Critical Psychological Principles of Learning and Instruction - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Critical Psychological Principles of Learning and Instruction Applied to Gifted Learners: The Top 20 Principles from Psychology for Teaching Gifted and Creative Children in Schools Paula Olszewski-Kubilius Director, Center for Talent
Paula Olszewski-Kubilius Director, Center for Talent Development Professor Northwestern University
Introduction to the baseline Top Twenty Principles Project Why have a version that addresses gifted, talented, and
What challenges did we have in developing this version Examination of principles applied to gifted education Conclusions Where to download both the original and the gifted versions
Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education
A brief summary of the the most critical research
Ideas for classroom application Suggested further readings
Do the Top 20 Principles apply to gifted students as
Worked with researchers/scholars in the field of gifted
Substituting/adding to the research summary Implications specifically for teachers working with gifted
Duke University Northwestern University Johns Hopkins University American Psychological Association
Layne Kalbfleisch Karen Westberg Maggie Smith Matt Zareski Lannie Kanevsky Hope Wilson Jeb Puryear Mattie Oveross Maureen Neihart Tracy Cross Heidrun Stoeger Pam Clinkenbeard/Charlton
Mojca Jurisevic Ann Rinn Elissa Brown Echo Wu Susan Johnsen Tonya Moon Linda Brody
Biggest challenge to answering this question is the lack of a clear, agreed upon definition of giftedness. Is it students with:
high general cognitive ability? children with high general achievement? children with both high ability and achievement? or children with high ability or achievement within specific domains (e.g.,
mathematics, science, visual arts)?
Students who believe intelligence is malleable and not fixed are more
likely to hold a “growth” rather than “fixed” mindset
A growth mindset and incremental view of intelligence is associated with a
greater focus on learning and improvement and a willingness to take on more challenging learning tasks
Students with a fixed mindset fall into the trap of having to constantly
prove their giftedness by demonstrating perfect performance, causing anxiety, perfectionism and fear of failure
Gifted students are likely but do not always attribute failures to lack of
effort
Leads to a desire to look smart Avoids challenge Gets defensive or gives up easily Sees effort as fruitless Ignores useful negative feedback Threatened by criticism Feels threatened by the success of
Locus of control is external
Leads to a desire to learn Embraces challenge Persists in the face of setbacks Sees effort as the path to mastery Learns from criticism Finds lessons and inspiration from the
success of others
Locus of control is internal
Your homework was long and
concentrated and finished it..
I like the effort you put in but lets work
together some more and figure out what it is you do not understand
I know school used to be easy for you
and you felt like the smart kid all the
really using your brain to the fullest. I am excited you are being challenged and learning how to study better.
Wow, you did that so fast.
You must be really smart.
You’re so smart. You got an
A without even studying.
Look at that drawing. You
are the next Picasso!
Specific Focuses on effort Emphasizes what was learned Describes noted growth Mentions ability appropriately
Motivation is tied to how children think, specifically to how they
interpret/view events or their EXPLANATORY STYLE
A hallmark of children who persevere through challenging
events is a positive explanatory style or OPTIMISM
Think of it as temporary “I’ll do better next time “I just have to study harder”
Think of it as permanent “This is never going to end” “I am not smart”
Think of it as permanent “I’m going to win the state meet” “I’ve always been a good writer”
Think of it as temporary “I won’t be able to repeat this” “I was just lucky” “I just had a good day”
Limit the effect “I had a bad day”
Generalize the effect “My whole life stinks”
Generalize the effect “My life is getting better all the time”
Limit the effect “This is the only class where I am doing
well”
Credit outside factors “ I was up too late”
Blame themselves “ I’m a failure”
Take credit “I worked hard for that grade”
Credit external factors “The test was easy”
9th grade, high achieving girls attending a college-prep school Training consisted of watching a video of two students engaged in a
discussion about achieving in chemistry with the messages that success and failure in chemistry can be controlled
Treatment resulted in positive effects on attributions, control convictions,
self-concepts, academic achievement for girls, but not for boys For girls, internal variable attributions for success, i.e., controllable factors such as study and ability--- were promoted
AVOID GENERATING ABILITY BASED ATTRIBUTIONS IN RESPONDING TO STUDENTS MONITOR AND LISTEN TO STUDENTS’ ATTRIBUTIONS FOR SUCCESS AND FAILURE--AND REFRAME AS NEEDED REMEDIATE SKILLS DEFICITS THAT HINDER ACHIEVEMENT GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK FOR IMPROVEMENT PROVIDE AND SUPPORT CHALLENGE MODEL HOPE AND OPTIMISM
Student reasoning is not limited or determined by an underlying cognitive stage of development linked to an age or grade level--i.e. extreme example is prodigies
There are indications of early competencies in some domains, that may be biologically based--e.g. mathematics, music.
