Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science
While promising future athletes and musicians tend to be identified and actively supported from an early age in the United States, the same intense support is not always provided to children who display academic promise – thus hurting the ability of our most talented individuals to compete in the global economy. This major new report explores the reasons for this disconnect, and brings psychological science to bear on the question of how to better nurture young talent across all fields of endeavor.
Academic giftedness is often excluded from major conversations on educational policy as a result of misconceptions about what academic giftedness is and how it arises. People may assume that high-ability students will make it on their own, but research shows that talented children in all domains – academic as well as athletic or musical – need to have opportunities that expose them to advanced knowledge, skills, and values in their field of interest. Research on optimal performance also reveals that different areas of talent have different developmental trajectories and that some fields are much better than others at identifying where students are in these developmental trajectories and providing them with a roadmap for achieving success. The science of optimal performance, applied to traditional academic disciplines as well as sports, music, and other domains, can help educators to meet the specific needs of high-ability students in every field.
The overall goal of gifted education, according to the authors, should be to increase the number of individuals who make path breaking, field-altering discoveries and creative contributions by their products, innovations, and performances. Their report demonstrates the need for a new, research-based framework for identifying and supporting giftedness in all domains in the United States.
Special thanks to the James S. McDonnell Foundation for its generous support of the development and distribution of this report.
Editorial: Educating the Gifted
By Norman R. Augustine
Comments
I have noticed the lack of interest in exemplary academic work by students in the last 24 years as I have published 967 history research papers by secondary students from 44 states and 38 other countries in The Concord Review…
Will Fitzhugh
http://www.tcr.org
[email protected]
I frequently see gifted children in my practice for handwriting help. There are numerous studies that link higher intelligence with lower fine motor skills and thus poor handwriting. Yet, these kids are expected to write legibly and write more because they are gifted and it becomes a real challenge for them. While they can rattle off a long verbal answer, when it comes to writing it down they often use short answers.
Megan Eldridge MOT, OTR/L
Scribble 2 Script
http://www.scribble2script.com
My husband often says that you could be the most gifted pianist in the world, but if no one sits you in front of a piano . . .
This is the state of gifted education in Florida. Everyone assumes these kids carry around their own pianos!
I was the high school gifted support teacher during the last 2 1/2 years of my 37 1/2 years of teaching. I loved being in my room 8 periods each day interacting with the students. I would try to find a commonality with each one so we could bond.
I would never predict what would happen in my room one day to the next. Yes, we tried Mentos with Diet Coke; yes, I brought a bagpiper in to play; I had an aquarium. We took a trip to the National Zoo.
I had students enter the Science Fair–none had entered in the previous 9-10 years. Some students would spontaneously converse in foreign languages. Some students I had to kick in the rear end to make sure they met course responsibilities.
I tried to make sure that they met deadlines for SAT testing, scholarship applications, and college application.
The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was my administrators who did not understand the needs of gifted high school students. One administrator denied my application for free, educational DirecTV since we would have to move the dish during an upcoming renovation. During my last half year, the principal had me traveling to six or seven rooms and the students just could not find me or each other. I requested the old, library office for use but the librarian convinced the principal that the room was needed each period for “graphic novels” (comic books).
Frustrated, I retired half way through the year knowing that I let my students and parents down. I miss my students but still follow their college successes in the newspaper.
Growing as a”gifted” person has been profoundly painful, but becoming self aware of many aspects made a massive impact in keeping me from anger, and blame, and understanding everyone was not capable of deriving the perspective without being of the same mind, like attempting to teach someone how to”‘grasp’ the concepts and usage of maths in physics
)spent years trying, all my friends want to know and I tried every approach.. (I never learned my lesson though:)
Perspective isn’t an idea you can simply change.. This led to a lot of little issues, but I always felt okay even when things were burning dow inside.
However. one simple thing still hurting to this day, is not being able to say why it hurts. 20 years of anxiety leading to finally “breaking” down
quote marks, because it wasn’t seen on the outside. Other than working became impossible, simple tasks became jumbled and hard to mentally work out. I’ve never said things about hurting, I always felt okay and seems to aways work it out, but finally saying to very close friends and workers, and dad…the responses were so outright insulting.. You don’t know the meaning of stress.. Stop trying to be above others and just fit in..
Hurts realizing the ideals of this vindictive lying pity mongering person,
when it’s because I was this way (and not ever a prideful feeling, but I’m
the type thats up there in the world of theoretics and thought derived leaning etc.. so delusion on top of the rest.. Awareness was key to staying
loving, Physics became a pursuit.. The trends now, being disabled.. This is absolutely, going to cause illness. My daughter is me, with emotional acuity to everything, and kids are not the same. I fear for the future of these kids .. I can help mine from losing self respect.
bottom line though, school period is detrimental to every aspect of the mental make up, i did my own learning, and give her freedom to explore
.. And geometry… Euclid elements is the only math lesson needed. School
is easier then.. These mommy bog sites need to stop trig to label this that is not understood.. Gifted and mental problems this consistently
and never admitting it’s school period that causes. this.. Dropped out and learned everything anyone ever needs, curiosity, wonder, and mathematical thought.. Every “bad” behavior, when understood, makes
a beautiful mind… 🙂
APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February 2021, you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations present in article comments are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of APS or the article’s author. For more information, please see our Community Guidelines.
Please login with your APS account to comment.