Gifted Children and the Goal of Intellect

One of my children’s schools has a set of five educational Goals which they share with a network of schools across the world. The Goals form a mission statement of sorts, of how the school will guide its students to become full and active citizens. Each year one Goal is given special attention, and the school and students work to reinforce the principles within it. This year’s Goal is Intellect, so last week they launched the year with a non-uniform day on the theme. The children were allowed to dress up as anything that represented Intellect to them. The day was a great success and the children enjoyed using their imaginations to come up with interesting costumes and outfits. Among the mini-barristers and doctors, tennis professionals, Einsteins and Harry Potters an almost inevitable theme appeared.

A large number of children were dressed up as (in their own words) “nerds” or “geeks”, complete with oversized glasses and decidedly unfashionable clothes, hair and shoes. This didn’t surprise me, but it certainly disappointed me. In an event meant to show children how we should celebrate intellectual values, many of them had already internalised the message that being clever is a negative trait which invites ridicule from others. How can we expect gifted children to demonstrate their intellect in school when the prevailing attitude of their classmates is that being intelligent is to be doomed socially? I really hope that the school was able to use the costumes and what they represented as a “teachable moment”. If they missed their opportunity, I guess it becomes mine!

A Pep Talk for Gifted Advocates

Whilst plugged in to Twitter yesterday, I came across a blogpost by Seth Godin, which has played over and over in my mind.

In it, he says that rather than accept rejection of our ideas as defeat, the question we need to ask ourselves is: “what about the world as it is would have to change for your idea to be important?”

For those of us who advocate on behalf of gifted children, this is advice which we should take to heart. It is easy to feel deflated and frustrated in the face of a seeming lack of progress.

Next time someone scoffs at your suggestion, think of yourself as Harry Potter and carry on regardless. Through social networking, gifted advocates around the world are finding each other and I believe that together we can change the world!

Now, for that pep talk to get you going, take a read of Seth's blogpost, Interpreting Criticism. 

"Can creativity be taught?" asks #gtchat

Somewhere between the glorious moment a baby first plunges her hands into her dinner bowl and redecorates her surroundings and the somewhat flexible dawning of adult maturity, most of us lose the joy of unselfconscious creativity. Lose is probably too strong a term, perhaps misplace would be more accurate. We laugh at the “boldness” of our toddlers when they squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tube all over the bathroom floor. We share the fun of making mud pies, finger-painting and creating horns and beards with bath-bubbles. Then, as the years pass, they slowly get less “messy”, slowly start to use things for their proper purpose, slowly learn to colour within the lines. So, this week’s #gtchat topic “Can creativity be taught? How to inspire flow/growth” could well be renamed “Can creativity be relearned? How to re-discover our creative flow”

We all know people we consider creatively gifted; writers, artists, designers, musicians or architects, and we often compare ourselves unfavourably with them. We can’t all be like Louis Le Broquy or Imelda May or Seamus Heaney, who each have a creative talent which sets them far apart from the rest of us. But perhaps we could become more connected with our own creativity. If a task requires creativity,  perhaps we can learn how we tapped into our creative flow and shake off the conventions we have learned from infancy. Orna Ross has an interesting piece on her website about creative intelligence and how we might learn to re-ignite the spark.

For our children, the journey back is shorter, if educators and parents let them travel it. Teachers have a large part to play here. One of my sons, at age 8, wanted to enter a drawing he had done in school for an art competition. It was a pencil drawing of a bare tree in a winter landscape. His teacher told him that it wasn’t dark enough and he was to outline the branches of the tree in darker pencil lines. He did as he was told. He subsequently refused to enter the picture as he didn’t like it anymore. It wasn’t that he thought the picture would have definitely not won a prize after he had been made to alter it, but it was no longer “his” creation. To this day he feels regret that he was unable to express this to his teacher. Too many times art in my children's schools has consisted of every child being handed the same materials where each one has to put them together in the same way. What is that teaching our children about creativity? What happens to the gifted creative child if they are not allowed to express themselves with the depth they experience?

Even within the academic sphere we do not encourage creative spirit, answers are formulaic and prescribed across the curriculum. We rarely study any subject matter which has open-ended answers or which sparks debate...there is no room for opinion or divergent thought on our exam papers. Teachers are under pressure to cover long curricula and, even if they wanted to, would be hard pressed to find the time to go outside exam requirements. It is no surprise that by the time our children, particularly our gifted children, leave school their natural creative spark has been dampened.

Now, as the emphasis of education in the 21st Century changes, governments, educators and stakeholders are looking for ways to re-introduce the critical and creative thinking which will be indispensable for the young people of tomorrow. Programmes such as Future Problem Solving, which we have started (see here) in Ireland, address the crucial skills needed by this generation; research methods, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, innovation, planning and community action. It allows students to develop their own unique way to approach problems using first creativity and imagination, then logic and application. We really need to explore as many ways as we can of giving this skill back to our young people, and we need to do so with a sense of urgency.

Creative Flow and Gifted Children

“Flow is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” 

When the concept of creativity comes up for discussion, it is never long before Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow comes up. A Hungarian-American psychologist, he has devoted his career to the study of human happiness. He has shown that, regardless of culture or station in life, there is one thing which makes us all happy; being in a state of flow. So, what does this mean? It means experiencing some or all of the following:

1. Being completely involved in what we are doing…focused, concentrated.

2. A sense of ecstasy, meaning the feeling of being outside everyday reality. 

3. Great inner clarity…knowing what needs to be done and how well we are doing it. 

4. Knowing that the activity is do-able…that our skills are adequate to the task. 

5. A sense of serenity…no worries about oneself and a feeling of going beyond the boundaries of
     the ego, of being a part of something larger. 

