Page 79 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 79
Teacher Strategies to Motivate Gifted Students: A Multiple Case Study on Teacher Behavior
learning task’ (Sierens, Vansteenkiste, Goossens, Soenens, & Dochy, 2009, p.
58). Relatedness concerns students’ feelings of belonging to and connection
with other persons, such as other students and their teachers. The need for
autonomy refers to choice, and the desire to self-organize experience and
psychological freedom with regard to one’s own behaviour and/or study
activities (Deci, Vellerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991; Sierens et al., 2009). The ful-
filment of these three needs is said to represent a necessary condition for stu-
dents’ optimal learning. For that reason, teachers should offer structure – by
communicating clear guidelines and expectations about desired outcomes,
by providing optimal challenging tasks, by realizing effective instructional
support, and by providing ‘students with appropriate tools and feedback
to promote success and feelings of efficacy’ (Niemec & Ryan, 2009, p. 139) –
to fulfil students’ need for competence. For students’ need for relatedness,
teachers should create a warm, supportive teacher-student relationship, and
provide students a sense of belonging. Students’ need for autonomy can be
supported by teachers who offer choice and a meaningful reason for learning
in school, who avoid controlling language, and who promote active learn-
ing, taking into account the differences in learning and development among
students. In supporting autonomy, the absence of external rewards, control,
and pressure is emphasized (Belmont, Skinner, Wellborn, & Connell, 1992;
Deci & Ryan, 2000; Opdenakker, 2014; Opdenakker & Minnaert, 2011; Skinner
& Belmont, 1993). From this point of view, it is interesting to explore to what
extent teachers of gifted students present challenging tasks and instruction
in this way, and hence, meet the basic psychological needs of gifted students,
and consequently, increase students’ motivation.
The questions raised are certainly applicable to the context of gifted edu-
cation in the Netherlands, where – after relatively disappointing results from
especially Dutch secondary gifted students at the PISA 2009 international
comparative study on reading, mathematics, and science (OECD, 2010; PISA,
2009) – gifted and talented students were identified as a group at risk. Clear
empirical indications are found for this group at risk by means of the num-
ber of students with early drop out, in the number of underachievers, in the
magnitude of students’ downward tracking in secondary education, and in
the number of students with learning, behavioural, and/or social problems
(Minnaert, 2005).
In the Netherlands – as in many other countries – different educational set-
tings, which focus more or less on the cognitive learning needs of gifted and
talented students, are realized in secondary education. However, not much
is known about the effectiveness of these different settings, and – when they
77
learning task’ (Sierens, Vansteenkiste, Goossens, Soenens, & Dochy, 2009, p.
58). Relatedness concerns students’ feelings of belonging to and connection
with other persons, such as other students and their teachers. The need for
autonomy refers to choice, and the desire to self-organize experience and
psychological freedom with regard to one’s own behaviour and/or study
activities (Deci, Vellerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991; Sierens et al., 2009). The ful-
filment of these three needs is said to represent a necessary condition for stu-
dents’ optimal learning. For that reason, teachers should offer structure – by
communicating clear guidelines and expectations about desired outcomes,
by providing optimal challenging tasks, by realizing effective instructional
support, and by providing ‘students with appropriate tools and feedback
to promote success and feelings of efficacy’ (Niemec & Ryan, 2009, p. 139) –
to fulfil students’ need for competence. For students’ need for relatedness,
teachers should create a warm, supportive teacher-student relationship, and
provide students a sense of belonging. Students’ need for autonomy can be
supported by teachers who offer choice and a meaningful reason for learning
in school, who avoid controlling language, and who promote active learn-
ing, taking into account the differences in learning and development among
students. In supporting autonomy, the absence of external rewards, control,
and pressure is emphasized (Belmont, Skinner, Wellborn, & Connell, 1992;
Deci & Ryan, 2000; Opdenakker, 2014; Opdenakker & Minnaert, 2011; Skinner
& Belmont, 1993). From this point of view, it is interesting to explore to what
extent teachers of gifted students present challenging tasks and instruction
in this way, and hence, meet the basic psychological needs of gifted students,
and consequently, increase students’ motivation.
The questions raised are certainly applicable to the context of gifted edu-
cation in the Netherlands, where – after relatively disappointing results from
especially Dutch secondary gifted students at the PISA 2009 international
comparative study on reading, mathematics, and science (OECD, 2010; PISA,
2009) – gifted and talented students were identified as a group at risk. Clear
empirical indications are found for this group at risk by means of the num-
ber of students with early drop out, in the number of underachievers, in the
magnitude of students’ downward tracking in secondary education, and in
the number of students with learning, behavioural, and/or social problems
(Minnaert, 2005).
In the Netherlands – as in many other countries – different educational set-
tings, which focus more or less on the cognitive learning needs of gifted and
talented students, are realized in secondary education. However, not much
is known about the effectiveness of these different settings, and – when they
77
