Serving Children Who are Gifted: Perceptions of Undergraduates Planning to Become Teachers

Abstract

Seeking information about preconceived notions of the educational needs of children who are gifted, we asked 285 undergraduates in prerequisite classes for teacher education to complete questionnaires. topics addressed included the need for special services for children who are gifted, perceptions of forms of service delivery in elementary schools, and egalitarian versus elitist issues in gifted education. Preferences among our respondents fell in favor of services carried out in general classroom settings at elementary schools, reflecting egalitarian attitudes. We found misconceptions, compared to empirical evidence, for notions about tutoring practices and academic acceleration. in their response rates to items, undergraduates previously served as gifted differed only occasionally from those not served as gifted. We discuss implications of our findings in terms of the need for proponents of gifted programs to address some misconceptions that appear to be related to school reform and appropriate services for children who are gifted.

Teachers’ Perceptions of the Socioemotional Development of Intellectually Gifted Primary Aged Students and Their Attitudes Towards Ability Grouping and Acceleration

“…However, despite an apparent preponderance of evidence supporting the use of acceleration and ability grouping with gifted students, it appears that some educators are reluctant to use these strategies because of entrenched beliefs about their potentially damaging consequences (Bain, Bliss, Choate, & Brown, 2007;Colangelo, Assouline, & Gross, 2004). While most states' departments of education current policies on the education of gifted and talented students are research-based and support the use of ability grouping and acceleration with gifted students (for example, NSW Department of Education and Training, 2004;Department of Education, Training and the Arts, 2004), stereotypical myths surrounding the social and emotional development of gifted students and the use of these strategies persist (Clark, 2008;Fiedler, Lange, & Winebrenner, 2002).…”

Teachers’ Conceptions of Giftedness and Special Needs of Gifted Students

“…Bundan dolayı, her bir öğretmenin tutumu veya algısı bireysel olarak değerlendirilmelidir. Bir başka araştırmada öğretmen adaylarının üstün zekâlı öğrenciler hakkındaki kavramlarının çok eşitlikçi özellikte olduğu bulunmuştur (Bain, Bliss, Choate ve Brown, 2007). Ayrıca bu durumun, üstün zekâlılar eğitim programlarının türdeş gruplar olarak görülmesine ve üstün zekâlı ve yetenekli öğrenciler için hızlandırılmış eğitimin gereksiz olduğunun düşünülmesine neden olduğu belirtilmiştir.…”

How Do Preservice Teachers Conceptualize Giftedness? A Metaphor Analysis

“…Preservice teachers may have very egalitarian attitudes, which cause them to view gifted education services such as homogeneous grouping and acceleration (Bain, Bliss, Choate, & Brown, 2007) as unnecessary. Teachers believe that giftedness is equally distributed among many facets of society, but they have trouble describing characteristics of gifted students from underserved populations (Cribbs, 2009;Moon & Brighton, 2008).…”