Giftedness in Education - Essay Example

Giftedness in Education Name Institution Professor Course Date The word "gifted" stimulates strong emotional reactions in the educational community, be they positive or negative. Discuss the reasons for such a response considering the history of the notions of intelligence and the gifted education movement. There is little research that has been done on the development of gifted children in their first years of life and the factors that contribute to their development (Piechowski & Colangelo, 2004 pp. 79). Questions are asked on who are highly interested in the development of gifted children in their early childhood. Intellectual giftedness in childhood is understood as having advanced functioning in language and thinking. The older gifted children are considered to be efficient learners who have strong memories and advanced analogical skills. Studies carried out on the development of gifted children, show evidence of some precursors to the gifted characteristics. Some studies describe gifted children as being highly alert and responsive in their childhood. They are also described as having advanced cognitive and language development, and high levels of motivation in intellectual matters. The Fullerton Longitudinal Study reported that children who were identified as gifted at the age of eight years had shown advanced cognitive development from the age of one year. In another study comparing some gifted preschoolers with mental and chronological development reported that gifted children were more strategic thinkers, had intrinsic motivation and also created challenges for themselves (Minner, 1989 pp. 47). Reynolds and Mednick (2002) indicated that curious 3-year-olds attained high academic and IQ scores at the age of 11 years. Through research it has also been noted that gifted children experienced stimulating home environments through the interactions with their parents or caregivers. Mothers of the preschoolers were also identified to model metacognitive strategies for their children than mothers of the non-gifted preschoolers. The concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which was developed by Vygotsky, illustrated the difference between what a child can achieve while assisted by parents or peers, and what a child can do while unaided. Adults use various strategies for promoting children’s development that include modeling, recruitment, and maintaining interest. These strategies are referred to as scaffolding. The main aim of scaffolding is the transfer of responsibilities to the child as the adult support decreases and the child becomes more capable. Research has shown that caregiver scaffolding is mainly influenced by child characteristics such as ability and age. Maternal interactions contribute to the development of a child. Some studies indicated that mothers of gifted children were more responsive and sensitive while interacting with their gifted children. The play levels of the gifted children and their mothers increased while it decreased with the lower-performing children. It was also found that mothers of children who showed advanced play development were more willing to engage their children in stimulating and challenging interactions. It is imperative for institutions of learning to have unique strategies for the gifted students. According to Milburn, teachers fear having students who are very bright in their classes because they find it challenging to deal with them (Milburn, 2008 pp. 52). Their lack of confidence is caused by some weakness in the way teachers are trained. Most of the undergraduate courses do not contain any part of gifted education training. As a routine most of the gifted children spend their time in classrooms especially at primary level. Due to the lack of any formal training on gifted children, teachers have little understanding and recognition of gifted children. It therefore follows that most of these teachers are not able to identify gifted children unless they are equipped with the necessary skills. A study done in Australia in 2001 about the gifted children, found out that teachers were poorly trained to handle gifted children in their classrooms. Many of the gifted children who represented a 10 per cent of the total population in schools, suffered from under-achievement and psychological distress because their personal needs were not being appropriately addressed at school. The study recommended that education degrees should include at least one unit on gifted and specifically how to identify them. A former teacher in New Zealand influenced the government to acknowledge gifted children in the society. As a result an education policy was introduced with a regulation that all schools should identify gifted students and cater for their needs. Through this initiative some funding was provided to schools to assist the gifted students. Gifted children should be put in the same category with the children with special needs. School management team who are in charge of developing curriculums should design differentiated curriculums for the gifted students. Giftedness generally occurs across all socio-economic groups but many schools are not able to identify this. Gifted children also come from all sorts of ethnic background contrary to the thinking of many teachers that they come from rich suburbs. A scheme referred to as SEAL was introduced in government secondary schools in New Zealand and it encouraged interaction of bright gifted students with other children. This program was quite helpful as it made the gifted children not to feel alienated from others in classrooms. Teachers should be made to understand that having gifted children in their classes is a bonus and engaging them also enhances the learning of other students (Leroux & Levitt-Perlman, 2000 pp.77). A lot of teachers think that having a gifted student in their classes implies doing extra work, as they may be threatened with difficult questions and may be unable to answer them. Instead teachers should see gifted students as an opportunity to engage with bright minds that can bring life in their classrooms. Giftedness may be misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Just like children with ADHD, gifted children may display similar characteristics of having difficulty in paying attention and being hyperactive. Gifted children who are hyperactive in class might tend to shout out answers even before questions are finished. There are many definitions of giftedness that have been suggested by many writers. The United States Department of Education in 1993 defined giftedness as children and youth with outstanding talent and capability of performing activities and accomplishing more in comparison with others of their age or experience (Rinn & Jason, 2004 pp. 18). Gifted children and youth portray high capability in intelligence, creativity, leadership, and perform exemplary well in specific academic units. They mostly require services that are not provided by schools under normal circumstances. Other characteristics of ADHD that overlap with