Characteristics of the Gifted

SOME LEARNING CHARACTERISTICS OF GIFTED STUDENTS

1. Keen power of observation; naïve receptivity; sense of the significant; willingness to examine the unusual.
2. Power of abstraction, conceptualization, synthesis; interest in inductive learning and problem solving; Pleasure in intellectual activity.
3. Interest in cause and effect relations, ability to see relationships; interest in applying concepts; love of truth.
4. Liking for structure and order, liking for consistency, as in value systems, number systems, clocks, and calendars.
5. Retentiveness
6. Verbal proficiency; large vocabulary; facility in expression; interest in reading; breadth of information in advanced areas.
7. Questioning attitude, intellectual curiosity, inquisitive mind; intrinsic motivation.
8. Power of critical thinking, skepticism, evaluative testing; self-criticism and self-checking.
9. Creativeness and inventiveness; liking for new ways of doing things; interest in creating, brainstorming; free-wheeling.
10. Power of concentration; intense attention that excludes all else; long attention span.
11. Persistent, goal-directed behavior.
12. Sensitivity, intuitiveness; empathy for others; need for emotional support and sympathetic attitude, ego-involvement, need for courage.
13. High energy, alertness, eagerness; periods of intense voluntary effort preceding invention.
14. Independence in work and study; preference for individualized work; self-reliance; need for freedom of movement and action; need to live with loneliness.
15. Versatility and virtuosity; diversity of interests and abilities; many hobbies, proficiency in art forms such as music and drawing.
16. Friendliness and out-going.

Based on research by May V. Seagoe

BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS OF GIFTEDNESS 

 

1. Student’s use of language.
2. Quality of student’s questions.
3. Quality of examples, illustrations, or elaborations that a student uses in explaining something or in describing events or telling stories.
4. Student’s use of quantitative expressions and quantitative reasoning.
5. Student’s ability to devise or adopt a systematic strategy for solving problems and to change the strategy if it is not working.
6. Special skills students exhibit that are unusual for their age or grade.
7. Student’s innovative use of common materials in the classroom or outside.
8. Student’s breadth of information.
9. Student’s depth of information in a particular area.
10. Student’s collection of material in a particular area.
11. Student’s persistence on uncompleted tasks.
12. Student’s absorption in intellectual tasks.
13. Extensiveness of student’s exploratory behavior.
14. Student’s criticism of his/her own performances.
15. Student’s preference for complexity, difficulty, and novelty in tasks.

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Hagen, E. (1981). Identification of the Gifted. New York: Teachers College Press.