Underachievers: types, characteristics
and courses of action. Retrieved from:
http://static.schoolrack.com/files/74144/2
28502/types_of_underachievers.pdf
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7. Characteristics - Primary
 Pressure of expectations – self, family,
teacher
 Low self-esteem – doubt in own
abilities
 Accountability of failure & success –
relating to luck and ease rather than
effort
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8. Characteristics - Secondary
 Avoidance as self-protection
 Perfectionism
◦ High standards, paralysed perfection, fear
of failure, all-or-nothing mindset
◦ Behaviours: procrastination, workaholism
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9. Characteristics - Tertiary
 Supportive of the patterns of
underachievement:
◦ Poor discipline – home & school
◦ Poor study skills & concentration
◦ Skill deficiencies
◦ Peer acceptance – mask their abilities
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10. Strategies to Reverse Patterns
 Secondary school – opportunity for a
fresh start
 Restore interest and motivation in
learning
 Change attitudes
 Holistic approach
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11. Whitmore's 3 Strategies
 Supportive – ‘family’ environment
 Intrinsic – positive self-concepts and
attitudes
 Remedial – view that no one is perfect: we
are made up of strengths and weaknesses
June 20, 2016 11

12. What can you do within your
classroom environment?
 Have an open mind
 Observe behaviours carefully
 Understand survival tactics
 Differentiate instructions to cater for all
 Compact the curriculum
 Allow student direction and choices for
enriching extension activities
 Create a respectful classroom
 Value student attempts and effort
 Develop individual learning contracts
12

13. Social & Emotional Aspects:
an understanding
• Asynchronous development – universal
characteristic
• Chronological age – out of sync with:
• Cognition
• Motor skills
• Social & emotional maturity
• Overexcitabilities
• Frustration
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14. GATS: Not a homogenous group
 Different traits, characteristics and
abilities
 More mentally mature – some more
emotionally adjusted, some
emotionally fragile
 Different ways of dealing with
challenges
June 20, 2016 14

15. Overexcitabilities
 Originally denoted ‘abundant mental
energy which provides positive
potential for
1. Psychomotor
2. Intellectual
3. Imaginational
4. Sensual
5. Emotional
June 20, 2016 15

16. Inside the emotions of a gifted child
The following are answers from a report
(Schmitz & Galbraith in Managing the
Social and Emotional Needs of the
Gifted) that asked gifted students what
it feels like on the inside.
June 20, 2016 16

17. “No one explains what being
gifted is all about”
 Kept in the dark
 Confused about difference
 Views themselves as a minority with
something wrong with them
 Contributes to poor self-esteem and a
fear of social rejection
 Need involvement and mentorship
June 20, 2016 17

18. “school is too easy, too boring”
(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 Succeeding with minimal effort
 Repetitive classwork
 In need of a tailored program and
challenge
June 20, 2016 18

19. “Parents, teachers, and friends
expect us to be perfect all the time”
(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 High expectations and pressure to
meet them
 Triggers stress and anxiety
 Perfectionism sets high self standards
 Leads to feelings of disappointment,
inadequacy and failure
 Students may feel obliged to match
the effort that others put in with good
results
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20. “Friends who really understand
us are few and far away”(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 Peer acceptance through quick-wit
and humour
 Likely they don’t have close friends
 Loneliness and isolation
 Finding like minded peers is a
challenge
 Advanced play interest, vocabulary,
and a differing perspective
June 20, 2016 20

21. “Kids often tease us about being
smart”(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 ‘smarty pants’ – negative connotation
 Suffers are prone to depression,
anxiety and violence
 Different ways of dealing:
◦ Confused by conflicting view
of social justice
◦ Become self critical and avoid attracting
attention
◦ Disregard due to positive self-concepts
 Need for positive social development
in the classroom
June 20, 2016 21

22. “We worry about world problems
and feel helpless to do anything
about them”(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 Idealist contemplation is associated
with existential depression
 Frustrated and disappointed by
idealistic outcomes in society
 Feelings of helplessness and isolation
 Need reassurance, understanding,
and a prompt to research and build
personal philosophy
June 20, 2016 22

