Gifted Conversations

Abstract

Despite the attested association between giftedness and high verbal abilities, and despite the central role attributed to classroom discourse analysis in educational research, discourse in gifted classes has not received due scholarly attention. This study takes a first step toward filling this gap. This study offers a microanalysis of a corpus of recorded and transcribed interactions from classes of gifted students in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This study focuses on student initiations and on the ways teachers handle these initiations. It is argued that the preponderance of student initiations in the classes observed sets a fertile ground for dialogic discourse to develop. However, student initiations do not guarantee the emergence of dialogic discourse, since teachers sometimes employ instructional practices that hinder its emergence.

Professional Development and Differentiated Instruction in an Elementary School Pullout Program: A Gifted Education Case Study

“…For example, seminal studies on curriculum compacting showed that teachers could remove a substantial amount of curriculum students had already mastered without negatively impacting their achievement test results (Reis et al, 1993;Reis, Westberg, Kulikowich, & Purcell, 1998). In addition, research results indicated positive effects of teaching students critical thinking skills (Dreeszen, 2010), encouraging student-oriented dialogic discourse (Netz, 2014), and facilitating authentic student-led, scientific inquiries using frameworks that emphasized realworld problem solving (Horak & Galluzzon, 2017;Wu, Pease, & Maker, 2015). Differentiation by providing students with choice options about how, what, and where they learn is another effective research-based instructional strategy widely promoted by gifted education experts.…”

Fifth Graders’ Understandings of Giftedness

“…Even in those circumstances where students are involved in conversation, the conversations are rarely lengthy ones in which students can build from the thinking of classmates (Wilhelm, 2014). However, when dialogic talk-talk in which each participant has equal status in speaking and listening-is valued, gifted students initiate and participate in rich conversation that builds from each other's ideas (Netz, 2014;O'Connor & Michaels, 2007).…”

“…Our investigation, similar to our previous research (Barone & Barone, 2017) and that of Daniels (2002), supported the importance of reading, writing, drawing, and talking to develop multimodal understandings. By having space to converse, students explored the characters and their interpretations of giftedness (Netz, 2014;Zwiers & Crawford, 2011). Further, in line with what Maine (2015) reported, the students socially constructed meaning through their responses and through discussion.…”

Mobil Argümantasyon ile Özel Yetenekli Bireylere Adli Bilimler Öğretimi

“…(Jen vd 2015) Gerçek bir problemi çözme amaçlı bir prototip geliştirme ve işlerliğini değerlendirme süreci olarak tanımlanan tasarım temelli araştırmalar farklı uygulamalarla kıyaslandığında süreç odaklı olması ve çalışılan bağlama duyarlığı ön plana çıkmaktadır. Netz (2014) ise, özel yetenekli bireylerin ne bildiğinin sınıfta ancak diyalektik bir tartışma bağlamında geliştirilebileceğini savunmaktadır. Buradan özetle özel yetenekli bireylerin öğretim ortamlarının farklılaştırılmasında; eleştirel düşünme, yeni öğrenilen bilginin sorgulanması, grup tartışmaları, bağlama duyarlılık, diyalektik bağlam kavramları ön plana çıkmaktadır.…”

“…Araştırma sonucunda argümantasyon temelli bilim öğrenme yaklaşımıyla öğrencilerin akademik başarılarının arttığı bulunmuş ve argümantasyon bu bağlamda etkili bir araç olarak önerilmiştir. Netz ise özel yetenekli bireylerin eğitiminde sınıflarda argümantasyona sıklıkla başvurulmadığını belirtmiş ve bu durumu kapatılması gereken bir boşluk olarak vurgulamıştır ( Netz 2014 (Tüzün 2016). Alan yazını incelendiğinde özel eğitimde mobil argümantasyonla gerçekleştirilmiş bir çalışmaya rastlanılmamıştır.…”