Gifted Education Professional Learning Session 1 – Understanding Giftedness

This session is about:

Understanding the nature of giftedness and talent; what the terms mean; levels and types of giftedness. Cognitive and affective characteristics of gifted and talented students; ways in which these students may differ from their classmates – even if at first we don’t observe this.

We have not developed a pretest for Gifted Education Professional Learning Session 1. As the Foundation Module, it contains key information which will be built on in subsequent Modules. We strongly suggest that, even if you have taken previous in-service, or even study, in gifted education, you should refamiliarise yourself with the material contained here.

Outcomes

At the completion of Gifted Education Professional Learning Session 1 and 2, you will:

• understand the difference between strengths, gifts and talents, and be able to distinguish some of these in your students.
• be able to identify some cognitive and affective characteristics of gifted children or in some of your students.
• be able to evaluate the influence of intrapersonal and environmental catalysts on the development of talent in your classroom or school.