Efficiency of technology for early identification of giftedness in children aged 6-7 through contemporary art

Abstract

Introduction. The efficiency of early identification of children’s giftedness by means of contemporary art in the conditions of “art workshop” is mediated by the extent to which the technology used for this purpose meets the scientific ideas about comparative effectiveness of implemented diagnostics. However, the efficiency of ISKRA technology for early identification of endowments based on contemporary art has not yet been a subject of special research. Research objective: to analyse and discuss the effectiveness of early identification of giftedness through contemporary art. Materials and methods. The experiment involved 130 preschoolers aged from 6 to 7, attending kindergartens in town Otradnoe, Samara region of the Russian Federation. The giftedness identification methods included: 1) the test “Art+”, realising the idea of duo-vector endowments (music and mathematics, fine arts and sports, music and language studies); 2) a number of tasks developed by the authors of the given article, involving a contemporary art component, which form altogether the educational module “Acquaintance with contemporary art”. The methods of mathematical statistics involved the Mann – Whitney U test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results. The ISKRA technology is based on the current knowledge about giftedness, prepared, for due application to meet the solution of practical problems, in the course of the realisation of a 2018 research project supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The proposed diagnostic toolkit is centred on the “Art+” methodology which uses the principles of cybernetics in the organisation of the educational “art workshop” environment enriched with works of modern art (photography and video art objects, music, literary texts), materials for creativity (art-specific, pertaining to natural world and also to mathematics, sports, languages). The “Art+” methodology differs from other methods of revealing giftedness in that it focuses on duo-vector complexes: talents for music and mathematics (subtest “Melody of Numbers”), fine arts and sports (subtest “Living Ornament”), music and languages (subtest “Signals from Another Planet”). The second component of ISKRA is curricula for 16 sessions in the “art workshop” for 6 – 7-year old children, based on the material and methods of contemporary art integrating child’s art endeavours with other activities in order to activate “gifted behaviour”, and constituting the training module “Getting to Know Modern Art”. The observation of changes in the child’s behaviour under the influence of art in the process of related activity with creative elements makes it possible to reveal manifestations of giftedness, complementing the results of testing held twice – before and after the educational module classes. The research showed that the “art workshop” classes based on ISKRA technology had a positive effect on all 12 indicators of “gifted behaviour” (p < 0.01) with a varying degree of statistical significance. Conclusion. The obtained results made it possible to consider, in terms of the problem of early identification of giftedness, the possibility to identify the duo-vector giftedness of children, that is activated in response to the use of artistic means; to determine the specifics of “gifted behaviour” depending on the child’s ability to master the ISKRA educational technology that encompasses works of art combined with specific materials and techniques of contemporary art. The research makes it possible to set the guidelines for varying the model of early identification of giftedness and improving the scientific and methodological support for educational process involving gifted children aged 6-7.