scholarly journals Didactic Strategies and Competencies of Gifted Students in the Digital Era

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Grozdanka Gojkov ◽  
Aleksandar Stojanović ◽  
Aleksandra Gojkov-Rajić

This paper presents the findings of explorative research undertaken on an intentional sample consisting of 112 master’s students of pedagogy in Serbia, assumed to be potentially gifted and to have demonstrated academic giftedness, since their average mark during their studies was above 9.00 on a scale of 1.0 to 10.0. The intention was to examine the influence of didactic strategies and methods on the competencies of gifted students and thus verify the hypothesis on the significance of certain didactic strategies and methods for the contribution of higher education teaching in order to encourage intellectual autonomy in learning in the case of gifted university students. The method of systematic non-experimental observation was used, accompanied by an assessment scale used by students to estimate the level of the presence of the listed strategies, methods or procedures during studies and to what an extent learning and teaching strategies used in lectures, exercises, seminars, and consultations addressed their needs and contributed to the development of competencies. When making a choice between didactic strategies, methods and procedures, particular attention was paid to the 52 offered methods in order to include 30 of those that refer to problem learning,creative approaches to learning, critical autonomy etc., and for the list of 35 competencies of which 30 refer to independent thinking and are elements of critical thinking and indicators of, above all, approaches to the learning of gifted students. The essential finding was that the achieved competencies with higher average values were, mostly, those that are important for intellectual functioning, but that were not directly connected to what explains critical thinking, intellectual autonomy, as well as to the knowledge of basic concepts, the understanding of facts, and the giving explanations of events. 

Author(s):  
Alexandra-Niculina Babii

The digital era has determined a very easy creation and propagation of fake news. As a consequence, it has become harder for people to fight this malicious phenomenon. However, the only weapon that can have results in this informational war is critical thinking. But who should use it? The creators of fake news that do this for different reasons? The social platforms that allow the circulation of fake news with ease? Mass media which does not always verify with much attention and rigour the information they spread? The Governments that should apply legal sanctions? Or the consumer that receives all the fake news, him being the final target? Even if critical thinking would be useful for every actor on fake news’ stage, the one who needs it the most is the consumer. This comes together with the big responsibility placed on his shoulders. Even if others are creating and spreading disinformation, the consumer must be aware and be careful with the information he encounters on a daily basis. He should use his reasoning and he should not believe everything just because it is on the Internet. How can he do that? Critical thinking seems to be a quite difficult tool to use, especially for non-specialized individuals. This paper’s aim is to propose a simplified model of critical thinking that can contribute to detecting fake news with the help of people’s self judgement. The model is based on theories from Informal Logic considering the structure of arguments and on Critical Discourse Analysis theories concerning the patterns found in the content of the information.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-170
Author(s):  
Dhara Baiden

The “EncycloMEdia” project provides a stimulating project-based opportunity for gifted and talented students in the middle and upper grades. Its first component is an arts-integration piece in the form of an altered book. The second component is a cumulative assessment document containing students’ text-based analyses that correspond to the entries in the altered book. Both components of the project require students to develop valuable critical thinking and writing skills. This integrated, project-based unit can be modified to address any subject area. Detailed descriptions of the content, process, and product are included so educators can implement this idea with their own gifted students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-120
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Minh Tram ◽  
Bui Thi Thuc Quyen

