Giftedness is a systemic quality of the psyche that develops throughout life, which determines the possibility of a person achieving higher, outstanding results in one or more types of activity compared to other people.

A gifted child is a child who stands out for bright, obvious, sometimes outstanding achievements (or has internal prerequisites for such achievements) in one or another type of activity.

Childhood is the period of formation of abilities and personality. This is the time of deep integrative processes in the child's psyche against the background of its differentiation. The level and breadth of integration determine the characteristics of the formation and maturity of the very phenomenon - giftedness. The progress of this process, its delay or regression determine the dynamics of the development of giftedness.

One of the most controversial issues concerning the problem of gifted children is the question of the frequency of manifestation of children's giftedness. There are two extreme points of view: "all children are gifted" - "gifted children are extremely rare." Supporters of one of them believe that almost any healthy child can be developed to the level of the gifted, provided that favorable conditions are created. For others, giftedness is a unique phenomenon, in this case the focus is on finding gifted children. This alternative is removed within the framework of the following position: potential prerequisites for achievements in various types of activity are inherent in many children, while real outstanding results are demonstrated by a significantly smaller part of children.

Giftedness is often manifested in the success of activities that have a spontaneous, amateur character. For example, a child who is passionate about technical design can enthusiastically build his models at home, but at the same time not show similar activity either at school or in specially organized extracurricular activities (circle, section, studio). In addition, gifted children do not always strive to demonstrate their achievements in front of others. So, a child who writes poetry or stories can hide his passion from the teacher.

Thus, the giftedness of a child should be judged not only by his school or extracurricular activities, but by the forms of activity initiated by him.

1.2. Types of giftedness

There are three types of talent:

Academic;

Intellectual;

Creative.

Academic endowments- "the ability to brilliantly assimilate, that is, to learn."

The following terms are significant for academic giftedness:

intellectual ability

motivation

creativity

The psychological characteristics of children who demonstrate academic giftedness can only be considered as signs that accompany giftedness, but not necessarily as generating it. Therefore, the presence of these psychological characteristics can only serve as a basis for the assumption of academic giftedness, and not for the conclusion about its unconditional presence.

A special place among gifted children is occupied by intellectual geeks. These are precocious children, whose abilities are manifested in an extremely high outstripping rate of development of mental abilities. They are characterized by extremely early, from 2-3 years old, mastering reading, writing and counting; mastery of the three-year study program by the end of the first grade; choosing a complex activity of his own free will (a five-year-old boy writes a "book" about birds with illustrations made by himself, another boy at the same age compiles his own history encyclopedia, etc.). They are distinguished by an unusually high development of individual cognitive abilities (brilliant memory, unusual power of abstract thinking, etc.).

Creative talent- this is a characteristic not just of the highest level of performance of any activity, but of its transformation and development.

1.3. Portrait of a gifted child

1. Shows curiosity about many things, constantly asking questions.

2. Offers many ideas, solutions to problems, answers to questions.

3. Freely expresses his opinion, persistently, vigorously defends it.

4. Prone to risky actions.

5. Has a rich imagination, imagination. Often concerned with the transformation, improvement of society, objects.

6. Has a well-developed sense of humor, seeing humor in situations that others may not find funny.

7. Sensitive to beauty, attentive to the aesthetics of things.

8. Not conflict, not an opportunist, not afraid to be different from others.

10. Strives for self-expression, creative use of objects.

1.4. Socio-psychological portrait of a gifted child

I. The influence of the social environment on giftedness.

1. The results of various researchers considering the influence of the social environment (socio-economic relations, material support, social conditions, etc.) on giftedness are not unambiguous. But, it is possible to draw the following conclusions: socio-economic conditions affect the development of giftedness, because they determine the standard of human life; the more economically developed the society, the more favorable the opportunities for human development.

2. A very important condition for the development of giftedness is the family, namely: the structure and emotional climate of the family, styles of parental relationships, the attitude of parents to children's giftedness.

R. Hess and in. Shipman divided parental interaction styles into imperative and instructive.

The first is characterized by unambiguous commands, for example: "Do as I said ...", "Sit still ...".

Parents expect from the child unquestioning observance of their instructions, their relationship is based on the authority of an adult.

This style develops passive compliance in the child along with dependence and conformism.

The instructional style contains more information, and the requirements are justified: "Put away the toys, and I will sweep the floor ...".

Parents talk with the child "on an equal footing", prove that their requirements are natural and reasonable. This fosters initiative and firmness.

Another important aspect is the attitude of parents to children's giftedness. Obviously, this factor is one of the main factors affecting the realization of the child's capabilities. Relationship types: negative, ignoring, positive,

II. Features of cognitive activity.

Distinguished by the breadth of perception, gifted children are keenly aware of everything that happens in the world around them and are extremely curious about how this or that object works. They are able to monitor several processes at the same time and tend to actively explore everything around them.

They have the ability to perceive connections between phenomena and objects and draw appropriate conclusions; they like to create alternative systems in their imagination.

Excellent memory, combined with early speech development and the ability to classify and categorize, help such a child accumulate a large amount of information and use it intensively.

Gifted children have a large vocabulary that allows them to freely and clearly express their thoughts.

Along with the ability to perceive semantic ambiguities, to maintain a high threshold of perception for a long time, with pleasure to deal with complex and even problems that do not have a practical solution, they do not tolerate when ready-made answers are imposed on them.

They are distinguished by a long period of concentration and great perseverance in solving problems.

The preoccupation with tasks that is characteristic of a gifted child, combined with a lack of experience, often leads to the fact that he tries to do what he is not yet able to do.

III. psychosocial sensitivity.

Gifted children show a heightened sense of justice; anticipatory moral development is based on the anticipatory development of perception and cognition.

They react sharply to the injustice of the world around them, make high demands on themselves and others.

Vivid imagination, the inclusion of elements of the game in the performance of tasks, creativity, ingenuity and rich imagination (imaginary friends, brothers and sisters) are very characteristic of gifted children.

