#LTW: Connecting Education in a Meaningful Way to the Gifted Learner's Mind

Welcome back! The past few weeks we have been discussing the brain differences between gifted and nongifted students. If you have been following along with this series then you can see why gifted students become so easily frustrated when taught in a traditional American classroom. One of the best ways educators can help gifted students find success is through Connective Learning.

Connective Learning is the process of an educator helping learners build networks within their brains. Siemens (Laureate, 2012) identified three levels of Connective Learning as 1) biological, learning how to make connections, 2) conception, how ideas are related to each other and 3) external/social, how to make meaningful connections between people and data. Treffinger (2004) found gifted students are fast learners but have difficulty connecting the vast amount of information they process.

Connective Learning would be an important educational model for the gifted educator to utilize
within the classroom. Gifted students possess the ability to process greater amounts of information and enjoy academic challenges. Yet, while the know the information they sometimes do not understand how to use the information they have gleaned in real life situations. Siemens (Laureate, 2012) stated connective learning requires mashing up several ideas in order to create a new idea. The mashing up of ideas allows the gifted learner to creatively utilizes the information they have processed to create understanding and unique solutions to problems.

Sometimes a gifted student will lose focus on academic lessons if they deem the material being presented doesn’t have any real-life applications. Connective Learning allows the gifted learner to take an active part in connecting new and old information into more meaningful associations. Siemens (Laureate, 2012) found the educator’s role in a connective learning environment is to assist learners in building brain-based networks that can create clarity and clear thinking.

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