As a parent
of a gifted learner, you know the problems involved in finding “just the right”
units of study for each subject area. And you also know that gifted children
are not necessarily gifted in every subject area. Choosing the proper materials
for each subject can be a daunting task.
In addition, some
gifted children lag behind in other developmental areas such as social skills,
emotional maturity and even physical skills. It can be challenging to select
the proper curriculum to meet your child’s specific needs.
It’s important to
know, however, that gifted children don’t need only to do “more work” than
other students; the kind of study
they engage in must be different as well. The term used in the education world
is “differentiated learning” and it means that just as some children are visual
learners and others auditory, gifted learners need curriculum that fits their
unique needs.
Here are some of
the key characteristics of learning you’ll want to include in the units of
study you choose for your gifted child. Gifted learners benefit from:
- Teaching in
wholes. Inquiry-based or thematic units of study that give a broad
overview of a topic are readily grasped by the gifted. For instance, when
learning about the game of baseball, your student would have the chance to
learn the rules of the game, understand important strategies, know the nine
positions and also get a chance to actually play the game. This is in
opposition to many programs in which children are encouraged to memorize
isolated bits of information such as statistics of famous players or a list of
equipment needed to play the game. Gifted children want the whole picture, not
just parts of it.
- Material that is clearly well-written, while offering the chance to learn in depth and
grapple with important issues and
problems. Set individual goals for your learner. Allow him to stop and focus on a particular issue or topic of
special interest. It’s important for a gifted learner to work with specific
goals in mind. But flexibility is
also key, because gifted learners are able to make connections between
information across several subject areas.
- A curriculum that lends itself to independent projects. Look for extension ideas that challenge the
student to delve deeper into the subject. Encourage ideas for an independent extension designed by your
child.
- Real-life
experiences that require problem-solving tasks. More than the average learner, the gifted thinker needs to
apply learning to the real world.
- Assuming
ownership of his or her learning. This happens when higher level
thinking skills are used for processing information. Skills such as synthesis
when a child makes connections between different bodies of information to
arrive at a new principle or generalization of facts. When problem-solving
skills are in use and communication skills are taught along with subject
matter, the gifted student can shine.
- Respect for
individuality. When he or she is engaged and focused on learning it’s a
wonderful thing to see.
Since gifted children comprehend
complex ideas quickly, learn more rapidly and in greater depth than their
peers, they must be allowed to move through lessons at their own pace. They
must be given the opportunity to show mastery of information and then move on.
They need time to explore in-depth, manipulate ideas and draw generalizations.
They need time and freedom to answer their own questions.
To modify or extend lessons
there need to be changes in four major areas:
1. Content
Gifted children must be allowed to skim material they already know well and move on to new. They must be allowed to take “side trips” when a topic captures their imaginations. They may be able to work several grades ahead in their special areas of expertise.
2. Process
The gifted want to learn interesting information in a more in-depth way than other children. They may want to categorize, chart or graph related information. They may see relationships to knowledge in another field of study. They need time, materials and permission to follow a line of inquiry in an independent project of their own design. Cut and dried fill in the blank kinds of learning will bore and frustrate them.
3. Learning Environment
More than most children, the gifted need freedom to explore, hypothesize, ask difficult questions and then create their own problem-solving plan. With guidance they can go much deeper and reach levels of learning in which they synthesize, and inter-relate, information into new wholes. They need alternatives to common paper and pencil learning. Gifted children can benefit from a mentoring relationship in their special area of expertise and interest. Middle school and High school level learning can be linked to higher education institutions in the area.
4. Product Expectation
As much as possible, gifted children need to demonstrate their learning in ways most comfortable to them. That may be in detailed written reports, but more often will be in hands-on projects and real applications. They may want to respond to learning through the arts or music.
The homeschool
environment has the potential to solve many problems gfted children encounter
in the regular classroom. Accelerated learners can study at various grade
levels according to their skills in distinct subjects. They can show
understanding and mastery in a unit of study and go on to the next unit.
Parents can design projects tailored to their child’s unique interests and
extend learning in creative ways. Properly chosen curriculum for gifted
children will reduce the stress and frustration many gifted children encounter
in traditional learning environments.
There are many organizations
and resources available to parents of gifted children. Take a look at the
resources below.
www.exquisite-minds.com
www.nagc.org
www.childdevelopmentinfo.com
www.davidsongifted.org
sengifted.org
What are higher order thinking skills?
Higher order
thinking is on a level beyond memorization. It is more than restating facts. It
goes on to understanding, making inferences, making connections between facts, categorizing
facts and manipulating information in novel ways. It leads to applications that
seek new solutions to problems. It is the basis for important learning.
Higher order
thinking deals with concepts, larger
“idea families,” groups of related ideas in categories such as sports, or
biology. Concepts may be concrete or abstract, verbal or non-verbal or may be
process concepts about the way things work such as photosynthesis in science.
Schema is a pattern of knowledge
already in place in a learner’s mind. It is the body of information one has on
a certain subject or area of study.
Metaphors, similes and analogies are ways to
explain abstract ideas.
Visualization is
the ability to think in visual images, for example mentally seeing maps or
settings from a novel.
Making inferences is the
ability to draw conclusions. Problem
solving is a complicated process which includes making decisions based on
facts, logic, using various strategies and being willing to make mistakes in
the process of reaching a conclusion.
Original ideas are thoughts unique to a
learner and not copied from someone else. They require creativity and
imagination. Original ideas may be generated by brainstorming with others and building on another’s ideas in a
group setting.
Critical Thinking is using knowledge
and point of view to arrive at conclusions. Moral decisions are made in this
way.
Jan Pierce is a retired teacher and freelance writer living in
the Pacific Northwest. She is the author of "Homegrown
Readers: Simple Ways to Help Your Child Learn to Read" available online at Barnes
and Noble and Amazon. Find her at www.janpierce.net.