Children have a great sense of humor, love funny inconsistencies, puns, jokes.

They lack emotional balance, and at an early age, gifted children are impatient and impulsive.

Sometimes they are characterized by exaggerated fears and increased vulnerability. They are extremely sensitive to nonverbal cues from others.

Egocentrism at this age as in ordinary children.

Quite often, gifted children develop negative self-perception, difficulties in communicating with peers.

IV. Physical characteristics.

Gifted children are distinguished by a high energy level, and they sleep less than usual.

Their motor coordination and hand skills often lag behind cognitive abilities. They need practice. The difference in the intellectual and physical development of such children can discourage them and develop lack of independence.

The vision of gifted children (under the age of 8) is often unstable, it is difficult for them to change focus from close to far.

V. Features of the system of relations.

At preschool age, the leading activity is a role-playing game.

Children have a fairly pronounced and stable need to communicate with their peers, a need develops to recognize them from the outside.

In older preschool age, along with the most significant adults for the child, the peer group also becomes a reference group. Some features of the behavior and personality of a gifted child can lead to misunderstanding by their peers, conflict in their relationships, up to the isolation of the child by children.

Among the reasons are: the inability to listen to the interlocutor, the desire for dominance, to take on the role of the organizer of joint games, the tendency to demonstrate one's own knowledge (which is largely fixed by adults), the desire to monopolize the attention of an adult, intolerance towards less successful children, non-comfort, the habit of correcting others, etc. L. Homienguert points to another reason for the possible isolation of gifted children - due to their high mental development, they may not be interested in the games of their peers.

Faced with difficulties in relationships with peers and not understanding their reasons, such children often seek friendship with adults or with older children.

But in communicating with the latter, they may have difficulties.

The reason is that the older ones are ahead in physical development, which makes it difficult for gifted children to become a leader in such a society.

Gifted children, to a greater extent than their peers with a normal level of development, are subject to the negative influence of adversity in the field of interaction and relationships due to their increased sensitivity to social reality.

Therefore, various violations in communication with people can significantly affect their perception of themselves and their capabilities, while the most important condition for realizing their potential is the presence of a positive self-concept in such children.

VI. Behavioral features indicating socio-psychological maladaptation.

Prolonged suppression of the intellectual and expressive needs of a gifted child can lead to emotional difficulties, neurosis, and even psychosis.

Neurosis can cause periods of depression, when the child is unable to understand the reasons for the rejection by others of his natural tendencies and aspirations.

He can go into an imaginary world where the line between reality and fiction is blurred.

Due to hidden, unconscious high parental expectations in a child, a child may develop a desire to bring all perfection - perfectionism.

What is child giftedness?

Human thinking, creativity is the greatest gift of nature. It is very important to understand that nature marks every person with this gift. But it is also obvious that she does not share her gifts equally and rewards someone generously, without stint, and bypasses someone. It is customary to call gifted one whose gift clearly exceeds certain average capabilities, the abilities of the majority.

The idea of ​​uneven distribution of this distribution is quite obvious, but not everyone agrees with it Once, laughing, Montaigne noticed that of all the abilities, God most fairly distributed the mental - for no one complains about their lack.

Many experts call giftedness a genetically determined component of abilities. This genetically determined gift largely determines both the final result (the result of development) and the pace of development. The external environment, or, as they say in professional literature, the environment and upbringing, either suppress it or help this gift to open up. And just as a jeweler can turn a natural diamond into a luxurious diamond, a favorable environment and qualified pedagogical guidance can turn this natural gift into an outstanding talent.

This simple and seemingly obvious thought made its way with great difficulty in Russian pedagogy and pedagogical psychology. Many in our country did not want and still do not want to "wait for favors from nature." Hence the idea that there are no gifted children and no gifted ones. There are only those who were properly or incorrectly taught and educated, "there are no bad students, there are bad teachers ...".

It is a pity to disappoint these people, but nature does not live according to their settings, it has its own laws and rules for the distribution of gifts, and, apparently, its own ideas about justice and balance.

Recently, much has begun to change, and the term "giftedness" has again been used in professional literature. But the controversy is not over.

A bit of history

To clarify the essence of the concept of "giftedness" let us briefly dwell on the history of its research. This is important because the old, obsolete theories and ideas rejected by science continue to live in the minds of people, and orientation towards them gives rise not only to a lot of misconceptions, but also has an extremely negative effect on the practice of upbringing and education, and consequently, on the fate of children.

For a long time, the idea of ​​the divine origin of the gift, which determines the individual differences of people, dominated. So, for example, even Plato wrote that "... the poet creates not from art and knowledge, but from divine predestination."

But around the middle of the 19th century, a different understanding was formed. The famous English scientist Francis Galton, inspired by the works of his cousin Charles Darwin, began to actively develop the idea that a man of genius is "a product of a brilliant family." He carefully analyzed the pedigrees of prominent people of his time and past and found a number of patterns that clearly indicate, from his point of view, that the manifestations of giftedness depend primarily on heredity.

However, later, with the advent and development of genetics, it was proved that the process of transmission of hereditary traits is mediated by many factors and is far from being direct. In other words, the gift we are talking about cannot be inherited directly, like a family castle, a noble title, a mill or Puss in Boots, as, for example, in the famous fairy tale by Ch. Perrault.

We will dwell on this in more detail a little later. In the meantime, let's note an important milestone in the history of the study of the problem of giftedness - F. Galton, figuratively speaking, brought the problem of giftedness down to earth. After him, the idea of ​​the divine nature of giftedness is no longer discussed in serious scientific sources, the development of problems of giftedness goes in a different, natural science direction.

In parallel, however, there was a directly opposite point of view, according to which no gift (neither divine nor innate) exists at all. This idea found its expression in the somewhat strange term "tabula rasa" (Latin for "blank slate"). The child is like a "blank slate", without any signs and ideas, and there is no, either divine or hereditary, predisposition to mental or any other activity. Despite the obvious dubiousness that was felt even at the time of its inception, this theory finds its adherents to this day.