Nurturing critical thinking (CT) has been acknowledged as a core objective of tertiary education, and drawn attention from academia of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), particularly in EFL argumentative writing. It has been claimed that collaborative learning which stimulates the active exchange of ideas within small groups not only increases interest among the participants but also promotes critical thinking. One of the important aspects of learning and teaching through collaboration is the group composition or grouping “who with whom”. The present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings on critical thinking in collaborative writing. Having been required to write an argumentative essay as a pre-test, 75 participants, who were categorized by their prior critical thinking levels, were assigned into three group types: heterogeneous, homogeneous high and homogeneous low groups. As a consequence, four types of students were considered their improvement before and after the experiment: high-level students in heterogeneous groups, lowlevel students in heterogeneous groups, high-level students in homogeneous groups, low-level students in homogeneous groups. The results demonstrated that learners improved their critical thinking level through collaborative writing, whether working with stronger or weaker peers. However, heterogeneous grouping showed superiority over homogeneous grouping at the low level. The results revealed that cooperative learning could be especially beneficial for low students. It is hoped that the findings of the present study will give teachers deep insights into group compositions in collaborative learning courses, and will help them make better group experiences for students.


Author(s):  
Natalia Bonchuk

The article is devoted to the formation and improvement of competencies of teachers and psychologists of secondary schools to identify and develop mathematically gifted students. It has been identified the components of the training program of basic competencies that psychologists and subject teachers must have to recognize and develop mathematical talent. The results of an empirical study of an educational project are online training for educators to deepen their theoretical knowledge of mathematical talent and the development of practical skills of organizing the educational process for students with a high level of ability in the field of exact sciences. It was found that training in the development of competencies is an effective way to improve the skills of teachers to understand the essence of talent, the peculiarities of its detection in students, prevention of loss of potential, development of individual educational trajectories, use of new learning technologies and ways to develop personal skills.


2020 ◽  
pp. 151-157
Author(s):  
Simon Tweddell

The learning and teaching strategy for a pharmacy consultation skills module was changed to Team-Based Learning (TBL) with the aim of motivating students to engage with course material pre-class and take deeper approaches to learning during class. Results from administering a validated TBL instrument suggests that students are more accountable and are satisfied with and have preference for TBL over traditional methods. Exam results show a 13% improvement in mean end-of- year examinations compared with pre-TBL results. Thematic analysis of written comments on the module evaluation survey suggest that they enjoyed learning using TBL and found it more engaging, stimulating and more effective for their learning; however, it could be improved through better management of workshop timings and more effective facilitation of discussion. TBL appears to have potential as a pedagogic approach in pharmacy education.


2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Rooks ◽  
C. June Maker

Inquiry is a dynamic approach to learning and teaching that involves a process of experiencing the natural world. As they pose questions about the information, learners conduct research for genuine reasons, make new discoveries, and test their discoveries to generate new knowledge and understanding. Inquiry is an approach that fits the learning needs of both visually impaired students and students who are gifted, and is especially important for gifted students with visual impairments. We introduce readers to inquiry approaches, review the theoretical framework, outline the characteristics of inquiry learning, explain how these approaches are important to use with gifted children with visual impairments, provide examples, summarize research on the effectiveness of inquiry learning, give an example of science teaching using an inquiry learning model in a regular classroom setting, and show how this lesson could be an effective way to involve and challenge a gifted student with a visual impairment.


Author(s):  
Dieu Hack-Polay

This chapter examines a case study-approach to teaching organisational behaviour. It explains the effectiveness of the use of case study in teaching the subject which is often termed theoretical and complex. The chapter advocates that the use of real life organisational cases can make the learning and teaching process more tangible and contribute to the development of critical thinking. The chapter specifically supports the view that there are aspects of organisational behaviour that are visible in both everyday life of individuals and groups. If lecturers could bring this up in the delivery of the OB curriculum, the learners, who are future managers and supervisors, could connect the learning experiences to reality, which could lead them to a better academic understanding and later effective practitioners.


Author(s):  
Felicia Zhang

The chapter discusses the background of a project which aimed at addressing the language needs of a diverse student body (both domestic and international student body) by embedding strategic approaches to learning and teaching in first year sciences in tertiary education. These strategies consisted of active learning skills which are widely used in language learning. The disciplines covered by the project were Biology, Chemistry and Physics and involved the University of Canberra, University of Sydney, University of Tasmania, University of Technology, Sydney, and University of Newcastle in Australia. This project was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).


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