Timetable >
19.11.2020 >
American perspective
Parallel sessions II.
American perspective
English
Thu 19.11.2020 16:15-17:45
Lecture hall: Room B
Chair: Mojca Kukanja Gabrijelčič
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What Can Gifted Education Learn From the Reggio Emilia Approach?
PaperPracticeEnglishGifted Education provides child-centered individualized learning experiences designed to advance abilities and talents of children and adolescents identified with advanced abilities. Specialized services often begin in the primary grades and extend through secondary schools. Adapted instruction often focuses on cognitive abilities based on individual goals and objectives with emphases on flexibility, complexity and independence. Children qualify for services based on high scores on intelligence tests, standardized achievement measures, and other evidence of advanced potential. Teachers with specialized training plan instruction that extends the general education curriculum, and they measure student progress at regular intervals. Loris Malaguzzi conceived the Reggio Emilia Approach for young children whom he considered active citizens and builders of knowledge. Instruction takes place based on their interests and curiosities from birth onward. Given essential commonalities, our study asked how curriculum based on the Reggio Emilia Approach compared with Gifted Education practices. We conducted our study with 12 hours of onsite visits in three locations: Midwest United States, Southwest United States, and North Italy. Our investigation compared eight dynamics considered essential in Gifted Education: differentiated content, process, and product; roles of the teacher, student, and parent, and strategic collaboration and assessment practices. Examples of curricula from the three locations illustrate Reggio Emilia Approach principles and practices. For example, young learners in in the Midwest school explored the digestive system by doing chemical experiments with different liquids, then drawing a human figure and studying parts of the human body. To satisfy the curiosities of the children, they discussed medical case study pathologies that could affect different body organs, and they proposed treatments for those conditions. Finally, they learned body parts in Spanish. In the Southwestern location, children observed a hawk on the school grounds that led to a study of bird nests, observation of wing bone structures, and principles of aviation. In North Italy, when four-year olds learned the age of their school building, they reflected on the birth and development of living things as well as inanimate things. Children explored life by drawing hearts and using balls of wool in the atelier. Children learned “life is like a thread that crosses and unites all things.” In this way, children explored scientific, poetic and philosophical concepts throughout their study. These examples typify the immediacy of learning in the Reggio Emilia Approach with its emphasis on process and child as a competent constructor of knowledge. Children collaboratively share their interests, and they cultivate talents in specific sections of human activities. Teachers serve as co-researchers and support the 100 Languages of learning through various materials in ateliers with conceptual stimuli so each child freely expresses their preferred language in order to develop their talents. These “provocations” emerge democratically based on interests of children, and teachers stimulate reflection throughout the learning process. The environment functions as a “third teacher” in the classroom, and children possess rights, respect, and dignity. Talent of children blossoms early in rich learning environments empowered by discovery. Implementing practices from the Reggio Emilia Approach could benefit Gifted Education. -
Summer Enrichment Camp Experiences and the Dual Pandemics of COVID-19 and Systematic Racism
PaperPracticeEnglishIn addition to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, educators worldwide viewed a series of horrific events of systemic racism marked with the murder of George Floyd in the United States. This session describes two virtual summer enrichment camps conducted during Summer 2020, and implications for those camps derived from a study conducted on the perceptions of college students before and after a Civil Rights tour conducted in the south of the United States. A three-week virtual enrichment camp conducted in North Italy included three levels of scientific explorations, creative writing, and philosophy camps for children ages 5-11 years. Campers met virtually with teachers to understand their potential and interest in their chosen camp content area. The enrichment camps intertwined knowledge and relationships with independent work assigned throughout the week. Concurrent meetings promoted reflection, conscious exploration, and critical thinking to promote future “thinking” citizens. Another virtual summer enrichment camp in the Midwest United States implemented the Renzulli Learning System (RLS) for three weeks with gifted children ages 5- 12. Campers met weekly with trained gifted facilitators to develop individualized mini-camps based on Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) Types I, II, III activities. Campers began individualized experiences by completing The Profiler to determine their individual interest and subject areas and preferred expression and learning styles. Teachers met weekly with one or two students to identify and complete enrichment activities based on their Profiler results. Type I activities began with virtual field trips in their interest area, advanced to activities requiring specific critical thinking or creative problem solving, and culminated with an in-depth passion project. The virtual enrichment camps in the North Italy and Midwest USA addressed a need for advanced and individualized learning created by lockdown orders imposed in those countries. However, while persons around the world coped with COVID-19 stay at home restrictions, they also viewed the brutality of systemic racism with the George Floyd murder. Although teachers adapted to the online COVID-19 teaching/learning environment, they found themselves ill prepared to address student perceptions of racism. Implications from a five-day Civil Rights tour conducted with an interracial group of Black/African American, White, and Latinix college students in United States assist enrichment teachers as they facilitate discussions of systemic racism. The intersection of dual pandemics extends virtual summer enrichment camps experiences by providing a safe environment for gifted children to express their feelings about systematic racism as they become future “thinking” global citizens.