The early emergence of gifted learning

'Giftedness' requires deep understandings on the part of teachers, parents and the student in early years settings. John Munro signals approaches to learning and suggests that both the learners and the environment need closer alignment.

Robert is five years old. When he was two and a half, he taught himself to read. He 'automatically' learnt the rules for reading words while his parents read him stories and applied them to new words. His vocabulary is rich and he loves word plays and puns. He displays a sophisticated sense of humour. For two years, he has pursued both fiction and reference texts in his local library.

From a young age, Robert's approach to learning has shown the classic characteristics of being a creatively gifted learner. He has a general knowledge that is both comparatively broad and deep. His approach to learning is like those of other gifted learners and he links ideas in creative, unusual ways. He is intrinsically motivated or driven to learn topics that interest him.

The first characteristic is what he knows. He has a well-developed memory that is shown in his wide general knowledge; he knows things which his peers seem unaware of. He understands topics in lateral, creative ways, and this allows him to see connections between ideas. He can keep track of several ideas at once and thinks in larger steps. He solves problems rapidly and requires fewer repetitions of an idea to learn it. He uses his imagination, fantasy and humour at a high level and shows 'intellectual playfulness'. He learns facts easily and likes to read children's encyclopedias and 'how things work' books, and has produced designs for various complicated contraptions.

The second characteristic is the 'self-driven' or intrinsically motivated desire or 'want to know'. Much of what he knows he has learnt spontaneously without direct teaching. He shows an intrinsic motivation to learn and to build his interpretations of ideas. He is motivated to research topics that interest him and forms a very detailed knowledge.

Gifted learners take the lead in new learning situations; they don't wait to be led or invited to respond. Therefore, in situations in which they have less control over the learning, they may experience high levels of frustration. They are prepared to 'have a go' and to 'take risks' with new tasks. They also invest a high level of commitment and attention in the tasks they pursue. They may become bored and frustrated if the learning pace is too slow, if tasks are 'too routine' or not challenging.

Linked with this motivation is how Robert learns. He has an 'inquisitive mind'. He understands how to generate knowledge by asking often complex questions. He seeks the opportunity to answer them for himself. He continues to reflect on new ideas, sometimes asking questions about them some days later or comparing what he has learnt with later events. He constantly thinks about the consequences of events and sometimes worries about them.

Gifted learners learn fast and differently from their peers. To satisfy their curiosity they can focus on a challenge that they follow through to completion. They engage in subtle thinking on complex topics, ask perceptive questions and appear to hold considered views on topics such as evolution.

Sometimes young gifted learners like Robert seem to have a short attention span and flit from topic to topic. They can see complex but not simple patterns. They may often get simple problems wrong because they are not motivated or interested to solve them. This approach to learning may be difficult for teachers to understand. So often I have heard said 'How can she/he be gifted, if she/he can't learn these simple things?'

Gifted learning and thinking is frequently displayed from a very young age. Whereas in older children the giftedness may be shown in particular domains of knowledge, in younger children it is shown across the 'board', in the questions they ask, the links they make between ideas, their perceptiveness and intuition and the motivation or drive with which they pursue challenges and problems they have framed up for themselves.

Our research at the University of Melbourne has shown that many aspects of early gifted learning are misunderstood. Robert's father recounts a situation that occurred on a holiday. All of the children were joining in an organised beach game, except for Robert, who for some time, had been by himself in a shallow rock pool. One of the other parents asked whether Robert had a problem relating to other children. 'Not that I'm aware of', replied Robert's father, who at this point thought he should bring Robert 'back to the pack'.

'What are you doing here by yourself?' 'I'm trying to find what makes the little crabs run in one direction', replied Robert, 'I think they can feel the water moving. But they don't move when a new wave comes. They only move when some of the water moves around them, not all the water.' At this point Robert's father knelt down in the pool and began to check out his own predictions.

A second four year old was referred to me because of his 'obsessive, ritualistic behaviours'. Whenever he went into the play area he picked up pieces of tan bark and watched them fall. His teacher had read about autism and was concerned that these behaviours were early indicators. She hadn't observed other children showing 'such bizarre behaviours'. 'He doesn't seem to want to play with the wheeled toys like the other boys,' she said, 'instead he seems to enjoy dropping pieces of paper, sometimes rolling them into balls first'.

A very quick conversation with the child allayed my fears of obsessive, ritualistic behaviours. 'Whenever you drop tanbark', said this budding young scientist, 'it always lands the same way up. It's the same with paper. Also, big bits and little bits fall down together. The big ones don't get to the ground first'.

Our research shows these children have richer word meanings, networks, recognise similarities between concepts at an advanced level, can explain various social phenomena, retain more information in short-term memory, analyse and manipulate visual and spatial patterns at a higher level and may learn and categorise arbitrary visual symbols and codes at a high level ability.

The gifted approach to learning needs to be taken into account when children like Robert are engaged in classroom type activities in preschool and school. Without this, they may experience frustration and disengagement from learning.

Robert began kindergarten with a high level of intrinsic motivation. However, his preparedness to use his thinking, creativity and knowledge received 'a jolt'. His self-directed approach to learning failed when what and how he was required to learn were decided by others, both his teachers and peers.

All children in our modern society, including those who are gifted, need to learn in these ways. Socialised learning is a key aspect of modern education. Some gifted students show inertia to learning in this way. Robert hadn't had much experience of it and didn't know how to 'play by these rules'. For example, he didn't know how to deal with feedback from peers when they told him 'No, you're wrong' or 'That's silly' when they didn't understand what he was saying.

He rapidly began to lose self-confidence in his capacity to learn in the group. He was not able to describe the stress due to the clash between the socialised approach to learning and his approach. Soon he tried to avoid attending the kindergarten and began to have nightmares about it.

Many young gifted students experience frustration and disengagement when they first enter group learning contexts. Their teachers need to know how to recognise their learning approaches and to provide differentiated learning opportunities that take account of what they know and how they learn. These students may also need to understand how they learn and how they can relate to their peers in positive ways.

Visit
The Studies in Exceptional Learning and Gifted Education (SELAGE) website. www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/eldi/selage for understanding how gifted students learn and for differentiating their teaching accordingly.

Associate professor John Munro is head of studies in Gifted Education and Exceptional Learning in Education at the University of Melbourne.

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