Real practice testified that the mental, creative abilities of people are not equal, and these differences appear already in childhood. Their range is very wide - from mental retardation to a high degree of giftedness. It is impossible to explain these differences only by the influence of the environment and upbringing. Especially when it comes to rare, outstanding manifestations of giftedness.

Giftedness general and special

But there were also disputes among those who recognized the existence of giftedness. They argued about whether the so-called general giftedness exists as a "universal ability" (the ability to do everything) or whether the gift always manifests itself only in one or several areas of activity.

Most researchers were inclined to believe that giftedness is an integrative (total, general) personal property. In other words, if a person is gifted, then he is able to achieve success in many activities. Practice has shown that outstanding gifted people quite often reached the top at the same time in various fields: Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, an engineer, and an outstanding naturalist; M. V. Lomonosov was not only an outstanding scientist, but also a poet and artist; A. S. Pushkin wrote poetry and prose, and in addition, he made excellent illustrations for his works, and this list can be continued for a long time.

But another point of view was also developed: according to it, there is no giftedness at all, giftedness is always tied to a certain type of activity, it is always either mathematical, or musical, or literary, or sports, and then almost ad infinitum. It turns out that how many types of activity, so many types of giftedness.

This idea gained popularity mainly among those who had previously actively opposed the very concept of "giftedness", but were forced to admit its existence under the pressure of actually observed phenomena. After all, if we recognize this point of view, then we are forced to recognize the logical conclusion that follows from this: there are no people (children) who are not gifted, everyone is gifted in some area, you just need to find this area and help the person (child) to realize himself.

But how is it really?

The results of research by specialists throughout the 20th century convincingly indicate that rather, one should speak of giftedness as an integral, total personal property. In the psyche of outstanding people there are certain general abilities that are universal and are not associated with any special activity.

Special talent, allowing the situation that a person is gifted in one area of ​​activity and practically unsuitable for another, is a rarity in nature. The well-known Russian psychologist V. D. Shadrikov noted in one of his works that nature could not afford the luxury of putting so many special abilities into the genotype. And then, the human psyche has been formed for many millions of years, and many types of activity, in which we speak of outstanding achievements as a special talent, appeared only a few hundred years ago.

In order to consider the problem of developing general and special abilities, one can apply a scientific technique that is popular in biology and practically not used in psychology - the method of model systems. As you know, nature builds its systems according to general laws, and the same development algorithms are used, that is, one natural system may well serve as a model for another. As such a model system, we will use ... a living tree!

The roots of the tree are hidden underground - so hidden from direct observation are the natural, genetic inclinations of the human psyche. The trunk of a tree, its power, strength and other characteristics depend both on what the hidden roots are and on the influence of many external parameters and conditions. The trunk is in our case an analogue of those same general abilities or general giftedness, that universal characteristic from which numerous "branches" originate - particular manifestations of giftedness.

First, large branches depart from the trunk, they become thinner, divide; thin branches, in turn, divide again and again... Let's imagine, for example, the "artistic talent" branch. Abilities for music, fine arts, literature, artistic abilities are different abilities. But at the same time, they have much in common, and this commonality is usually united by the words "artistic talent", "artistic abilities". And just as smaller and thinner branches depart from a large branch, so “pictorial”, “musical”, “artistic”, etc. abilities grow out of “general artistic abilities”. Therefore, many artists can write poetry without much difficulty, musicians are engaged in painting and writers illustrate their own works.

The more a person has developed private abilities - "branches", the higher the level of development of each, the more magnificent, branched the crown of our imaginary tree. The more evenly, more harmoniously developed these particular abilities (branches), the more organic the imaginary tree looks.

In pedagogical terms, the question of general and special giftedness also has an important age aspect. The most productive pedagogical path, according to which giftedness at early age stages (senior preschool and junior school age), should be considered and developed mainly as a general, universal ability. And with age, this universal, "general ability" more and more acquires specific features and a certain subject orientation. And the main pedagogical task in this period shifts from the development of general abilities to the search for an adequate way to realize the personality in certain types of activity.

Actual and potential, early and late giftedness

Experts consider children's giftedness in yet another aspect - to what extent it is currently manifested by the child. Manifested, obvious giftedness, that is, noticed by psychologists, teachers, parents, is called "actual". And vice versa, giftedness, which is not immediately noticeable, not obvious to others, is called "potential".

Many famous scientists, musicians, artists and even writers showed their outstanding abilities at an early age. Everyone knows the brilliant creative achievements of little V.-A. Mozart, outstanding achievements in childhood by F. Galton, I. I. Mechnikov, K. Gauss, N. Winner, G. V. Leibniz, V. Hugo. This list goes on. Quite often gifted children become outstanding adults, but not always.

Conversely, just as often children who did not show themselves in childhood achieved outstanding results in adulthood. Often an outstanding mental potential, as evidenced by the biographies of many famous people, for a long time remains unnoticed by others.

Naturally, in each case, the reasons why giftedness went unnoticed are different. The potential may not really be manifested until a certain time. Or maybe parents, teachers and other adults were inattentive to the subtle movements of the child's soul, they lacked knowledge, their intuition did not work. Or, on the contrary, due to misunderstanding, they did not notice these outstanding potentialities in the child and even considered manifestations of creativity, intellectual initiative as negative properties. And the most valuable were considered completely different.

We all know from our own experience that there are often parents, school teachers, university professors, production managers who value diligence, obedience, accuracy above originality, courage, independence of action and judgment.

A kind of confirmation of this idea was found by American scientists who studied the biographies of 400 prominent people from this angle. The study found that 60% of them had serious problems during the period of schooling in terms of adapting to learning conditions.