those of giftedness include impulse behavior, difficulty in following some rules, difficulty in accomplishing some tasks, and potential social difficulties (Mika, 2006 pp.156). Faced with the difficulty to differentiate the two, teachers often refer a child to ADHD assessment or nomination for gifted programming. It is important for teachers to understand the overlapping nature of ADHD and giftedness to avoid making wrong diagnosis. However, research show that teachers and preservice teachers receive little training on ADHD and giftedness. A study by Stormont and Stebbins (2005) on preschool teachers’ knowledge of ADHD found that they received such information from magazines. According to this study, teachers had access to media information that was not in form of journal articles or books. Concerning giftedness research asserts that preservice teachers should receive appropriate training in gifted education (Sternberg & Zhang, 1995 pp.33). In general teachers receive very little training concerning gifted children during their undergraduate studies. As a result, teachers have misconceptions about the academic and social needs for gifted students. Preservice teachers were found to believe that gifted programs were for elite, and that gifted students could excel even without being accorded special services. Bain & Bliss (2002) were for the idea that some teachers thought that all gifted students are similar and have synchronized development. They are also likely to believe that gifted persons are more prone to suffer from emotional problems than other people. There are many reported cases of misdiagnosis of gifted students by teachers and preservice teachers. Gifted students are at most times bored and understimulated while in classroom environment. They may have difficulty in paying attention on the teacher or the task assigned. Gifted individuals are also more likely to be intellectually and emotionally excited. Often teachers are not aware that there are some negative characteristics that are associated with giftedness such as rebelliousness and inattentiveness. Teachers who are more experienced are better in identifying the negative characteristics that are associated to giftedness, than the new teachers (Copenhaver & McIntyre, 1992 pp. 152). Novice teachers are likely to view negative characteristics as misbehavior while experienced teachers view them as signs of frustration or boredom. Teachers do not value the students who show this type of behavior in class as they value those who are well behaved in class (Olenchak & Owen, 1998 pp.19). Some teachers may not have the knowledge to know that some sign behaviours of ADHD may occur when a gifted student is exposed to boring and unchallenging curriculum. In the story of The Miracle Worker (Gibson, 1957), Keller was a child who was born normal but ended up being deaf and blind. Due to the ingenuity and skills of a gifted teacher, Keller was able to learn how to communicate. Later Helen Keller grew up to become a famous advocate who was known worldwide and advocated for the rights of the people with disabilities. Anne Sullivan, who was Keller’s teacher, was able to identify Keller’s potential to develop language and communicate. It is of significance to note that Sullivan also had a disability of low vision (Bianco, 2005 pp. 112). Keller developed love for learning and could find ways to share her gifts. This story was an example of how education could transform people with disabilities to become worthwhile and acceptable in the society. Some prominent people in the society like Stevie Wonder and Albert Einstein had some experience with disability in their early lives but they proceeded to become successful people in their lives. Other gifted people such as Barbara Jordan and Stephen Hawking acquired disabilities later in their lives but that did not deter them from making positive contribution to the society. In America, gifted children with disabilities still struggle to get the type of education that is available to their gifted counterparts without disabilities. Quite often they are not counted to be in the same pool with other gifted children. Too much attention is paid to their disabilities such that their talents and gifts are not noticed. Even with the existence of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997), these disabled students may still not have access to special education that is designed to fit their needs (Concannon, 2005 pp. 627). For instance gifted blind students may not have access to advanced technology for their studies as stipulated by IDEA, while the same may be available to their peers who are not disabled. There are many actions that have contributed to gifted education in the last century. At the beginning of the century the idea of measuring person’s intelligence was raised. It was initially used as a method to select children who qualified to go to school and those who did not qualify. This method was later used in selecting people in other fields such as army. With time it was then transferred to be used in measuring the intelligence in children. Eventually the study of gifted children was initiated in 1920s. There were several happenings for the period of the World War II that had some impact on ‘gifted education.’ The war created an atmosphere where the bright people were taken to school so that they could later join in the war. Through the war college education was availed to many families. When the Russians visited space, the impact was felt in the whole world and advanced education curriculums were developed to cater for improved technology where the main beneficially were the bright or gifted students. The emergence of the civil rights movement in the sixties had a major impact on education as more people had access to education (Coleman, 1999 pp. 36). It gave children from different cultural and economical backgrounds to have access to education facilities and hence resulting in gifted education. The growing understanding of intelligence influenced the definition of giftedness. Intelligence expanded to a level where it could not be measured by an IQ score. This meant that new ways had to be designed in order to define and identify giftedness in children. In the contemporary society, policies that shape gifted education have been developed. Organizations such as the National Association for Gifted Children and the Council for Exceptional Children have contributed greatly in the development of infrastructure for gifted education. Parents also played a significant role in promoting gifted education by supporting the gifted children in their families (Coleman, 1999 pp. 41). Federal legislations that support gifted education have so far been passed in many countries across the globe. The continued understanding of neurology of learning, the need to explore the real meaning of giftedness is eminent. It is quite true that the in-depth of gifted education exploration will continue even in the future. References Milburn, C. 2008. Teachers ‘fear’ smart students. 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