6. Timelessness…thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes. 

7. Intrinsic motivation…whatever produces flow becomes its own reward.

In a state of flow, one becomes so intensely focused on the task in hand that one ceases to be aware of anything else, even hunger, tiredness or the passage of time. Csikszentmihalyi says that it is the "spontaneous, effortless experience you achieve when you have a close match between a high level of challenge and the skills you need to meet that challenge. The experience is almost addictive and very rewarding."

The centre point of this graph, where the sectors meet, represents average challenge and average skill level. In order for flow to occur, the level of both skill and challenge must be beyond average and the challenge must be at or slightly above the skill level. If the challenge is too little, we feel bored or apathetic. If the challenge is too great, we feel worried or anxious. For a given challenge, the state between anxiety and flow is arousal. From here, to tip into a state of flow, we need to slightly increase our skill level. It is here that most learning occurs. As our skill increases, we also need to gradually increase the challenge accordingly. The further from the centre in each sector, the more intense the experience of that state.

Interestingly, he points out that small children, as they learn to walk and talk etc, spend large amounts of time in a state of flow. They choose their tasks and challenges to suit. As they get older and begin school, the choice of both task and level of challenge is removed and the less time they get to spend in flow.

The level of challenge in a mainstream classroom is set for the average student. In that setting, it may be difficult for a gifted or exceptionally able child to find a challenge to match his/her skill level so that they reach the state of arousal where learning occurs, never mind a state of flow. Without the inherent reward and motivation which that brings, the risk is that they become bored, apathetic underachievers. In their study Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure, Csikszentmihalyi and colleagues reached the conclusion that experiencing "flow was the strongest predictor of subjective engagement and how far the student progressed in the school's curriculum."

“the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is, therefore, something which we make happen”

We can all get into “the zone” at some level, but to go deep and experience a high level of flow during which we are truly creative in the sense that we produce something new and special, our skill level must be very high. Regardless of any innate potential ability which we may have, research has shown that it is only after about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice that we develop mastery of a skill. This means about 10 years of hard work!

It is my belief that gifted children are born with innate high ability. There is no doubt that these children learn faster and differently than other children. However, in order to keep alive that spark and love of learning, they need challenges appropriate to their exceptional ability. In order to unlock and develop their potential, they need to be given the opportunity to experience flow. Then, just the same as anyone else, they must work and practice to hone their skill. I believe that we can all be creative, but only a few have the potential to be truly exceptional. 

In this video, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discusses Creativity, Fulfillment and Flow:

Further reading: 

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csikszentmihalyi/dp/0060920432

Do Students Care About Learning? A Conversation with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: http://www.learnersedgeinc.com/file/988-1.pdf

Examination of Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of Flow and its Implications in Education: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/mihaly-csikszentmihalyis-theory-of-flow-1674

Future Problem Solving Program International comes to Ireland

Frazzled and I have been friends for nearly two years now, although in many ways it feels as if we’ve known each other forever! We have discovered much common ground and a mutual passion for advocating for gifted education issues in Ireland. Over this time we have found examples of many programmes in place abroad which serve the needs of gifted students and have bemoaned the lack of availability of such initiatives here. Apart from CTYI , there is little specific provision for gifted learners.

Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) was one such programme which caught our eye. This programme is of huge interest to us because it addresses what we see as one of the main deficits in Irish schools today, namely, the lack of opportunity to develop problem solving skills in a team environment... a key component of the 21st Century skills needed for success in the workplace.

The programme is part of a now global effort to acquaint students with “thinking skills via an adaptation of the creative problem solving process”. Teams of four students apply the six-step process to find solutions to problems in an imagined future. Elements of political, ecological, economic, scientific, social or technological issues are presented in three different problems during the school year. Teams tackle each future scene separately throughout the school year and use critical thinking methods to develop solutions to pertinent issues. They choose one problem among those they have identified and work on an action plan to address it. They evaluate their own plan as they work on it under the guidance of trained coaches. The first two problems are practise ones, the third is known as a qualifying problem and through it, teams have the chance to compare themselves against other local teams in competition. All of their work is passed on to trained evaluators who give feedback and scoring as the basis for further improvement of these key skills.

Seeing an opportunity to introduce this programme to Irish students, we got in touch last year with FPSPI Board of Trustees member Deb Woythal who started us on our way with our fledgling team of four. She, along with a colleague in the UK, are mentoring our efforts to establish a working programme of FPSPI with Irish students. Their help, support and enthusiasm were invaluable and we are very grateful that they have allowed us bring FPSPI to Ireland. Last year, in between sports matches, music lessons, exams and homework, our team succeeded in producing some fine work for a first attempt. This year, we are expanding the programme in our local area with secondary students. As the programme also works for primary-age pupils, we are planning some involvement for that age-group soon. If you are interested in talking to us about the programme or how to include your school in our pilot project please do not hesitate to get in touch.

In Ireland we hear government and business leaders talking about preparing our workforce to be flexible and innovative, to use creativity and cooperation in problem-solving, to use communications technology effectively, and yet, we continue to educate both our children and their teachers in an out-moded content-based learning model. Bringing a programme such as FPSPI to Ireland is our effort to address this gap.