Newer research suggests that there is a far greater range of individual differences in development, PARTICULARLY WITHIN DOMAINS
High IQ children have more variability in their cognitive profiles than lower IQ children
Contextualist approaches to cognition and learning stress that reasoning can be facilitated to a more advanced level when students interact with more capable others and with more advanced materials,
Extreme examples of rapid
development within in a specific domain
Prodigiousness typically occurs in
particular domains such as math, music that are readily available to a child
Rare because of the number of
factors that have to be in place in the environment as well as in the individuals,
Prodigious achievement in one
domain does not bring all of cognitive development with it
Mozart--music Shirley Temple--acting Terence Tao--math Pablo Picasso--art Garry Kasparob--chess
Identify individuals with extremely advanced mathematical reasoning
abilities in middle school via above grade level tests
Many of these individuals also have high spatial reasoning ability Scores on above-grade level math tests taken in middle school predicted
the domain they pursued and their adult creative accomplishments
There were differences in adult achievement between the lowest and
highest scoring students among top 1% in ability--
SMPY Findings
Mathematical Ability (Spatial Ability) Verbal Ability
THERE IS NO LIMIT TO ROLE OF DOMAIN- SPECIFIC ABIITY IN AFFECTING
DOMAIN RELATED ACHIEVEMENT
Teachers should not expect general giftedness nor global advanced
development--look for giftedness within domains, especially as students get older and are exposed to various subjects
Learn about student’s situational learning as a clue to domain abilities and
incorporate into the classroom--especially with under-achieving students— e.g.,. what are they doing outside of school?
Provide programming--enrichment and acceleration-- within domains Help students find learning communities that meet their interests beyond
school through contests, competitions, summer programs, in their talent domain
For older students, provide authentic, problem based learning
Transfer or generalization of knowledge and skills is not spontaneous or
automatic for most students.
It becomes more difficult for all students to transfer skills the more the new
context is dissimilar to the original learning context
Gifted students, because of their superior learning and metacognitive
abilities, are more likely to spontaneously apply their knowledge and skills to new contexts, but still need help and practice to do so
Mathematically literate adults can compute
the best value in terms of groceries in a store— cost per unit of item—but do not do well on similar types of problems in a paper and pencil test.
Brazilian children selling produce on the streets
are able to calculate costs correctly for buyers 95% of the time in that context but only 65% of the time when given similar problems on a math test.
College students majoring in geology
sectioning or penetrative thinking tasks involving images of rock formations, but there was no difference between the two groups on a spatially similar task involving layers of fruit or lasagna.
Cognition in Practice: Mind, mathematics, and Culture in Everyday
University Press, 1988.
Culture and Cognitive Development: Studies in Mathematical
York: Psychology Press, 2014.
Jee, B., Gentner, D., Forbus, K., Sageman, B., & Uttal, D. H. (2009). Drawing on experience: Use of sketching to evaluate knowledge of spatial scientific concepts. In Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Features of Connected Learning
Online communities Challenge level is constant Involvement is interest driven and self-
directed
Peer directed Peers are individuals at the same level of
talent
Learning by doing and making products “Connected learning is
Ito, M., Gutierrez, K., Livingston, S., Penuel, B., Rhodes, J., Salen, K., Schor, J., Sefton-Green, J., Watkins, S. Craig (2013). Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Hub.
