Gifted Education International

Part 1 Part 1 (Volume 1 No 2, 1983 (examined the major issues which underlie curriculum extension for very able pupils. While it is necessary to be concerned with appropriate methods, content and education processes for all children, exceptionally able children require a different pace, depth and breadth of learning experience.

Part 2 Part 2 (Volume 2 No 1, 1983) examined the principles which should govern the preparation of curriculum extension materials and discussed the issues of school organization which allow curriculum extension to take place.

Part 3 Part 3 presents practical guidelines for the devising of curriculum extension activities and gives examples of the principles put into practice at infant, junior and secondary levels.

This paper discusses four major issues concerning the evaluation of programmes for the gifted. 1

The need to evaluate gifted programmes so that planning, development and accountability form a natural sequence of educational objectives.

This paper discusses the creative process and the conditions which are necessary for the liberation of creative ideas. Professor Willings' research, which is summarised here, suggests that each creative individual needs an essentially personal environment, stimulus and conditions of working in order to be able to function creatively. Each creative person, however, needs to be helped, through counselling, to identify for himself/herself the idiosyncratic optimum conditions he/she needs so that these can be deliberately fostered to facilitate creative functioning.

At the beginning of 1980 a study was initiated to trial special provisions for gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The stimulus for the study was a concern that schools in neighbourhoods with high cultural diversity and severe socioeconomic problems may have students who are very able but, because of cultural, social, language or other factors, their ability may not be recognized by their teachers and they might not be selected by the conventional methods of identifying gifted and talented students.

An initial concern for the project was how to identify these children. At the beginning of the project several different ways of thinking about ‘gifted-disadvantaged’ students were considered and ways of identifying students within each concept were analysed. This paper describes four ways of conceptualizing ‘gifted-disadvantaged students’ and proposes identification procedures believed to be appropriate to each concept. Also considered are the implications of adopting these identification procedures as adjuncts to system-level screening procedures for the identification of gifted students.

This paper describes a piece of research carried out for the Department of Education and Science and administered by the University of Oxford. It looks into the effectiveness of teacher-based identification of 3rd form secondary pupils in four subjects (Mathematics, Physics, English and French). Subject specific identification was found to be more effective than previous research (identification of children with high general ability) has found. There were, however, indications that teachers did not always know their pupils sufficiently well for their identification strategies to be bias-free. The use of checklists as an aid to identification was studied.

The paper describes how checklist-aided identification was no more effective than unaided identification. It also highlights where the problems lie and describes how checklists can be used effectively.

Talents in music or fine art are not unrelated to other abilities. The development of individual perception is influenced by the same continuing physical and mental experiences. In normal circumstances, the most important of these is probably the social environment, which includes parental attitudes and the provision of appropriate equipment. But from the age at which a child starts school, new experiences and expectancies should begin to operate. Unfortunately, for too many children the key word is still ‘should’.

This paper suggests that art should be an essential experience of a gifted individual, since it encourages creative expression through visual language. The writer argues that the quality of a drawing depends on the material available to the child and the expectation of the adult supporting the activity. Drawing is a very malleable means of responding to and developing thought, and children's drawings should be encouraged and appreciated from their earliest attempts to express ideas.

This article discusses research which sought to investigate the quality of the tasks set by teachers for their pupils. Dr Kerry suggests that the majority of the tasks set by the secondary teachers he studied fall into the category of low cognitive demand. He further compares the tasks set by primary and secondary teachers in science lessons as part of a study to examine whether pupils regress on transfer to secondary school. Dr Kerry concludes by suggesting that teachers need to adopt a system whereby they are encouraged to analyse the quality of the tasks they set the pupils, and pupils are given an evaluation of their work in accordance with the prespecified objectives of the task.

IMPACT Problem Solving fills a vital need because it concentrates upon relevant skills and not upon factual content. It teaches the methodology of: analysing and clarifying the nature of a problem; collecting all the necessary data; thinking of all the possible solutions; and assessing, altering and testing those suggestions to provide the most effective answer.

The paper describes two Mentor-Assisted Enrichment Projects which have endeavoured to promote cognitive and affective learning outcomes in terms of Bloom's and Krathwohl's Taxonomies. The emphasis is on a practical and inexpensive method of providing enrichment by helping in a systematic way the expertise already available in both the school and the wider community. Guidelines for implementing the Mentor scheme are outlined in the ‘Four-Phase Mentoring Model’ and the ‘Helping Relationships Model.’

Microcomputers are becoming increasingly common pieces of school equipment, giving rise to much discussion about the most effective way to use them as a teaching aid. This article argues that even extremely young children can be taught to program the machines right from their very first contact with them. A teaching strategy is proposed, having more in common with the teaching of language than with the more traditional didactic-reinforcement cycle commonly employed in the text books.

The paper describes curriculum extension projects in science in a senior high school. Individual extension projects are developed from the base of the school curriculum but extend into broader, more unusual areas according to the individual's particular interest. However, concentrating on extension into breadth also necessitates working in depth, and all work progresses on the basis of hypothesis testing and the development of the necessary skills needed to tackle the task. Pupils discuss their intended goals, draw up a plan of action and contract to complete the task.

The overall aim of the teacher is to be a guide and to encourage the pupil to develop an autonomous and individual learning programme and style of working.

This article, examining honors and Advanced Placement Courses, is the second in a series reporting on the Richardson Study, a national investigation of the educational opportunities available to able learners, being conducted by the Sid W. Richardson Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to conducting a national survey and visiting schools throughout the country, I gathered information for the article by inviting six people actively involved with honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses to meet with my committee and me to discuss these options from their respective vantage points. Working with us in Fort Worth on September 21 and 22, 1982 were Jewell Bindrup, Director of Gifted/Talented Programs for the Utah Department of Education; Steven Brown, Director of Academic Enrichment Programs for the Madison Elementary School District in Phoenix, Arizona; Robert Crawford, Director of College Counseling at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; Dennis Day, teacher at Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas; Marie Laine, teacher at O.D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth, Texas; and Irwin Spear, Professor of Biological Science at the University of Texas at Austin. We sought diversity in selecting the programs for consideration. O. D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth, with a student population of over 80% black, bears little resemblance to the high school in affluent Highland Park and even less to schools like Andover that ‘train the country's elite in the prep tradition, providing top education for top dollar’ (Williams, et. al., 1981). The Utah Development of Education represents a statewide effort to implement AP programs; the University of Texas, Austin, is engaged in training teachers in AP methods and curricula; and the Madison Elementary School District in Phoenix is developing a Junior AP program — a project that may become a part of the College Board's official program. Ideas and information flowed freely during two days of spirited discussions. This article reflects many of the thoughts shared and the recommendations generated.

Ellen Smith argues that curriculum extension for gifted children should grow from activities developed in the classroom, according to the current needs and interests of pupils. She justifies this approach as being not only socially acceptable but also as a means of identifying gifted children.