Super Summer Training

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Super Summer Training

• Rebecca L. Mann, Ph.D.
• rlmann_at_purdue.edu

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Bright Child Gifted Learner
Knows the answers Asks the questions Is
Interested Is highly curious Is Attentive
Mentally physically involved Has good
ideas Has wild, silly ideas Works
hard Plays around, yet tests
well Answers the questions Discusses in
detail, elaborates Top group Beyond the
group Listens with interest
Shows strong feelings opinions Learns
with ease Already knows 6-8 repetitions for
mastery 1-2 repetitions for
mastery Understands ideas
Constructs abstractions Enjoys peers
Prefers adults Grasps the meaning
Draws inferences Completes assignments
Initiates
projects Is receptive
Is intense Copies accurately
Creates a new design Enjoys school Enjoys
learning Absorbs information
Manipulates information Technici
an Inventor Good memorizer Good
guesser Enjoys straight forward presentation
Thrives on complexity Is
alert Is keenly
observant Is pleased with own learning
Is highly
self-critical
from Challenge Magazine - by Janet Szabos
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The Big Picture
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Influential Factors

• Praise
• Ability vs. Effort
• Choices
• Creativity
• Self Efficacy

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Praise

• When is praise productive?
• When is praise detrimental?

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Praise for intelligence

• Experiment varied feedback challenging task,
  but not too difficult
• Group A
• Wow, you got 8 correct, you must be smart!
• Group B
• Wow, you got 8 correct, you must have worked
  really hard.

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Praise for intelligence

• Students then given a choice of task
• Group A Mostly chose easy task
• Group B Mostly chose hard task

Students then given a more difficult task Group
A Enjoyed it less, didnt want to take it home,
felt dumb Group B Enjoyed it just as much,
eager to take it home, thought they needed to
make more effort
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Praise for intelligence

• Students were then given a task similar to the
  first one
• Group A Performed worse than the first time
• Group B Performed better than the first time

Students were then asked to tell another student
about the task Group A Often exaggerated their
score Group B Reported their performance honestly
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and

• Individuals who view their ability level as
  innate you either have it or you dont do not
  persist
• Individuals who view their ability level as the
  result of their effort are more motivated, enjoy
  learning more, and are more likely to tackle
  challenging tasks

Dont get students invested in labels as they
care more about keeping the label than about
learning. Praise can render people passive and
dependent on something they believe they cant
control. (Dweck, 1999)
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Specific Compliments

• good job
• vs.
• Youve learned to write supporting sentences for
  your topic sentence.
• You had a sound hypothesis for your science
  experiment.

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What to avoid

• Unsolicited help
• Sympathy following a poor performance
• Praise following success on easy tasks
• All lead to a perception of low ability

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The Perfectionist Is highly
self-critical
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Has good ideas Has wild, silly ideas
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Brainstorming for fun!
Name as many rocks as you can
Rocking Chair
quartz
granite
Boulder, Colorado
pebbles
Name a support and what it supports
A ladder supports a painter
Alimony supports an ex-spouse
A leg supports a table
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Socratic Dialogue
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Why bother?

• Fewer chances in todays society to use reasoning
  skills
• Passive reception of information
• Sound bites opinion filled airwaves
• TV ads 30 second sales pitches
• Internet unexamined content
• People dont listen anymore (they just wait to
  talk)

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Socratic Dialogue vs. Classroom Discussion

• Students and teacher in circle, on same level
• Primarily student talk
• Students know teacher wont correct/comment
• Average response is 8 to 12 seconds
• Thinking backed up with textual evidence
  open-ended exploration

• Students and teacher set apart
• Primarily teacher talk
• Teacher answers and elaborates
• Average response is 2 to 3 seconds
• Thinking ends when correct answer is given

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Socratic Method Technique

• A Socratic questioner should
• keep the discussion focused
• keep the discussion intellectually responsible
• stimulate discussion with questions
• periodically summarize what has and what has not
  been dealt with and/or resolved
• draw as many students as possible into the
  discussion

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Questions That Can Be Used To Escalate the Level
of Discussions
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Relationships

• How do these terms go together?
• Why do they belong together?
• Is there a name we can give to the relationship?
• Is there anything that does not belong?
• How are things alike?

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Clarity

• Is it clear?
• What does it tell someone?
• What makes it clear to someone else?

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Consistency with Evidence

• How is the statement supported by observations?
• How is the statement supported by the
  observations of others?
• How is the statement supported by data?
• How does evidence from nature support the
  statement?
• How well does your statement reflect the data?

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Use of Examples

• Can you give an example?
• Why is it a good example for this purpose?
• Is there a better example for this purpose?
• Can you think of an original example?

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Making Sense

• Is this what you expected?
• Are there any surprises here?
• Is there anything that does not fit?
• Does your hypothesis make sense, given what you
  know?
• Can you predict what will be the outcome?

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Acknowledge/Alternative Explanations

• How else can this be explained?
• Is your explanation or hypothesis plausible? Can
  it happen?
• What does this explanation say that the other
  doesnt?

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Elaboration of a Theme

• How is this term related to something we did
  before?
• Is it familiar? If so, how?
• How is it related to anything you did in another
  class?

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Accuracy

• Is the statement consistent with other
  information on the same topic?
• How does your model compare with other models?
• How does it compare with other representations?

(From Gitomer, D. (1993). Performance assessment
and educational measurement. In Construction
Versus Choice in Cognitive Measurement, Randy
Benner William Ward (Eds.) Hillside, NJ
Lawrence Erlbaun Associates, Publishers, Inc.
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SCAMPER
Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Minimize or Maximize
Put to other uses
Eliminate
Reverse or Rearrange
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Investigating real problems

• The young person thinking,
• feeling, and doing like the
• practicing professional...
• We dont expect little children to do great
  thing but we expect them to do little things in
  a
• great wayeven if at a more junior level
• than adult scientists, writers,
• filmmakers, etc.
• Joseph Renzulli

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Enjoys straight forward presentation Thrives
on complexity
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Bette Midler
I didnt belong as a kid and that always
bothered me. If Id only known that one day my
differences would be an asset.