The fact of the existence of actual and potential giftedness makes another problem especially important, the problem of predicting development. What signs, personality traits, character traits, features of behavior and activity can indicate to an adult that a child in the future can become an outstanding scientist, artist, leader? The answer to this complex question cannot be simple. Scientists have already discovered a number of patterns that make it possible to predict the future of a child, but the algorithm for constructing reliable, well-founded forecasts is still infinitely far away.

At the same time, world pedagogical experience shows that often faith in the abilities of the pupil, multiplied by the skill of parents and teachers, is capable of creating pedagogical miracles. In life, it often turns out that it’s not even what nature gave a person that is important, but what he managed to do with the gift that he has.

How many gifted children

It is difficult to determine which of the children is gifted. It is even more difficult to say which of them can and will become an outstanding scientist, artist, public figure. But the question of how many gifted people there are, as well as the question of how many outstanding people can be in a society, oddly enough, is somewhat easier to answer. True, experience shows that one should not ask psychologists and educators about this. Most of them, when answering it, literally begin to overwhelm emotions, and they name either 1%, then 2%, then 5%, then 20% of the total number of children.

In this case, specialists in mathematical statistics are more objective. To answer this question, they do not use observations, in which, by definition, there is already a large element of subjectivism, and not the results of experiments that can be interpreted in different ways, and certainly not guided by emotional impulses, but relying on strict mathematical laws describing natural phenomena. One of them is the law of normal distribution.

It is expressed graphically in a curve resembling a bell. The central part of this curve (upper, middle part of the bell) symbolizes the norm, and its symmetrical left and right parts - deviations from this norm. This law is especially widely used in biology (biometrics). According to him, in any population, the total number of normal individuals is within 68%, significant deviations in both directions are 16% each.

To illustrate its operation, the example of measuring the height of recruits who came to the recruiting station is often used. Imagine that doctors measured the height of several thousand recruits. Most of them will inevitably turn out to be about the same, average height. The difference in growth between them will fluctuate within extremely small limits. The number of such people is approximately 68%. But at the same time, there will definitely be those who are above and those who are below the average values. Significant deviations start at about 16%. Moreover, the higher the degree of deviation, the less often it occurs. That is, very tall and very short people are a rarity.

The same thing happens with the mental faculties. But since their real measurement is much more difficult than, for example, height, weight, chest volume, it is usually proposed to consider slightly different figures. The norm fluctuates in the range of 60-70%, respectively, the number of deviations (gifted and lagging behind) will be in this case within 15-20% for each group.

Moreover, we note once again that the higher the degree of deviation (both giftedness and backwardness), the less often this deviation can be encountered. F. Galton also noted that an "outstanding genius" is as rare as a "complete idiot." F. Galton, using the law of normal distribution, noted that if the level of mental development of a normal person is taken conditionally as 100 units, then the mental abilities of a genius will be equal to 200, and an idiot - 0.

Much later, in 1912, the famous German scientist William Stern used this number - 100 - for the formula for calculating the intelligence quotient (IQ).

Chronological age is determined very easily, but mental age was determined by special tests (from the English test - "test", "experience"). We will discuss the legitimacy of these measurements separately. In this case, the principle of calculation is important to us.

A well-known specialist in the design of similar tests, the author of a well-known method for diagnosing intelligence, American psychologist David Wexler examined 1.7 thousand people and, based on the data obtained, proposed the following classification.

Table 1. Indicators of intellectual giftedness.

IQ (indicator) Level of intellectual development Very high intelligence high intelligence good norm Average level Reduced rate border level mental defect

Currently, along with the term "gifted children" the term "highly gifted children" is used. This number usually includes 2% of the total number of children.

Who is considered gifted

"A gifted child is a child who stands out for bright, obvious, sometimes outstanding achievements (or has internal prerequisites for such achievements) in one or another type of activity."

Naturally, the question arises what kind of achievements are we talking about. In the special literature, several categories of children are most often distinguished, which are usually called gifted:

Children with high scores on special intelligence tests (intellectual giftedness);
- children with a high level of creative abilities (creative talent);
- children who have achieved success in any field of activity (young musicians, artists, mathematicians, chess players, etc.); this category of children is often called talented;
- children who study well at school (academic giftedness).

Each of these categories reflects a certain attitude towards the understanding of giftedness as a mental phenomenon. Note that all of them are not accurate from the point of view of modern psychology. But we have to admit that educational practice reacts mainly to these four categories. Let's take a look at each point of view in turn.

Intellectual giftedness

Until the middle of the 20th century, giftedness was determined solely by special intelligence tests (intellegens qutient, abbreviated as IQ). This practice has been the subject of much controversy. Much has been written about this and continues to be written in the professional literature, emphasizing that the "intelligence quotient" (IQ) is not at all the same as the "natural mind". We will not touch on these complex professional issues, we will only consider the main problem that led to the discrediting of this theory and the practice generated by it.

The IQ calculated on the basis of the results of responses to special tests turned out to be of little use in pedagogical practice and, in particular, as a basis for predicting future achievements. As evidenced by many years of long-term studies, a high IQ manifested in childhood says little about whether a child will become an outstanding scientist, artist, manager (leader), etc. But the indicator itself - the IQ - claimed no more, no less than the role of a universal personality characteristic, indicating a general level of giftedness.

The reason for this phenomenon was revealed by theoretical psychology. An analysis of test tasks traditionally used in intelligence tests, starting from the first versions created at the beginning of the 20th century and up to sets of similar methods of the second half of the 20th century, showed that almost all of these tasks activate and reveal only one type of thinking, called logical (or , as professionals say, convergent). And to achieve success in science, art, and the practical sphere, one needs not so much the ability to identify patterns, follow a given algorithm, etc., as the ability to think outside the box, think in an original way, the ability to find new problems and unusual solutions to these problems.

Creative talent

One of the first practitioners to discover this discrepancy was the American teacher and psychologist E. P. Torrance. Observing his students, he came to the conclusion that successful in creative activities are not those children who study well, and not those who have a very high intelligence quotient (IQ). More precisely, these indicators (learning success and high intelligence) may be present, but they are not mandatory guarantors of future and present success in life. For creativity, which is what is required of a talented person in any field, something else is needed.