We may not be able to identify talent if we look at performance in only
Its important to look at what students do in contexts beyond school and its
important to provide varied contexts within school for students to display/practice talent through clubs, contests, etc.
Connect what students are doing outside of school with their learning
within school if possible--especially critical for under-achieving and/or disengaged students
Do you see students who evidence giftedness outside of school but have
average or below average school achievement?
How might you identify these children? How might you re-engage them in school?
With sufficient practice, skills and knowledge become
Practiced skills can be transferred to more complex
Distributed practice is best Rest/sleep helps consolidate learning
Deliberate practice refers to those training activities that were designed solely for the
purpose of improving individuals’ performance by a teacher or the performers themselves.
Been investigated and cited as important in sport, chess, spelling, scrabble, music,
insurance
Role of DP in terms of achievement varies by domain; 26% for games, 21% for music, 18%
for sports, 4% for education and less than 1% for professions
Research shows that the 10,000 hour rule does not necessarily apply in all domains or for all
individuals
DP accounted for 10% of variance for sub-elite athletes, less than 1% for elite level
performers--varies by level of achievement
Other kinds of experience have been found to have greater predictive power in terms of
expert performance, such as number of cases handled by insurance agents and hours spent as an accompanist for piano
What is the role of deliberate practice in various domains, particularly academic domains? Where might students benefit from deliberate practice?
Practice agendas may need to be adjusted according to
Gifted students need to understand the importance of
Gifted students need guidance in engaging in deliberate
Still under debate: The optimal contributions of practice
True for all students Some evidence that gifted students, particularly when
A mix of external and internal feedback is likely optimal
Feedback from teachers can be used to help gifted learners calibrate self-
assessment of their work
Timing of feedback is important as it can provide scaffolding for learners to
compete complex tasks--i.e. regular feedback at key benchmarks
Formative feedback should be used sparingly during open-ended or
problem based projects
Feedback can be used to increase the complexity of the task for gifted
learners--e.g. asking questions
Feedback should not be overly negative and focus on major skills and
conceptual understanding
Where might deliberate practice be helpful in learning in your content
area?
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is an active, constructive process whereby
learners set goals for their learning and then monitor, control, and regulate their cognition, motivation and behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and contextual features in the environment.
Two types of SRL are important for learning; cognitive learning strategies
(rehearsal, organization, elaboration strategies) and metacognitive learning strategies (self-assessment, goal setting, monitoring of learning)
SRL is critical to learning and achievement at high levels. SRL strategies can be and should be actively taught through direct
instruction, classroom organization, and modeling.
Being able to monitor, regulate and
control cognition, behavior and motivation is essential for reaching high levels of talent development
Research shows that SRL can be
taught early--in primary school
Gifted students have greater
knowledge of cognitive learning strategies than their non gifted peers, but do not differ in their frequency of using them nor competence in applying them correctly
Introduce specific SRLs within specific
subject areas during classroom instruction
Allow lots of opportunities to use and
practice
Make explicit the connection between SRLs
and performance
For gifted students, tasks must be sufficiently
challenging to require SRL and for students to benefit from their use
Effective use of SRL improves self-efficacy
and motivation, decreases helplessness
Transfer is not automatic and must be
deliberately supported
Because gifted students do not necessarily nor automatically acquire or
Introduce the individual facets of SRL during instruction. Focus with students on why it is important to recognize one’s own strengths and weaknesses when learning and
studying
accurately self-assess so as to set appropriate goals for learning learn which strategies can best facilitate the achievement of set
learning goals in different domains
continuously monitor oneself during strategy implementation and, where
needed, to make adjustments. Time Management Rehearsal Exam Prep Taking Notes Practice Exams Group Study Elaboration Reviewing Notes Quiet Study Space Distributed Practice
With your students, consider the curricular and extracurricular areas
Keep in mind that mere discussion of the aspects of SRL will not
******Students will only learn to apply SRL when dealing with
Are there particular learning strategies that are especially critical to
learning in your content area? How might you promote their use by students in your classes?
