Gifted students need to recognize their over-average potentials, to be motivated for personal efforts and to find sense in using their capabilities. In addition to their self-will they have to develop strategies to transfer their abilities into high achievement. Apart from these learning aspects, they have to deal with their specific situation, “to march to the beat of a different drummer”, within their social and learning surroundings.
Referred to constructivistic and social learning approaches students can be promoted to build up those competencies in «learning architectures» which will evoke self-directed and self-reflective learning. Within these learning arrangements students construct their different individual readings (Bourdieu), comprehen-sions and horizons of meaning corresponding to their learning- biographies and capabilities. Related to the subject contents, they build up personal learning strategies but also «technologies of the self» (care of the self, practices of the self), including learning attitudes and beliefs, motivational-volitional awareness, co-cognitive traits and executive competencies.
Core activities in these learning-environments are learning dialogues: within the learning community to rela-te personal understanding to others; but also within a professionalized learn-coaching provided by teachers that fosters self-reflection, self realization and shared responsibility as a social capital.
The presentation introduces a concept of self-directed and self-carrying learning that enables gifted stu-dents to learn within their individual zone of proximal development. The learning architectures have been developed in collaboration with classroom teachers and educationalists. The activities of students and tea-chers were videotaped using full-view and head-mounted cameras. This allowed an in-depth exploration of micro-learning processes of the students in interaction with their learning support and interventions from their teachers. The research is focused on learning processes but also on changes in the comprehension of personalized learning and on the convictions and teaching behaviors of the teachers.