E. P. Torrance was one of the first to develop methods for identifying the creative abilities of children. After the appearance of his works, tests of those who demonstrated a high IQ began to be supplemented with special tests of the level of creative abilities.

They are called creativity tests. Further research revealed that for the realization of personality in creativity, a special combination of levels of development of logical (or convergent thinking, usually detected by intelligence tests) and creative thinking is necessary.

Talented children

By concentrating the efforts of a gifted child on one kind of activity (music, fine arts, chess, etc.), one can often achieve outstanding results that far exceed ordinary ideas. The history of mankind testifies that in rare cases this turned out to be useful for the development of the child in the future and allowed him to realize himself in the future as an outstanding specialist (W.-A. Mozart, K. Gauss, etc.). Much more often there were situations when early specialization led to negative consequences.

Therefore, teachers and parents who do not seek to establish themselves as "outstanding" educators at the expense of their gifted pupils are guided not by the narrow specialization of a gifted child, but, on the contrary, by maximizing the range of his interests.

Having lost as a result "an outstanding young poet (musician, mathematician, chess player, artist, etc.)", and with him the embodiment of our own ambitious pedagogical hopes, we usually gain incomparably more - a comprehensively developed gifted child who, having tried a lot at an early age makes a conscious choice to apply a particular kind of giftedness to something at an older age.

About academic excellence

In the vocabulary of teachers and psychologists there is such a word - "learning". They have long noticed this feature: a child can be both creative and smart, but it is hard to learn. Then, one child "grabs everything on the fly", while the other needs long hours to master the educational material. Naturally, teachers are especially attentive to this characterization of the child; it is they who are inclined to assert that gifted children are "those children who study well."

Needless to say, this is a big misconception. Each of us knows from our own experience that teachers "make excellent students" are not always those who are smarter or more creatively developed, much more often they are those who are obedient, diligent, diligent, etc. Therefore, their main opponents in this matter are psychologists - do not get tired of repeating: a gifted child is not always an excellent student. Moreover, according to the results of numerous studies conducted in many countries of the world, gifted children are extremely rarely excellent students or even just good students. Alas, but most often gifted in a traditional school are C students.

Although we cannot fail to note that success in learning is far from characteristic of everyone, and a truly gifted person is usually more capable of assimilating new experience. But real academic success, indicated by school marks, does not always unambiguously characterize this ability.

Modern concepts of giftedness

So, we found out that giftedness is not something that is revealed on intelligence tests; wonderful methods for determining the level of creative abilities also do not allow doing this; early manifestation
ability to any activity is also not yet a guarantee of outstanding achievements in the future; that the success of a child in school does not always indicate his giftedness.

What is giftedness in the modern sense?

There are so many concepts of giftedness created by modern scientists that just listing their names would take at least a page. Even professional psychologists can often get lost in their descriptions. We will facilitate our task by addressing immediately the most popular and accepted by the majority of modern specialists idea - concepts of human potential of the American psychologist Joseph Renzulli.

According to his teachings, giftedness is a combination of three characteristics:

Intellectual abilities (exceeding the average level);
- creativity;
- perseverance (task-oriented motivation).

It is noteworthy that in the very name of this theoretical model, J. Renzulli uses the term "potential" instead of the term "giftedness". This is evidence that this concept is a kind of universal scheme applicable to the development of a system for educating and educating not only gifted, but all children.

The triad identified by J. Renzulli is usually presented by the author in the form of three mutually intersecting circles, symbolizing motivation, outstanding abilities (intelligence) and creativity (creativity), which largely clarifies the nature of the interaction of these three components (Fig. 1).

Rice. one. Elements of human potential G. Renzulli (small model)

So, giftedness is not only intelligence, not only creativity and not only a certain motivation. This is a complex that includes all three characteristics. Let's consider these characteristics in more detail.

The main components of success

Motivation

Motive (from the French motif - "motivating reason") - a mental phenomenon that becomes an incentive to activity.

When solving pedagogical problems, it is important not only what the child does, but also why he does it, what drives him, what makes him act. Researchers in all countries of the world are studying the problem of motivation for learning, behavior, activities, in other words, they are looking for an answer to the question "why does a child need this."

With all the possible and real variety of motives for behavior and activity, they can all be grouped into several relatively small groups. Here, for example, is how the motives of teaching can be classified.

1. The motives inherent in the learning activity itself, associated with its direct product.

- Content Motivation - motives related to the content of the teaching (encourages learning, striving
learn new facts, master knowledge, methods of action, penetrate the essence of phenomena).

- Process Motivation - motives associated with the learning process itself (it captivates the process of communication with the teacher and other children in educational activities, the learning process is saturated with playing techniques, technical means, etc.).

2. Motives associated with the indirect product of the teaching.

- Broad social motives :

a) socially valuable - motives of duty, responsibility, honor (before society, class, teacher, parents, etc.);
b) narrow-minded (prestigious motivation) - motives of self-affirmation, self-determination, self-improvement.

- Motives for Avoiding Trouble - teaching based on coercion, fear of being punished, etc.

This classification, like any scheme, is much poorer and simpler than real life, but in general it
reflects the essence of the phenomenon. All groups of motives are present in almost every action of the child related to
with teaching.

Every child has a sense of duty and responsibility, a desire for self-affirmation and self-improvement, the content and process of learning activities are interesting to some extent, and a fear of failure is inherent.

But we should not talk about the absence or presence of any motives, but about their hierarchy. That is, about which motives prevail, dominate in the motivational-need sphere of the individual, and which ones are in a subordinate position.

In the course of special studies it has been proved that the hierarchy of motives is a relatively stable mental formation. Being formed in childhood, it is little subject to change.

