Fri 19.09.2014 - 10:30-12:40 - Plečnik 4

Developing Stimulation of Gifted Students Through Interdisciplinarity  Paper  Presentation

Presenter: Beatriz Tomšič Čerkez
Author(s): Beatrice Tomšič Serkezi (Faculty of Education University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Many times the key reason for loose of gifted students motivation is the consideration of contents isolated from their authentic contexts and not linked to the interests of students. When planning the learning process, we should conceptualize the group of learners as a community of individuals with very different previous experiences, abilities, interests and affinities. The need for individualization of the educational process demands that the teachers consider the individuals as well as the group in the design of working strategies, creating flexible, alternative and dynamic teaching and learning strategies. These factors are a key for effective motivation of gifted students.

The paper presents an example, where at a specialized secondary school in music education, interdisciplinary connections between contents from the fields of visual arts and music were used to further simulate gifted students in their motivation to learn about arts. 51 students from third year took part in the activities. These consisted of five projects, each of which based on three phases: theoretical approach to visual art contents through music, artistic expression and evaluation from the point of view of students' improvement in the field of music. The starting points of the comparisons were well known concepts from the field of students´ interest and giftedness. In fact, visual art expression meant a deep inside and reflection on contents they were highly interested in. Other factors that played an important role in students´ motivation were surprise and unexpected links between different contents and the possibility to construct individual strategies for artistic expression.

As a conclusion it is possible to state that interdisciplinarity should be carefully planned: motivation is higher if the subjects of the educational process have the possibility to create their own learning strategies with contents that originate in their internal motivation. This was also confirmed by the students at the final evaluation and exhibition of works. This strategy demands competent knowledge on the side of the teachers´ and sincere belief in the possibility of an integrated overall view of contents that effectively stimulates students in their personal development. 

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