Virtual Learning Network

Excellent questions to consider from giftEDnz. Just one more...

Did you know that this blog post is part of the Gifted Awareness Week blog tour?

Thanks for this and your previous post, Anne. I see some interesting discussion on that one, and hopefully we will see some here too. I had not really taken in that there was no requirement to identify gifted children in Early Childhood Education. I have worked with many parents who felt that their gifted and twice exceptional children had been better recognised and served in ECE environments than they had been in schools. I have always felt that the strands and philosophies of Te Whaariki, with their emphasis on affirming individuals, fostering a sense of belonging and learning through exploration had a lot to do with this. I know that the new school curriculum is supposed to be more in tune with Te Whaariki, but I'm not sure that we had it long enough before National Standards shifted the focus from some of the good things it has to offer. I would be interested in the opinions of others.

Writing of resources for teaching gifted Maori students - a giftEDnz Special Interest Group led by Leeana Herewini and Laura Hawksworth

Thanks Kate, I loved your wiki site and especially enjoyed the Designing a New City page. I had the pleasure and privilege of visiting classrooms in several different primary schools not long ago and was delighted to see so many young learners working/learning in different 'spaces' in the rooms. In one Year 1 class I saw 5-year-olds all engaged in learning of their own choosing (within a teaching framework of course); the teacher was working with one child on his individual goals, others were in the class library, some were practising their letter shapes, others were using computers to access different learning tasks, and other tinies were using the camera to create digital stories. Their excitement about learning was palbable. Wonderful!

Anne

Thanks very much for the invitation to enjoy this group - this discussion has certainly hooked me in. Over the last few years I have spent many hours discussing this question with colleagues in a range of forums. To me 'what is meaningful about meaningful learning' is that is a cognitive process that is personalized (mind you your initial comment has got me rethinking about this term), relevant and meaningful to the individual. I think this process  occurs in a range of contexts and can be surface and deep, involves thinking, engagement, transfer, challenge, building and creation of new knowledge.

I also think that the critical factor in meaningful learning is the learner  - as ultimately the learner will determine whether the learning is meaningful, so its our role as educators to ensure we pick the best scaffolds to ensure that this is the case.

My written thoughts for today - but will be pondering on this one

Thanks Jo. A question I have is: Can learning seem meaningless when you first 'learn' it but meaningful in a future context, i.e. on reflection? I agree that, as with so many reactions, we can have degrees of meaningful experience and these might deepen or lessen depending on future experiences. The questions for us, as educators, is how do we ensure learning is sufficiently meaningful and accessible for ALL our learners. My perception is that it is gifted students for whom learning most often seems meaningless and disengaging (as in 'mentally and emotionally disconnected).