Most desirable from the point of view of giftedness is the dominance of motives related to the content of the teaching (orientation towards mastering new knowledge, facts, phenomena, patterns; orientation towards mastering the ways of acquiring knowledge, etc.). The dominance of this group of motives characterizes a gifted child. This is one of the leading characteristics of children's giftedness (J. Renzulli, E. P. Torrance, etc.).

Psychologists have proven that mental work, performed not out of a sense of duty, not to get a high mark and not in order to win at the Olympics or in a competition, but because you want it yourself, that is, on the basis of an internal need, is closely related to activities of the center of positive emotions. This experimentally revealed fact is supplemented by the assertion that only activity motivated in this way contributes to the development of these abilities.

But it is important not only what motives dominate. It is not indifferent how the remaining motives line up in this imaginary hierarchy. The motives associated with the process are inferior in value to the previous ones, but they can be more easily transformed into meaningful ones than, for example, the motives for avoiding trouble.

Broad social motives are traditionally an effective tool for stimulating learning activities. But they are less manageable, since their effectiveness is largely determined by
global factors (attitude towards education and educated people in society, etc.).

Naturally, the question arises: how to identify the dominant motivation? But for all its importance, it should be noted that the other is more important: what motives of the pupil are guided by teachers and parents, realizing their activities. It is the position of teachers and parents that largely determines how the hierarchical structure of the motivational-need sphere will look like.

Naturally, interest in content can only be aroused by those who themselves are passionate about this content, who are oriented towards awakening children's interest.

Equally important is the awakening of interest in the learning process. Focusing on this, it should be remembered that the desire to make it (the process) exciting requires ingenuity and pedagogical skill, as well as a lot of preparation and often a lot of time and material costs.

Teachers and parents in many countries of the world rely on broad social motives, and this is quite fair. From the very first steps, they tell their pupils that a child's good academic work in childhood is a guarantee of further education and the acquisition of an interesting profession, high qualification. The high qualification of the worker and the high standard of living in these countries are inseparable. That is why, for example, a Japanese schoolchild, even with minimal attempts on the part of the teacher and parents to "enthrall" (meaningful motives) and "entertain" (motivation by the process), during the course of training, he is intensively engaged not only at school, but also at home.

The negative ones include the motivation to avoid trouble, but teachers and parents who focus primarily on this group of motives have not yet gone down in the history of pedagogy. The desire to force students to study by punitive measures has not only not been eliminated, but, on the contrary, is sometimes regarded as a necessary and even natural phenomenon.

From the point of view of education, it is especially important that recently many researchers are inclined to the idea that the key characteristic of a person's potential should be considered not outstanding intelligence or high creativity, as previously thought, but motivation.

So, for example, some scientists note that people who are initially less capable, but purposefully solving their own, personally significant task, turn out to be ultimately more productive than more gifted, but less interested. I.e realizes his potential to the maximum, and therefore, reaches the heights more often not the one who was more developed, but the one who was more persistent, who stubbornly walked towards the chosen goal.

Creativity (creativity)

Many domestic scientists still refuse to recognize the fact of the existence of creativity as a kind of relatively autonomous, universal ability. They believe that creativity is always rigidly associated with a certain type of activity. That is, in their opinion, it is impossible to talk about creativity in general: there is artistic creativity, scientific creativity, technical creativity, and so on.

But most scientists in the world are inclined to believe that the nature of creativity is one, and therefore the ability to create is universal. Having learned to create in the field of art, technology or other activities, the child can easily transfer this experience to any other field. That is why creativity is seen as a relatively autonomous, independent ability.

It is difficult to find an acceptable definition of creativity in the materials of recent research on the psychology of creativity, but it contains quite a lot of descriptions of the main parameters that characterize it.

"Creativity (creativity)," writes E. P. Torrance, "means to dig deeper, look better, correct mistakes, talk to a cat, dive into the depths, go through walls, light the sun, build a castle in the sand, welcome the future."

When evaluating creativity, psychologists (J. Gilford and E. P. Torrance and others) usually take into account four criteria.

Productivity, or fluency , - the ability to produce the largest possible number of ideas. This indicator is not specific to creativity, however, the more ideas, the more opportunities to choose the most original ones.

The creator who creates a large number of "products" has some advantage over the one who is unproductive. But history knows other examples. So, Leonardo da Vinci created only a small number of paintings in his entire life, but this allowed him to enter the world history of art. At the same time, there are a lot of artists who have written hundreds and even thousands of works, but no one knows their names.

Flexibility- the ability to easily move from phenomena of one class to phenomena of another class, often very distant in content from each other. The opposite quality is called the inertia of thinking.

Originality - one of the main indicators of creativity. This is the ability to put forward new, unexpected ideas that differ from the widely known, generally accepted, banal ones.

Another indicator of creativity is denoted by the term "development" . Creators can be conditionally divided into two large groups: some are better at producing original ideas, others are better able to develop existing ones in detail, creatively. These variants of creative activity are not ranked by specialists, it is believed that these are just different ways of realizing a creative personality.

Above average abilities

For the successful implementation of any activity, a complex of special, specific properties is necessary. Not every person, because of this, can become an outstanding athlete, pianist or mathematician. What is commonly referred to as above-average ability is required.

As we have already noted, most of the abilities are of a universal nature, but there are also exceptionally special ones that ensure the success of a certain activity. There is a necessary and rather specific set of qualities and properties for successful violin playing, mathematics, painting, swimming and other activities. It is extremely difficult to do without these qualities for the realization of a personality in a chosen sphere.

True, in psychology the "phenomenon of compensation" is also known. The lack of development of some abilities can be partially replenished, compensated for by more intensive development of others. Sometimes this is enough to achieve high and even outstanding results. For example, many well-known painters were inferior in terms of color discrimination to K. Korovin, V. Vrubel and other well-known colorists, but this did not prevent them from becoming famous artists.

It is also known that in the blind, partially making up for this deficiency, hearing, touch, and smell develop better. The deaf, on the contrary, have sight, and so on.