Contrary to the conventional wisdom that creativity is a stable trait
The creative process is often misconstrued as being purely
Creativity is better developed within a specific domain such as
Person Process Product Adulthood Childhood
Megamodel Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius & Worrell, 2011
Gifted students are most likely to benefit from an
Emphasize the value of diverse perspectives as fuel for
Provide concrete feedback regarding: novelty,
Know when it’s appropriate to seek creative solutions
1.
Teaching the skills and attitudes of creativity involves explicitly teaching students about creativity, the lives of creative individuals, the nature of the creative process and strategies to stimulate creative thinking
2.
Teach the creative methods of the disciplines--how research is done within domains--Renzulli Type 3
3.
Develop a creative-friendly classroom--where questioning, flexible thinking, problem solving, experimentation and risk-taking are allowed, where varied and flexible teaching methods are used, where students are given choices and some independence, where rewards are used thoughtfully.
Include prompts in assignments such as create, invent,
Explicitly teach methods for discovering problems that
Provide opportunities for students to identify and solve
UN Sustainable Development Goals
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelo pment/sustainable-development- goals/
No poverty good health Quality education Reduced inequalities Affordable clean energy Climate action Decent work and economic growth Clean water and sanitation Peace, justice
Science Olympiads--International Odyssey of the Mind Future Problem Solving Invention Maker Spaces WITH DELIBERATE APPLICATION TO CONTENT DOMAINS!!!!!
Teachers are powerful models, and, as such, they should share with
students their own creativity—including the use of multiple strategies to identify and solve problems across various aspects of their lives.
Avoid seeing highly creative students as disruptive Downplay the use of rewards and praise for students’ creative
efforts, focus instead on the intrinsic value of the creative experience and application of real-world criteria to creative products
Allow for a wide range of approaches to completing tasks, solving
problems and demonstrating knowledge
Students engage in academic tasks because of both intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation--both are valuable and important
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are not ends of a continuum, can co-exist
within a task, but are related to different factors
Intrinsic motivation is related to enjoyment (participation is its own reward);
feelings of competence and autonomy; and more enduring/deeper learning
Extrinsic motivation starts as means to an end, can be helpful for tasks that need
practice to develop automaticity and builds foundation for more complex and creative tasks
Reaching higher levels of talent development requires intrinsic motivation
extrinsic intrinsic
1. In what situations and under what circumstances might you use extrinsic
rewards to facilitate student learning in your content area and classes?
TARGET is a model for structuring
classroom practices in a way that is designed to promote student motivation.
TARGET includes 6 classroom variables,
and each has…
A strong research base Controllable by the teacher Known to affect motivation
about ways to demonstrate learning, choice
improvement
and private
Types of Underachievers Bored Selective Perfectionistic Struggling
Tied to student identity--I am good at math Personally interesting--I am interested in how math can be used for prediction Integral to student’s vision of the future-I want to be an engineer Viewed as useful--Engineers need to be good at math
Del Siegle
Control Choice
Complexity
Challenge Caring E n g a g n e m e n t Kanevsky
Performance goals are concerned with peer
Mastery goals are oriented toward acquiring new skills
Not everything is intrinsically interesting (This connects
Outstanding achievement requires intense
Students read on their own voraciously
Lack of concern about grades Won’t do “easy” work Elaborates on content presented in
class-- “makes it harder”
Pursues competitions only outside of
school
Worries about less than A grades Memorizes easily but tends to get
flustered when asked to think deeper
Works for extrinsic rewards such as
stickers
Capitalize on student interests in the
classroom
Use extrinsic rewards to get students
to demonstrate mastery of “boring work”
Reward risk taking Reward “failure” Reward positive support of the
accomplishments of others
Teachers and parents can also help by…
Emphasizing progress, growth, and improvement
Delivering feedback privately: praise effort as well
Viewing mistakes as opportunities for growth--
Individualize the pace of instruction, allowing students input and choice
Deliberately teach goal setting and progress monitoring: Build into larger
Vary the groups that children work in-- even going to different grades so
Use competition as a motivator when children are feeling sufficiently
Be more responsible/ Have your book and notebook
Improve your grade in my class/Complete all assigned
Get an A on your science test/Review for 10 minutes
Be a good listener/ Do not interrupt your fellow students
Peterson, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010)
Undergraduates who were under-achieving (i.e. on probation , low GPA,
expressed academic difficulty)
2.5 hour intervention focused on goal-setting Had higher GPA’s following treatment compared to control group; did not
drop any courses in following semester; self-reported a reduction in negative emotions
Meta-analysis of interventions for underachievement, based on effect
sizes, have more impact on social-emotional variables, but not on actual achievement (Steenbergen-Hu and Olszewski-Kubilius)
