Bree Smyth

9/14/03

SLM 520 MC

Article Critique #1

This article discusses the uses of computers in education of gifted students. The definition of a gifted student is difficult to pin down, due to widely different views of theorists such as Howard Gardner and Joseph Renzulli. There are tenets that are necessary for a good gifted education program, such as the recognition of different learning styles, various learning rates, and student-to-student communication. The levels of computer programs for the gifted vary, including simple programs that are comparable to computer tutors. The more complex computer programs for the gifted all include computer simulations and programming language that teaches the student to use the computer as a tool. The bottom line of these programs being that students are not given the opportunity to develop their own questions and use computers as tools to find the answers. The Control Data Corporation developed a contest to promote a new supercomputer in 1987. The contest involved asking students to develop thoughtful questions that a supercomputer could help them find the answers. The results of the yearlong competition were remarkable. The contest showed that computers aid gifted students when they can create programs to give students choices and allow experimentation. These computers would also match a students pace and teach students about the learning process through computers.

I have always found computers to be a great help in educating my gifted students. It allows me to differentiate the workload, and also allows the gifted students to really explore the areas that are of interest to them. This article is outdated; being published in 1990, but still highlights many important features of important gifted education. Gifted students do need to have those choices available to them, with opportunities to experiment on topics that interest them that may not be on the same level as the rest of the class. I would be interested to read a more recent article on computers and gifted education, to see where the current trend is going. Ideally, it would follow those lines, giving gifted students more choices. I fear that computers are mostly used for the more simple, tutor-like uses in today’s classroom, giving teachers a place to put the gifted students when they have completed the on-grade level work that the rest of the class is working on.

Jones, Geoffrey (1990). Personal Computers Help Gifted Students Work Smart (Eric

Digest #E483). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED321488)