But compensatory possibilities have a limit. Therefore, no ideal hearing can completely replace vision, just as vision cannot completely replace hearing. And no dexterity, technicality, perseverance, purposefulness can make an outstanding basketball player out of a frail, undersized young man, a ballerina out of a large, plump girl, and an outstanding musician out of a hearing-impaired child.

Abilities have an amazing property - to develop. It is natural and easily explainable that small children are especially plastic in this regard. The younger the child, the more likely something is to change, correct, strengthen, improve.

In this part of our discussion, we should note one more feature of G. Renzulli's scheme. Instead of the words "abilities above average" he sometimes (in some of his works) uses the word "intelligence". In this case, intelligence is considered in the meaning already noted above - as the ability for unidirectional, consistent, logical thinking (this usually includes such complex mental operations as: analysis, synthesis, classification, categorization, etc.).

What in this context is called intelligence, manifested in tasks that have a single correct answer, can be revealed using special intelligence tests.

A somewhat different approach has been proposed by a group of modern Russian psychologists, their development claims a special place among modern concepts of giftedness. This project was carried out by a research team led by well-known Russian psychologists D. B. Bogoyavlenskaya and V. D. Shadrikov. The authors named it "Working concept of giftedness" .

They distinguish two factors of giftedness, which, in their opinion, are the main ones: "instrumental" and "motivational". It is easy to see that this approach is somewhat reminiscent of the model of J. Renzulli. But if J. Renzulli identifies three factors, then the authors of the "Working Concept of Giftedness" integrate outstanding abilities and creativity into one factor - "instrumental". They propose to consider giftedness in two main aspects: "I can" and "I want".

As you can see, in these schemes, giftedness is presented as a complex, multidimensional phenomenon. The identified three of its characteristics allow us to understand how to identify giftedness and what to focus on, developing the potential of the individual. At the same time, however, an important question needs to be specified - who can be considered gifted: someone who demonstrates high levels in all three parameters, or is it enough to demonstrate two characteristics? Or even one?.. The author of this concept himself, answering this question, says that any child who demonstrates a level characteristic of the gifted, at least in one of the selected parameters, should be classified as gifted.

Wise thoughts about parenting

The upbringing of a person begins from his birth, he does not speak yet, he does not listen yet, but he is already learning. Experience comes before learning.

Jean Jacques Rousseau
French writer, thinker

Children are always willing to do something. This is very useful, and therefore not only should this not be interfered with, but measures must be taken to ensure that they always have something to do.

Jan Amos Kamensky
Czech humanist educator

Being mindlessly kind is just as stupid as being insanely strict.

Alexey Pisemsky
Russian writer

How to recognize a gifted child and treat him correctly?

There is no exact definition of giftedness. But there are many more or less generally accepted criteria. Pedagogy theorists list up to 30 qualities that “form” a talented child. This list allows you to determine how "wunder" your "kid" is at home.

There are many obvious features in the list, such as:

• The child began to walk and talk earlier than peers;
• Early became interested in numbers, drawing, singing, playing musical instruments;
• He has a good memory and speech;
• inquisitive;
• Capable of non-standard solutions, etc.

There are some very unexpected indicators of children's giftedness:

• Original sense of humor;
• Interest in God and religion, the origin of life;
• Finding the difference between right and wrong.

The degree of talent is also subject to measurement. There are 4 levels here:

1. very capable in one thing, but the rest are average;

2. talented in everything evenly, but not with such force as the first in one thing;

3. gifted in everything evenly, and in one thing - phenomenally;

4. simply universal geniuses.

The last ones are units. For a thousand years, there have been about two dozen for all of humanity.

Parents are often deceived about their offspring. They consider completely inconspicuous features to be a hallmark of the giftedness of children. For example, it is very easy for your child to study in a regular school. Such a measure of genius is very conditional. You need to know the level of teaching in the school, how strong the composition of the class is.

THREE SIGNS OF A PRODUCER:

1. the child reads a lot (does not watch TV, does not play computer games, but reads);

2. the child gets noticeable pleasure from intellectual activity. It cannot be torn away from the puzzle;

3. the child has adult friends, communication with which is more interesting for him than with peers.

Creator or worker.

Creativity, paradoxically, characterizes a genius less than efficiency. Talented hard workers, as a rule, are sure to find themselves. But the creators and unrestrained dreamers who do not like to strain often go out before they have time to flare up.

Suppose a child meets many criteria for giftedness, but he does not have willpower, elementary perseverance. It seems just an annoying little thing, but it can ruin all the makings of talent. Paraphrasing Pushkin, we can say: genius and laziness are two incompatible things.

A gifted person is always a locomotive, not a wagon. So he must tirelessly turn his wheels. This is the careful attitude to the engine - to make it be in motion. If it is not used 100%, it will break faster.

And further. Talent cannot be fruitless, nourish itself. For example, a teenager reads reference books all day long, remembers dates, facts, but does not use the information received. Doesn't produce it into something new. Absorber of ideas, consumer and user.

So, you have a prodigy!

It is in your parental power not to destroy the original sprout. Here are some principles for dealing with geeks:

• Do not complex about a mass school if you do not have the opportunity to arrange a child in a special institution. Move high school to third place in the value system of a gifted child. Give him the opportunity to do what he loves: drawing, singing, writing.
• Any school invests in the student stereotypes, rules, cultural values ​​accumulated by mankind. The past is broadcast into the future. Otherwise, learning is not possible. This method of teaching often deprives the child of originality of thinking, purity of perception. But society has not yet come up with another way of learning.
• Don't worry if your baby doesn't sleep well. It has been observed that four hours is enough for very capable people for a night's rest. Then the brain slows down and a strong acceleration is needed to bring it back to a “drowsy state”.
• Efficiency increases exponentially, if you do not plunge into excessive hibernation. That's why geniuses are so productive. Don't make a child prodigy sleep more than he wants to. Just make sure he doesn't mess around. Let him design, write a diary, draw, etc.
• Record the pleasure that the child receives from creative activities. Let him formulate his pleasant feelings, put them into words.
• Positive emotions in the process of work will eventually become a litmus test that reveals a truly creative work. If there is no joy, then the occupation does not bring pleasure. In addition, the habit of saying aloud compliments to your mood is nothing more than self-inspiration.
• Load your wunderkind with errands. Let him be responsible for bread and milk in the house and a few other household chores. For capable children, this is a pass to the world of responsible adults, where they aspire more than ordinary children.