23. “We feel different, alienated”
(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 Concerns aren’t similar to peers
 Met with reactions of puzzlement to
hostility
 Feeling of alienation
 Important to form relationships to
discuss similar experiences and
thoughts
June 20, 2016 23

24. “We feel overwhelmed by the
number of things we can do in life”
(Unknown, n.d. p. 31)
 World is at their feet
 Freedom of choices and unlimited
options and possibilities
 Careful contemplation in order to
make the right ones
 ‘meaning of life’ questions – spirals
down into depression
 Ground them in their areas of interest
June 20, 2016 24

25. Emotional & social support
 Peer group of corresponding mental
age
 Mentorship or counselling
 Differentiate teaching instruction
 Compact curriculum
 Further learning programs; curriculum
differentiation and acceleration
 Support and guidance for parents –
decision making
June 20, 2016 25

26. Topic Two:
Options for
Modifications of
Curriculum

27. How much modification is
needed?
 As Professor Eddie Braggett states
‘the more extreme the giftedness, the
more extreme the differentiated
provision which is required’.
 Most only require one or more
subjects differentiated to suit their
learning needs, and rarely include all
academic learning experiences
June 20, 2016 27

28. Imagine trying to measure the height of
the Harlem Globetrotters on a pole
which only goes up to 6 feet 6 inches.
The coach protests that this doesn’t tell
him more than he can already see. In
defense it is claimed that the pole that is
being used is a perfectly adequate
measure for 99% of the population. (Gross,
Macleod, & Pretorius, 2001, p. 16)
28

29. What can off-level testing tell us?
 Examples:
◦ End of year test taken at the start of the year
◦ Tests designed for older students
◦ Available competition papers from previous
years
◦ Past SC or HSC end of year examination
papers
 Evidence of prior knowledge of subject
content to be covered
 Insight for development of modifications
June 20, 2016 29

30. Why GATS need curriculum
differentiation and acceleration
 Abilities of GATS:
◦ Learn at faster rates
◦ Recall easily
◦ Understand generalities and principles with
ease
◦ Critical thinking and problem-solving
strategies
◦ Manipulate abstract ideas and make
advanced connections
◦ Think in systems
◦ Flexible and creative thinking
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31. Curriculum differentiation: a
definition
 Set of planned learning experiences
 Modifications to content, process,
product and learning environment
 Differentiated instruction
 Models and gifted programs
 Intellectual challenge to enable
potential
 School and classroom level
June 20, 2016 31

32. School Level
 Leadership – principal
 Emphasis on importance of provision
for gifted education
 Create a culture that had high
expectations and recognition for effort
 Flexible for student choices and
pathways
June 20, 2016 32

33. Differentiated Instruction
 Caters for a variety of learning
programs
 Differentiate through presentation –
incorporates different ways of allowing
students to make sense of ideas in
their own way
June 20, 2016 33

34. Content
 Based on concepts
 Based on knowledge that illustrates abstract
ideas
 Challenges students to formulate concepts,
develop relationships and make applications
 Facilitates the transfer of learning, memory
and understanding
 Greater variety of content that expands from
regular curriculum
 Abstract, complex ideas that also transfer
across disciplines
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35. Process
 Stress on use of information rather than
acquisition
 Opportunities for problem-solving and
creativity
 Inductive and discovery learning
techniques
 Lead into HOT
 Open ended learning
 Students provide supporting evidence for
answers
 Freedom of choice in topics
June 20, 2016 35

36. Product
 Resemble product being studied in a
range of media
 Relate solutions to real world
problems and their local environment
 Presentation to real audience
 Evaluations by audience and student
 Generalise solutions
 Transformation of information through
collection and analysis of original data
June 20, 2016 36

37. Learning
Environment
 Variety and flexibility
 Wide range of resources
 Sophisticated equipment
 Warmth and trust
 Non-threatening situations for testing
views and risk taking
 Promotion of creative and divergent
thinking
June 20, 2016 37

38. What it is NOT
 Design should not suit all students
 Not just an add-on to coursework
 Individualized instruction
 Not sufficient solely from after-school
activities or withdrawal programs
“gifted students are not gifted for just a
few hours each week”
June 20, 2016 38

