To do this effectively it is essential to determine who is a gifted person and why according to current educational modeling they are so considered.
I am going to talk about the models of how we assess who is a gifted person.
Who is a gifted child?
How do you identify a gifted student?
What criteria would you use to determine a gifted child?
Stankowski developed a synthetic view
He divided giftedness into several Categories
a) Accomplishments
b) IQ
c) Talent by outstanding performance in a field
d) Percentage of population
e) Creativity
What other attributes are necessary to determine giftedness?
Renzulli definition was that Giftedness is an interaction of basic clusters of human traits. These cluster are above average general ability, high creativity and he adds high task commitment.
What areas do you think students can be gifted in?
Tannenbaum said giftedness includes the Potential for becoming critically acclaimed performers or exemplary producers of ideas in spheres of activity that enhanced moral, physical, emotional, social, intellectual or aesthetic life of humanity.
Feldhusen
Adds THAT 1. Postive self-concept and 2. Achievement motivation
He said it is a complex strongly influenced by genetic predisposition.
One common denominator of all definitions is “ability”.
I would like to particularly focus on Gagne’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent
What did Gagne’s think giftedness was?
Giftedness corresponds to competence distinctly above average in aptitude domains of human activity arising from the general population.
What is a talent?
Talent corresponds to performance distinctly above average developing an expertise in a field of human activity
Talent emerges from the application of an aptitude to mastery in a field.
Giftedness is potential talent. The product of their developed skills is talent. Gagne’s Model must be distinguished from models that say giftedness is a higher level than or the same as talent.
What is an APTITUDE?
Natural human abilities originating in genetic structure known as hereditary.
Indicated by easy and rapid learning.
Does anyone know which competencies are part of Gagne’s aptitude domains?
Intellectual – generally IQ, but takes into account cognitive efficiency, knowledge base, strategy use and metacognition.
Creative – an ability to respond adaptively to needs for new approaches and purposefully bringing something new into existence
Socio-affective – social intercourse, empathy, social influence and social intelligence ie. leadership
Sensorimotor – the exemplary use of the five senses through speed, endurance, strength, reflexes, dexterity, balance, etc.
Others – less recognised abilities such as ESP, psychic healing, etc.
As a teacher you should be aware Intellectual aptitude is not the soul criteria for giftedness – such limited models are called ‘cognocentric’
How can a gift be developed into a talent?
Through mediation by intrapersonal and environmental catalysts combined with systematic learning or practice.
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What are INTRAPERSONAL CATALYSTS and how could you as a teacher use them to identify gifted students?
Motivation is a catalyst for gifted students because it initiates behaviour, directs, guides and maintains it until satisfaction. The student must want to use and develop the abilities they have and it is important for the teacher to identify the student so the teacher can encourage this motivation. It is up to the teacher to trigger this intrinsic motivation which is the directional energy called curiosity or inquisitiveness. Interest in a subject (which Gagne suggests is genetic) combined with persistence give the stimulus to succeed.
Personality traits also assist gifted students to achieve through traits such as self-confidence, self-esteem, autonomy, locus of control, moral judgement, and emotional maturity, etc.
Can anyone see a connection between these catalysts and one of Gagnes’ aptitude domains?
A personality catalyst such as self confidence is very similar to the socio-affective domain dealing with social intelligence such as leadership. So aptitude gifts such as empathy could be seen as personality catalysts. Gagne acknowledges confusion as to which causes which and that there is an interrelationship between them.
What are ENVIRONMENTAL CATALYSTS and how can teachers use them to assist gifted students?
Can you give examples of -
a) significant persons – influence of parents, siblings, teachers, public figures
b) significant physical environments – influence of rural vs city, sea vs inland, etc.
c) significant interventions – such as the influence of community resources used in schools through the content of programs (or activities) in the classroom, the setting (such as enrichment programs or ability grouping/streaming) and density (accelerated progression, grade skipping but not curriculum compacting)
d) significant events – the overt reaction to a quality of a domain causing a long term change in concept, performance and self-view; specific moment with lasting impact. Guest speakers at a school could trigger a student’s interest in an area.
e) chance – is not random but luck arising from: i) constant active exploration, ii) right place, time, person and ability to foresee this, iii) living a distinctive and uncommon lifestyle ‘altimirage’
What areas do you think a person could be TALENTED?
Fields of Talent are very broad in Gagnes model.
Academia, arts, sports, technology, crafts, popular entertainment, business and administration. Largely based on Campbell’s Strong Vocational Interest Inventory (SVII).
Do you think having so many possible talents could make it too difficult to manage working out gifted programs for students?
Gagne says even though this broad range of aptitudes gives rise to diverse sub-categories within the population of gifted children, we should not conclude it is too difficult to manage.
When does a person have a talent?
Csikszentmihalyi’s model of ‘fields of human endeavour’ suggests when the person adds to the evolution of a domain, the originality of which is judged by those already assessed as talented.
What processes are necessary to develop talented students?
LEARNING, TRAINING AND PRACTICE
These developmental processes are -
a) maturation
b) daily use in problem solving
c) informal training
d) formal training
Which is the most important one?
Formal training combined with long periods of practice
How many students should be considered gifted in a classroom of 30 students?
15, because students can display giftedness in so many different categories under Gagnes definition, the numbers of gifted students in the entire population rises to cover over 50% of students.
How many in any one domain?
He sub-categorises into basic 4-5,15-20%, moderate 1-2, 2-4%, highly 1 in 600, and extremely 1 in 500,000.
Why this Threshold?
Gagne argues for a broader population of gifted on the basis of his definition of ‘above average’; his main justification is that one standard deviation difference from the normal can adequately distinguish gifted from the population giving a zone of 15-20%, which is a good threshold for research and service purposes.
Why is it important to know how many are gifted in your classroom?
So you know how many students to offer intervention programs.
In what other way is it necessary to differentiate categories of gifted and talented?
Appropriate reference groups
Aptitudes need to be differentiated into levels by age (especially for children where there are wide discrepancies), sex and to a lesser extent cultural ethnic differences.
Talents are usually selected from those who have already mastered a skill.
Aptitudes tend to use the entire population as a comparison as a basic reference group as we all have the potential.
INTERACTIONS AMONG COMPONENTS
There is a two way flow between aptitudes and talents ie. talents can give rise to further aptitudes.
Co-univocal – one aptitude can give rise to many talents and many aptitudes can contribute to one talent.
No prerequisite aptitude is required for a talent.
Gifted persons may not be talented, but talented are gifted.
Different aptitude components can obtain identical levels of talent.
Gagne’s model is a break through in distinguishing between potential aptitudes and developed talents. It acknowledges the genetic hereditary influence on abilities which prior to the 80s was considered politically incorrect due to the ideology of social interventionism.
