Gifted Students

Most students in secondary school experience some difficulties. The ability level of each student influences the degree and type of challenges he faces. The abilities and characteristics of gifted students can exacerbate or ameliorate the difficulties gifted students face in school. Gifted students are traditionally defined as students with intelligence quotients in the top one or two percent of the population. These students tend to think and process information differently from other students and their teachers. This tendency can cause extra problems for these students.

Secondary students are in a period of transition between childhood and adulthood; their identities and self-image are in a state of flux. Their hormones and emotions can make studying and concentrating on academics difficult. The quantity and quality of school work required increases upon entrance to high school. Peer pressure exerts a tremendous force on most on most teenagers in America. Gifted students react to these pressures in different ways. Teachers can be instrumental in directing the gifted students' talents into appropriate channels of learning and social development. The ability of a gifted to be adequately stimulated in a classroom environment can impact on the child's emerging self-concept. Gifted students can experience feelings of uniqueness, anxiety, and loneliness.

Gifted students tend to think--make connections, inferences, and draw conclusions more quickly than others.

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Category: Psychology - G