Teachers can have misperceptions about students that affect expectations for
achievement based on cultural, gender or racial stereotypes
Teachers have been know to have both overly positive and negative misperceptions
about gifted students such as:
They will be perfectly behaved They don’t need to practice or study They will not have any learning problems They will be socially awkward They will not need deliberate teaching They can work independently They always do their homework They are highly motivated They are interested in everything
Based on different views of giftedness Tend to choose the “good” i.e. compliant, students Misses some of the most deserving students--e.g. under-
Overly restrictive typically Better at identifying giftedness within domains than
Stereotype threat refers to the anxiety felt by members of groups
Typically activated in situations where students’ performance will be
Especially salient for individuals who care about their performance
Affects identification and performance of stereotyped students
In young children, this can be a sense of belonging
For older children, it can be a sense of belonging to
Welcome all children Provide a culturally responsive
curriculum
Create diverse groupings of students Have high expectations for all Address micro-aggressions Provide opportunities for children to
interact with others similarly interested and competent in the domain
Provide information on career and
educational paths
Enable students to work on authentic
problems within the domain Younger Children Older Children
Academic Talent Development Program at Univ of Califonia, Berkeley 2000 students in grades K-11, 30% formally identified as gifted Build “Belonging” by:
Students reference each other’s applications and program tries to insure
students’ have a friend in class
Academic supports are available to all students--drop-in tutoring, study labs,
counselors
Social support through weekly, student newspaper and weekly treasure hunt Students are encouraged to have friends apply--friends are persons who share
their interests, not necessarily of same race or social class
Consortium on Chicago School Research: “Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners”
Academic behaviors: doing homework, studying, organizational skills
Academic Perseverance: self-discipline, self-control, grit, tenacity, and delayed gratification
Learning Strategies: study skills, metacognitive strategies, self-regulated learning, goal setting
Academic Mindsets: sense of belongingness, growth mindset, confidence, valuing academic work
Social Skills: interpersonal skills, empathy, cooperation, assertion, responsibility
Academic Achievement Learning Strategies Mindsets
Farrington, et al, 2012
Gifted students may have many lofty long term goals It may be helpful to gifted students to identify shorter-term goals that may
lead to accomplishing longer term goals
Helping gifted children concretize longer term goals is most important for
disadvantaged children--help them to see the pathway
Bringing in adult professionals to the classroom to talk to students about
their educational and career paths can be very helpful
Mentoring can assist lower income gifted children with crafting long term
and short term goals
Grit---“…. perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Grit entails
working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest
individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina. Whereas disappointment or boredom signals to others that it is time to change trajectory and cut losses, the gritty individual stays the course” (p. 1087). Angela Duckworth--Requires deep interest and passion
Self Control— “Self-control is a personality trait that is defined as the
“voluntary regulation of attention, emotion and behavior in the service of personally valued goals and standards” (p. 440). Angela Duckworth-- requires ability to delay gratification
Gifted children are part of families, peer groups,
All of these contexts are influenced by culture These contexts interact, positively or negatively, in-
The interaction between learner characteristics
The locus for control of learning in a talent development
Each social context may support or impede a gifted
Appreciating the potential influence of each social
Puts greater emphasis on CREATING contexts that
Teachers need to know how the cultural backgrounds of students
can influence student behavior so as to better facilitate learning
Teachers should relate curriculum and instruction to students’ cultural
backgrounds
Educators should seek outside-of-school learning opportunities for
gifted students to broaden their contact with others in the community
Teachers can support students’ transfer of their competence to class
and school contexts in order to capitalize on cultural strengths
Teacher must work to improve their own cultural competency Establish connections with families and participate in the larger
community to connect learning contexts
Engage the community in supporting gifted learners--bring in adults,
mentors
Emotional well-being includes; a strong sense of self (self-concept of self-esteem) a feeling of control over oneself and one’s environment
general feelings of well-being that include happiness,
healthy ways of responding to stress (coping skills,
Being emotionally healthy depends on understanding,
Gifted children are generally emotionally healthy. Problems emerge from poor placement that lead to
About 20 to 30% of gifted students have self-critical,
Adults are not always aware of gifted students’
Twice exceptional and highly gifted students may be
I’m so over Overexcitabilities
Teachers are key to establishing a classroom climate in which:
all students are accepted, valued, and respected have opportunities to achieve at an appropriate level of challenge have opportunities for positive relationships with adults and peers.