Come to terms with the fact that geeks have special defects in character and behavior. A sort of criteria for giftedness with a minus sign. The most notable ones are:

1. Looking deeply into the root, giftedness results from uneven development of the organism. Hence the ground for shortcomings. The growing intellectual is overcome by the difficulties of communication and everyday life. Against the background of inconsistency of different body systems, sometimes the norm looks like a pathology. A preschool composer composes music, but he doesn’t know how to tie shoelaces! A thirteen-year-old genius makes a brilliant presentation at a conference, but can be embarrassed by loudly blowing his nose on the sidelines.

2. Extraordinary, gifted children often have speech and pronunciation disorders. Of course, not every stutterer is a child prodigy. But there are more stutterers among child prodigies than on average among ordinary children.

3. They are distinguished by unjustified gestures, tics, fuzzy coordination of movements.

4. Geeks are too active and excitable. Their mood changes instantly. Some thought will flash through your head like lightning and make you sob or laugh until you drop.

5. Some geniuses are autistic: they “cook” in their own universe and absolutely do not know how to contact the outside world. Recall the hero Dustin Hoffman from the movie "Rain Man". Parents literally take him by the hand, first to school, then to the university, where the young man amazes with his mighty intellect the honored professors of the country.

In a word, stock up on patience and indulgence towards your miracle children. Think of their shortcomings as the inevitable cost of being the parent of a genius.

Try to soften the home environment: do not talk loudly, do not make sudden movements, do not pull the child with trifling remarks.

“Talents need to be helped, mediocrities will break through on their own,” the poet said. This idea is still relevant today.

Questionnaire "How to recognize giftedness" L.G. Kuznetsova, L.P. Swerch

The purpose of the questionnaire "How to recognize giftedness": to identify the area of ​​giftedness of the child, the degree of expression of certain abilities in the child.

Progress of work: this questionnaire is filled out separately by the teacher working with the student, the parent of the student and the student himself (starting from the middle level of education). One point is given for each match with the statement. After that, for each ability scale, the ability expression coefficient is calculated and a graph of ability expression per child is built, from which you can see in which area the child is most gifted.

sports talent,

he is energetic and wants to move all the time;

he almost always wins in fights or wins in some sports game;

it is not known when he managed to learn how to skillfully handle skates and skis, balls and clubs;

better than many other peers, he is physically developed and coordinated in movements, moves easily, plastically, gracefully;

prefers games, competitions, running around to books and quiet entertainment;

it seems that he seriously never gets tired;

it doesn't matter if he is interested in all sports or any one, but he has his own hero-athlete, whom he imitates.

technical ability,

the child is interested in a wide variety of mechanisms and machines;

likes to design models, devices, radio equipment;

he himself "gets to the bottom" of the causes of malfunctions and vagaries of mechanisms or equipment, loves mysterious breakdowns;

can repair damaged appliances and mechanisms, use old parts to create new toys;

loves and knows how to draw ("sees") drawings and sketches of mechanisms;

interested in special technical literature.

literary gift,

talking about something, he knows how to stick to the chosen plot, does not lose the main idea;

likes to fantasize about a real event, and gives the event something new and unusual;

chooses in his oral or written stories such words that well convey the emotional states and feelings of the characters of the plot;

portrays the characters of his fantasies alive and interesting;

loves to retire, write stories, poems, is not afraid to start writing a novel about his own life.

musical talent,

the child loves music and musical recordings, always strive to where you can listen to music;

very quickly and easily responds to rhythm and melody, listens attentively to them, easily remembers them;

if he sings or plays a musical instrument, he puts a lot of feeling and energy into the performance, as well as his mood;

composes his own melodies;

learned or is learning to play a musical instrument.

Artistic ability your child may show

If a child...

not finding words or choking on them, he resorts to drawing or modeling in order to express his feelings or mood;

in his drawings and paintings he reflects the whole variety of objects, people, animals, situations;

takes works of art seriously;

when he has free time, he willingly sculpts, draws, draws, combines materials and paints;

seeks to create any work that has an obvious applied value - decoration for the home, clothes;

does not hesitate to express his own opinion even about classical works

Ability to scientific work,

If a child...

has a pronounced ability to understand abstract concepts, to generalize;

is able to clearly express in words someone else's and his own thought or observation;

often tries to find his own explanation of the causes and meaning of a wide variety of events;

enjoys spending time creating his own projects, schemes, designs does not lose heart and briefly cools down to work if his invention or project is not supported or ridiculed.

Artistic talent ,

If a child...

often, when he lacks words, expresses his feelings with facial expressions, gestures and movements;

seeks to evoke emotional reactions in others, changes the tone and expression of the voice, involuntarily imitating the person he is talking about;

with great desire to speak to the audience; with ease that surprises you, "mimics" someone's habits, postures, expressions;

plastic and open to everything;

loves and understands the meaning of beautiful and distinctive clothing.

extraordinary intelligence,

If a child...

argues well, thinks clearly and understands the unsaid, catches the reasons for people's actions;

has a good memory;

easily and quickly grasps new school material;

asks a lot of thoughtful questions;

overtakes peers in studies, is much better and more widely informed than peers;

possesses self-respect and common sense;

very receptive and observant.

Results processing:

For each match with the proposed statements, put one point and calculate the coefficient of expressiveness of abilities (Kc) according to the formula: (Kc) \u003d (B:U) * 100%, where B is the score obtained for each ability scale separately; Y is the total number of statements for each scale separately. Build a graph of the severity of certain abilities.