The theory of "giftedness" began with Lewis Terman - a well renowned psychologist whose claim to fame has been attributed to his vast research in intelligence and his translation of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Quotient into English. Terman coined the term "gifted" as to describe only those whose IQ reached a level of 140 or above. This, though accepted at the time (circa 1925), has not gone without a great deal of question and concern. Terman's definition of giftedness was limited as it only pertained to approximately 1% of the total population and discluded many that we, as a general public, would certainly consider to be "gifted." Below are a few examples from the 20th century:
Bill Clinton & John F. Kennedy (IQs of 137 and 117 respectively) have been considered by some to be two of our greatest democratic presidents of all time, but not even Lewis Terman would consider them to be Gifted by any means.
Finally, one of the most iconic rock stars of all time, Elvis Presley, with a whopping IQ of 70, falls 70 points shy of Terman's standard for giftedness. Elvis, clearly gifted, and at the same time borderline cognitively impaired, has shown us that IQ can not be the only factor for determining the "giftedness" of an individual.
Because of such discrepancies, alternative definitions of giftedness began to arise. The Marland Report (1972), offered a 6-part defintion that is still widely accepted today, and has given way toward much research in the field of Multiple Intelligences. The 6 components of giftedness, as proposed by the Marland Report in 1972 is as follows:
(1) General Intellectual Ability
(2) Specific Academic Aptitude
(3) Creative or Productive Thinking
(4) Leadership Ability
(5) Visual and Performing Arts
(6) Psychomotor Ability
Funding for Gifted and Talented has not generally been offered to those displaying exceptional Psychomotor skills (though still considered to be a form of giftedness) because it is usually praised and funded in other ways.
In 1978, Joseph S. Renzulli proposed a new way of defining giftedness - the Three Ring model.
As opposed to the Marland Report, Renzulli proposed that not just one of several components could be displayed, but instead many components must be displayed by to achieve a level of giftedness. His three main components included "above average ability," "creativity," and "task commitment."
Above Average Intelligence
1.High levels of abstract thought
2.Adaption to novel situations
3.Rapid and accurate retrieval of information
4.Application of general knowledge to a specific area of knowledge
5.Capacity to sort out relevant from irrelevant information
6.Capacity to acquire and use advanced knowledge and strategies while pursuing a problem
Task Commitment
1.Capacity for high levels of interest
2.Hard work and determination in a particular area
3.Self-confidence and drive to achieve
4.Ability to identify significant problems within and area of study
5.Setting high standards for one’s work.
Creativity
1.Fluency, flexibility, and originality of thought
2.Open to new experiences and ideas
3.Curious
4.Willing to take risks
5.Sensitive to aesthetic characteristics
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Etiology & Development
“…those individuals who, by way of learning characteristics such as superior memory, observational powers, curiosity, creativity, and the ability to learn school-related subject matters rapidly and accurately with a minimum of drill and repetition, have a right to an education that is differentiated according to these characteristics because all children have a right to be educated according to their needs.” - Jane Piirto (2007)
In 1999, Jane Piirto Piirto (A faculty member at Ashland University since 1988 - Jane Piirto directs AU's Talent Development Education (TDE) program) developed a model she refers to as the "Piirto Pyramid of Talent Development." It's purpose to the explain how giftedness is caused and more importantly how it can be fostered and thus realized.
The pyramid is broken down into 6 "aspects"
1.The Genetic Aspect - the theory claims that genetic heritage plays the largest role in determining whether an individual will be gifted.
2.The Emotional Aspect: Personality Attributes - Secondly, the theory goes on to describe emotional and personality attirubutes that are necessary toward developing giftedness in an individual. some of these attributes include androgyny (Barron 1968; Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, and Whalen 1993; Piirto and Fraas, 1995); creativity (Piirto, 1992; Renzulli, 1978; Tannenbaum 1983); imagination (Piirto, 1992); insight (Sternberg and Davidson, 1985; Davidson 1992); intuition (Myers and McCaulley 1985); openness, or a sense of naiveté (Ghiselin, 1952); the presence of overexcitabilities, called OEs (Piechowski 1979; Silverman 1993); passion for work in a domain (Benbow 1992; Bloom 1985; Piirto 1992; 1999); perceptiveness (Myers and McCaulley 1985); perfectionism (Silverman 1993); persistence (Renzulli 1978); resilience (Jenkins-Friedman 1992; Block & Kremen, 1996); risk-taking (MacKinnon 1978; Torrance 1987); self-discipline (Renzulli 1978); self-efficacy (Zimmerman, Bandura and Martinez-Pons, 1992); Sternberg and Lubart, 1992); tolerance for ambiguity (Barron, 1968; 1995); and volition, or will. (Corno and Kanfer, 1993).