Teachers can help promote emotional well-being by giving children a vocabulary of words
to label emotions, model appropriate emotional expression and emotional regulation.
Help gifted children who struggle with overly critical, self-evaluative concerns to reframe
their expectations and thinking.
Teach mental and social skills and coping strategies that are needed in competitive and
boundary breaking environments.
Ability to focus Mental toughness Hope/goal setting ability Sport intelligence Ability to cope Competitiveness Confidence Coachability High drive Intrinsic motivation High optimism Adaptive perfectionism Automaticity: The ability to click into
automatic performance
Emotional control: Ability to relax and
activate
Ability to spend time alone/work
independently
Teach-ability-Being open to feedback,
focused on improvement
Daring to be different--courage Cope with anxiety due to intellectual risk-
taking
Being able to work on the edges of your
competency
Being able to handle competition and
criticism
Being able to rebound from setbacks Coping skills for perfectionism,
pressure/stress, performance anxiety, threats to self-confidence
Developing strategies to resist negative peer pressure, negative stereotypes.
Appropriate interactions with peers,
teachers, gatekeepers
Ability to build a social support system
Being able to set goals for
improvement
Catastrophizing, Magnifying All or Nothing Thinking Selective attention or filtering Shoulds Mind Reading Personalizing Probability overestimation
1. Identify the thought. 2. Challenge the thought 3. Modify the thought 4. Replace the thought
Go to a public place with
dogs allowed to run off- leash
Go to a friend’s house with
dogs
Get close to a dog off-leash Get close to a dog on-leash Watch dogs from a distance Read a book about dogs
Dan Peters
Success Ladder
Give a presentation to the class Give a practice presentation to a live audience Film yourself giving a presentation Visualize giving a presentation Watch presentations on youtube that are not perfect Talk about your fears in giving a presentation
Dan Peters
Success Ladder
Principle 18. Formative and summative assessments are both important and useful but require different approaches and interpretations
Allow for student choice in assessments
Give feedback for growth, improvement
Give feedback privately
Help students benchmark progress alongside others with similar levels of talent and exposure to the domain
Principle 19. Students skill, knowledge, and abilities are best measured with assessment processes grounded in psychological science with well-defined standards for quality and fairness
Principle 20. Making sense of assessment data depends on clear, appropriate, and fair interpretation
Use above-grade level assessments
The Top 20 Principles from Psychology for PreK-12 Teaching and Learning
apply to students regardless of ability and achievement level.
Optimal application of the principles may vary based on diverse student
learning needs and the context of their learning.
Differentiation applies to instruction, curricula, socioemotional supports,
and assessment.
Sharing general learning principles along with the specific ways that they
should be applied to meet the different needs of gifted students helps teachers increase their effectiveness and student learning.
http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/teaching-learning/top-twenty- principles.aspx Look in the middle of the page. Download the Full Report
In English (original) (PDF, 1.54 MB). For Creative, Talented, and Gifted Students 2017 (in English) (PDF, 578 KB). En español (PDF, 410KB). In Mandarin (PDF, 10.4MB). In Slovenian (PDF, 1.4MB).