Jasna Cvetković - Lay
psychologist, ECHA spec.
Center for Gifted Child Development
www.nadarenost.net.
Zagreb
Characteristic of students, technology
and values in the 21.st century
Digital Natives

The generation of children and youth today is
often referred as „Digital Natives“ (Prensky,2001)
or „n-gen“ (Downes,2005), or „Millennial
Generation“(Schorn,2009) who have interacted
with digital technology from an early age.
Grew up with IT

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They have grown up in an environment of computer
technology that shapes how information is
developed and shared and how knowledge is gained
and created.
Children & youth today are more creative and
interactive, motivated by flexibility and
resourcefulness of IT.
Interaction between a child and a
computer

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There has never been a media before that can
show abstract concepts in such a concrete way
like a computer can.
It does it better than the best teacher, holding
the children on a challenging edge of their own
possibilities and helps them develop their own
competencies.
Interaction between a child and a
computer

Some authors stress that when a child uses a
computer “you can just see the learning happening”
(McCormick,1984)

Some research show that even the best teachers in
their work usually use two to three out of seventeen
possible learning strategies, while a computer uses
them all!
(George,1995)
Interaction between a child and a
computer

That is why the computer is especially suitable
for gifted children whose capabilities, specific
interests and motivation are on a higher level
than their peers.
Interaction between a child and a
computer
A computer can be used as an “electronic
notebook” for young gifted children who
show an early interest for reading and writing
or artistic development.
 It provides them independent choices,
decisions and work in 3D.

(Mc Cormic; Pistrup, 1984)
Interaction between a child and a
computer

For the older gifted children who want and can
learn more at a faster pace than their peers
computer can provide differences in speed,
learning pace and control of specific bases of
information making the process of learning
individualized.
Interaction between a child and a
computer

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A computer is a “toy” which a child never outgrows
with its capabilities. Suitable programs enable a free,
playful and fearless approach to learning and thinking,
often in a very imaginative environment.
It is particularly suitable for gifted children who stand
out in their surroundings because of their creativity
and personal traits.
Support to specific skills & talents by educational
software
SPORE – Creature creator
Gravity
Little Alchemy
Crayon Physics De Luxe
Digital Immigrants

Parents and teachers who provided computer
technology to their children some authors are
naming as „Digital Immigrants.“
(Prensky,2001)
Some comparative differences between
children and adults in a digital age
DIGITAL NATIVES
DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS
- Born in a digital age
- Grown in an environment of
computer technology
- Embrace new technology
quickly
-
Not born in a digital age
- Have grown to use
technology
- Less eager to embrace new
technology
PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

IT technology allows us to create our „ PERSONAL
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS“ (PLEs).
(Atwell,2007)


PLEs are network of connections to tools, data
sources, social networks and online collaboration on
the Internet.
A new learning theory for a digital age is
connectivism and a PLEs reflect connectivism.
(Siemens, 2006)
The role of a teacher


Teachers now have classrooms full of „digital
natives“ who learn & create knowledge by using
web tools and hand –held gadgets.
In the same time, students in general are found to
be uncritical users of IT & Web information and
requiring guidelines to become critical users of
these recourses.
(Zhang & Duke,2011)
The role of a teacher

The role of teachers in the creative use of the
vast information is critical as they can GUIDE
the students through the information and
make them meaningful, valuable and useful.
Unguided learning


Unguided learning is hardly optimal, more
often even dangerous. Some examples of socalled „unguided missiles“ warn us to
reconsider our values and educational goals.
Teacher trainings need to update teachers not
only with new knowledge and skills that
students are obviously very familiar with, but
also to re-examine values which need to be
supported in digital age.
In today’s world which is becoming more and more
complex, old questions sometimes require new answers.
Optimist International
21
Re-examine values & prejudices

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The prevailing social prejudice is that gifted
children do not need any special help.
That is why especially undiscovered gifted
individuals in a world of developed and
accessable IT are in danger of becoming the socalled “unguided missiles”.
(Webb,1995)
Young hackers

An example of unguided giftedness in a
digital age are young hackers with great
skills who hack well secured computer
systems.
An EXAMPLE:
Croatian teen hackers break Pentagon codes
ZAGREB, Croatia (Reuter) Wednesday, 12 Feb. 1997.

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Three teenage computer hackers in Croatia broke Pentagon
protection codes and copied highly classified files from
United States military bases.
They attend a school in the Adriatic port of Zadar specializing
in mathematics and science. School principal said that „they
had no criminal intent but extensive curiosity which had
undesired consequences''. Computer-hacking is not illegal in
Croatia.
Lack of guidance

From these and similar examples we can
conclude what the gifted can achieve using
advanced IT but also where a lack of expert
guidance from a teacher can take them.
Research results

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Research conducted on a population of gifted
students (Cvetković–Lay, 2000) showed that they
are aware of their special educational needs
and what kind of teacher and program they
want.
The ones that were asked to evaluate their IT
teacher, mostly point out the following
personal traits.
“ Gifted informaticians – how to proceed?”
Research results



That he encourages me to do individual
work and to make small projects.
That he provides diversity in learning
and teaches in an interesting way.
Posseses a lot of knowledge.
Research results
Research results confirm that gifted students prefer mostly:

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Independently iniciated projects
Team work if it is motivating and creative
Looking for new methods in relation to already
learned knowledge.
Act and think like innovators and inventors
Most importantly, they want to be unobtrusivly
guided with expertise from their competent teacher.
Adults’ responsibility

“ The responsibility for the direction in which
gifted individuals will go, is on us adults. Let us
ask ourselfs, what can we do to make them
become more caring, attentive, compassionate
and more responsible in relation with their
environment.”
(Webb, 1995)
EXAMPLE 1:
International Olympics in Informatics

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IOI is an annual primary school competition. Student
competitors are selected for national competitions.
They compete independently and there are four
competitors from each participating state.
Since 1993 young Croatian IT students have won
144 medals at the IOI.
EXAMPLE 2:
First place at Robocup in the Netherlands won by a Croatian
robot who saved the victims
Croatian primary students won first place in the category of
Rescue A and second place in the category of superteams
Croatia still neglects the youngest IT talents
EXAMPLE 4:
Too young to be gifted ?
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Dorijan, a 3rd grade student is a gifted programer,
extremly skilled in program languages Logo i C++.
In 2012. he was the youngest winner of a state IT
competition in history. But, he has still not been
officially entered on the state winners list and did not
recieve any aknowledgment.
He is even forbidden to participate in any
competitions until he starts the 5th grade.
EXAMPLE 4:
Too young to be gifted ?

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Educational &Teacher Training Agency (ETTA) the
authority for competitions, subsequently changed the
rules of competition limiting rights of participation for
students of lower classes.
The director of the ETTA gave an official statement on
national television saying that early inclusion in
competitions would negativly affect the childs social
and emocial development despite its giftedness .