1. Chapter 13 Giftedness and Talent

2. Defining Giftedness and Talent
Federal Definition
Compared to children of their own age the child:
Exhibits high performance capability
Demonstrates outstanding intellectual, creative, leadership, and/or artistic achievement
Excels in a specific academic field

3. Other Key Contemporary and Complementary Definitions
Renzulli’s Three-Trait definition:
Above-average general intellectual abilities
High level of task commitment
Creativity
Piirto’s Concept of Talent Development:
A foundation of genetic endowment
Personality attributes
Intelligence
Talent in a specific domain
Environmental influences
Maker’s Problem-Solving Perspective:
High intelligence
High creativity
Excellent problem-solving skills

4. Characteristics
The ability to rapidly acquire, retain, and use large amounts of information
The ability to relate one idea to another
The ability to make sound judgments
The ability to perceive the operation of larger systems of knowledge that may not be recognized by the typical person
The ability to acquire and manipulate abstract symbol systems
The ability to solve problems by reframing the question and creating novel solutions

5. Characteristics Intense intellectual curiosity
Fascination with words and ideas
Perfectionism
Need for precision
Learning in great intuitive leaps
Intense need for mental stimulation
Difficulty conforming to the thinking of others
Early moral and existential concern
Tendency toward introversion

6. Prevalence and Identification
Gifted and talented children are found across gender, cultural, linguistic, and disability groups
Gifted and talented children comprise about 5% of the school-age population
Identification and Assessment
Multi-factored assessment:
IQ tests and achievement tests
Portfolios
Teacher, parent, self, and peer nomination
Extracurricular or leisure activities

7. Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum for gifted students:
Should be based on the fullest possible development of every child’s actual and potential abilities
Feelings of self-worth, self-sufficiency, civic responsibility, and vocational and avocational competence.
Differentiating the Curriculum
Acceleration: Modifying the pace at which the student moves through the curriculum
Enrichment: Investigating a topic of interest in greater detail

8. Curriculum and Instruction (cont.)
Other Methods for Differentiating Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum compacting: Compressing instructional content
Tiered lessons: Different extensions of the same basic lesson for groups of students with differing abilities
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Asking questions that require students to demonstrate different types of knowledge about a given topic
Curriculum differentiation outside the classroom
Internships and mentor programs
Special courses
Junior great books
Summer programs
International experiences

9. Three Curriculum Models for Gifted Education
School-wide enrichment model
An umbrella under which many different types of enrichment services are made available
Maker’s active problem-solver model
Role of the teacher is to facilitate high achievement by making curriculum modifications
Problem-based learning
Students work cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real-world problems

10. Educational Placement Alternatives
Special schools and self-contained classrooms
The primary advantage is that all curriculum and instruction could be focused on the needs of high-ability students
Programs for gifted students often must deal with stigma of being viewed as elitist
Resource room or pullout programs
Still need to differentiate the curriculum when they are in regular classrooms
Regular classroom
A teacher with special training may work with the regular classroom teacher
Many schools do not have a specialist, and the regular classroom teacher is responsible for differentiating the curriculum

11. Educational Placement Alternatives
Ability grouping
XYZ Grouping or tracking - places students into different levels of curriculum requirements or offerings according to high, middle, and low ability based on test scores or other indicators of performance
Within-class grouping - teachers group students within the same heterogeneous class for instruction according to their achievement
Cross-grade grouping - ability-grouped class assignments, ability group for selected subjects, non-graded plans, and special classes