3.The Cognitive Aspect: Intelligence - Piirto claims that IQ is actually very over-emphasized in our western culture. Many talents do not require a high IQ to pursue. As seen with our exampled above, Andy Warhol and Elvis Presley had very low IQs but could still be considered gifted and talented. Only in fields of Math & Science or fields that require a college degree, should one's general IQ be taken into strong consideration.
4.The Talent Aspect - It is important that the talent itself be recognized. Talent can come in many varieties and it does not matter whether it is the child which perfect pitch on piano or the perfect pitch in the championship game. It could even be the child who is so good at math, that they'd rather do the statistics for the game rather than play it. It does not matter what the talent is, it is only important that it be recognized. Once it is recognized, it can be fostered.
5.The Vocational Aspect - This is the fostering aspect. Once a talent is recognized and chosen by the individual, it is important to urge the individual to begin working with experts in their domain and be thrown into "the river of the domain." As the individual becomes more advanced, he or she must be surrounded by those who are also progressively more advanced.
6.The Environmental Aspect - Once the talent is recognized and fostered, it is up to the person which essentially means that it is up to the person's environment. Piirto describes 5 main factors of one's environment that ultimate determine the success of one's talent development. (1) One must have a positive and nurturing home environment. (2) One must be raised in a community that conveys values that are combatible with the educational institution as well as the home and family. (3) One must have proper schooling. (4) Gender plays a role - positive or negative depending on the direction of your goal. (5) And finally, there is simply chance which will inevitably lead to opportunities that will either be missed or recognized.
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Classroom Resources
The challenge behind teaching a class that includes gifted and talented students is to keep up with their pace of learning as you continue to teach the rest of the class as well. Gifted and talented children have so much potential and that it would truely be a shame to bored them and fade their enthusiasm for learning. No two students are the same. As an educator, one must be able to compensate for reasonable differences in students within their classroom.
different learning styles
different rates of learning
different activities
different interests
different expectations
different motivation
different outcomes
different abilities
different resources
different reading skills
different tasks
different levels of parental support
Given all of these differences, it can be difficult to reach our objectives:
- Meet learning capacities of all students
- Meet rapid rate of learning in all areas
- Provide time and resources for special areas of interest
...So how do we do it?
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Lesson Modification
One way that teacher's have been challenging students at multiple levels is by taking into consideration Bloom's Taxonomy.
Stage 1 - Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
Stage 2 - Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate.
Stage 3 - Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Stage 4 - Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
Stage 5 -Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
Stage 6 - Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
One can teach a single lesson to an entire class, but ask in return different things from different students. While the majority of the class may focus on Stage 3 and Stage 4 in regard to a particular lesson, educators can ask their gifted students to do more comprehensive work and begin synthesizing and evaluating the information that has been taught. This can be done through open ended question, but also with various assignments as well.
Other suggestions may include:
- Resource room learning
- Acceleration
- Self-contained classrooms
- Mentorship
- Competitions
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Technology
Technology can play a large role in today's school systems. Some of the things that technology in the classroom could provide could be easy access to experts, access to the internet, as well as virtual classrooms. Teacher's may want to learn how to utilize various technological advances to further interest their students. Some of these utilities could include blogs, webquests, visual & audio media, and smartboards. Below is a video recently found on YouTube that demonstrates the use of a Smartboard in the classroom.
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Community Resources
As we mentioned before, during our section on Jane Piirto, Community plays a large role in cultivating the talents of individuals. Some things that are offered to our gifted students may include:
- Surrounding our gifted ones with others who share their passions.
- Offering Advanced Placement Classes (AP).
- Offering Saturday Programs.
- International social organization.
- Members have an IQ in the top 2 percent.
- 50,000 U.S. members
- Local area groups have weekly actives.
- Regional gatherings are hosted throughout the year.
- Once a year on the 4th of July members from all over the country get together.