39. Acceleration: a definition
 Advancing into the years ahead
 Advancement within one or more
subjects
 Matching ability and talent with optimal
learning opportunities
 Students are best served by a
combination of acceleration and
enrichment
June 20, 2016 39

40. Controversy
 ‘Acceleration is a placement, not a
program’
 It doesn’t necessarily accommodate
for learning needs and styles
 Social and emotional impacts
 Most beneficial through a tailored
program with careful monitoring,
guidance and support
June 20, 2016 40

41. Still have doubts?
 Challenge your preconceptions
 Mixed ages are accepted within sports
and music domains, why not
academic ones?
 Facilitate inclusivity and class
membership to aid a successful
transition
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42. Compacting the Curriculum
 Process involves:
1. Identifying relevant learning objectives and
outcomes
2. Find or develop a means of pretesting students
3. Identify those who may benefit from a compact
curriculum and should be pretested
4. Determine students mastery levels of
objectives
5. Eliminate practice, drill or instructional time for
students demonstrating mastery
6. Streamline instruction to those capable of
mastering
7. Offer enrichment or acceleration options
8. Keep records of process
(Gross, Macleod, & Pretorius, 2001, pp. 17-18)
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43. Features of Models
 Identified purpose or area of
concentration
 Underlying assumptions about
characteristics of learners and the
process
 Guidelines for day-to-day experiences
 Definite patterns and requirement for
activities
 Body of research and evaluation
demonstrating effectiveness
June 20, 2016 43

44. Models and Taxonomies
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Autonomous Learner Model
Creative Problem Solving
Process
Enrichment Triad
Lateral and Creative Thinking
Multiple Intelligence Model
Multiple-Talent Model
Over-Excitabilities
Taxonomy of Affective domain
Taxonomy of Cognitive domain
Betts
Osborn-Parnes
Renzulli
de Bono
Gardner
Taylor
Dabrowski
Krathwohl
Bloom

45. Example application of Bloom’s
Cognitive Taxonomy
 Six levels:
1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis – “Analyse, Identify, Explain”
5. Synthesis – “Create, Propose, Derive”
6. Evaluation – “Test, Argue, Consider”
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46. Supporting Documents
 NSW DEC Support package for:
 Curriculum Differentiation
 Acceleration
 “Programs are permanent and well-
designed sequences of goals, strategies
and content, in contrast to provisions,
which are “fragmentary, short-term and
an adjunct to the core curriculum”
(NSW DEC, 2004b, p. 9)
 Provisions shouldn’t be substituted for a
comprehensive program
June 20, 2016 46

47. 47
References
 Delisle, J. R. & Berger. S. L. (n.d.). Underachieving gifted students. Retrieved from:
www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Gifted_Students/
 Greenburg, P. (2006). Understanding the underachieving gifted child. Underachievers: types, characteristics and
courses of action. Retrieved from: http://static.schoolrack.com/files/74144/228502/types_of_underachievers.pdf
 Gross, M., Macleod, B., & Pretorius, M. (2001). Gifted students in secondary schools: Differentiating the
curriculum (2nd ed.). Sydney, NSW: GERRIC, University of New South Wales.
 Medaris, K. (2006). Study: gifted children especially vulnerable to effects of bullying. Retrieved from:
www.newswire.ascribe.org
 NSW DEC. (2004a). Policy and implementation strategies for the education of gifted and talented students:
Support package, Acceleration. Retrieved from
http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/policies/gats/assets/pdf/polsuppacc.pdf
 NSW DEC. (2004b). Policy and implementation strategies for the education of gifted and talented students:
Support package, Curriculum Differentiation. Retrieved from
http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/policies/gats/assets/pdf/polsuppcd.pdf
 Unknown. (n.d.). EDU00353: Teaching the Gifted: Study guide. (pp. 21, 27-48). Lismore, Australia: Southern
Cross University. Retrieved from SCU Blackboard.
 Valpied, J. L. (2001). Social and emotional needs of the gifted child. Presented at the 25th National Conference
of the Australian Association of Special Education, Melbourne, October, 2001.
 Webb, J. T. (2002). Existential depression in gifted individuals. Retrieved from
www.sengifted.org/articles_counseling/Webb_ExistentialDepressionInGiftedIndividuals.shtml