AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE SELECTED PHENOMENON OF “SUCCESS” AS A POTENTIAL
IDENTIFICATION TOOL FOR GIFTEDNESS IN CHILDREN OF PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION
a
JANA DUCHOVIČOVÁ,
b
REBEKA ŠTEFÁNIA
KOLEŇÁKOVÁ
Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra,
Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia
email:
a
jduchovicova@ukf.sk,
b
rkolenakova@ukf.sk
This study was written within the project APVV-15-0368 Practice in the centre of the
subject field didactics, subject field didactics in the centre of preparation for practice.
Abstract: The study aims to learn more about the specifics of a gifted child in the area
of his/her ideas and to identify whether those ideas are different in their quality from
the ideas of children who are not gifted. The identification of such a discrepancy could
also be one of the indicators of giftedness and could be useful in the early pedagogical
diagnosis of giftedness in pre-primary children. The subject of our article are
preconceptions (creating ideas about phenomena, which mean the events that surround
the child during his/her development) of children about the selected phenomenon of
success and their comparison in terms of children's ability level. We were interested in
whether there are discrepancies in the level of preconceptions of children who are
assumed to have a certain level of giftedness, and other children. The design of the
research is mixed, the data was obtained using the semi-structured interview method
and projective techniques. The research results confirm a certain difference in the
identified preconceptions of children in terms of intellectual abilities and the potential
of identifying preconceptions as a tool to detect giftedness.
Keywords: Preconceptions about the Phenomenon of Success, Children of Pre-
Primary Education, Giftedness.
1 Introduction
Giftedness is a phenomenon that resonates in professional circles
for several decades. The quest to get to know the personality of a
gifted child has a long history and has been influenced mainly by
research in the field of motivation and creativity, which has
largely been carried out in the middle of the last century. In
pedagogical understanding, giftedness is perceived as a
phenomenological issue, i. e. understanding gifted children as
those who differ in cognitive performance and thinking, thus
directly creating a requirement for different design and
implementation of an educational activity or educational process.
The priority for every teacher should be the level of children's
thinking. The identification of his/her preconceptions is one of
the ways to know the specificities of a child in the field of his
thinking and ideas.
2 Giftedness Phenomenon
Nowadays, giftedness is understood as a complex phenomenon
involving the whole personality of an individual, and other
related motivational, socio-emotional and cultural factors
included in the development of this phenomenon (Renzulli, J. S,
2005; Fořtík, V., Fořtíková, J., 2007; Mudrák, J., 2015; Ziegler,
A., Phillipson, S.
N, 2012 et al.). V. Fořtík and J. Fořtíkova
(2007) define giftedness as:
a set of specific qualitative skills conditional on successful
performance in activities,
intellectual potential (complex individual characteristics of
cognitive functions and the ability to learn),
set of innate characteristics and faculties, the manifestation
of qualities and levels of innate predispositions,
general abilities determining the individual's abilities,
characteristics, and level of activity,
talent (existing internal conditions for achieving
exceptionally above-average results in the activity).
C. Resch (2014) also understands giftedness as a dynamic and
multidimensional concept encompassing the overall potential of
an individual, which is manifested in lifelong development and
education. At the same time, he states that giftedness is an
interactive process between the personality predispositions of an
individual and the social and cognitive influences embedded in
education.
Gifted children manifest different activities and abilities in
different areas compared to their peers. Empirical findings and
research clearly confirm that the development of a gifted child is
different from birth to children of the rest of the population
(Clark, B., 2002; Davis, G., Rimm, S., 2004; Porter, L., 2005;
Bainbridge, C., 2018; 2020; Cherry, K., 2018; Cioni, G.,
Sgandura, G., 2013). Most intellectually gifted children manifest
themselves from the earliest age with typical cognitive skills
(thinking, memory, attention, etc.). If these characteristics are
developed and stimulated, these children establish an
extraordinarily rapid development of cognitive skills. However,
if these characteristics are ignored and not developed, these
above-average abilities may potentially create a negative force
acting against any subsequent education (Portešová, Š., 2004).
Therefore, the teacher’s thorough knowledge of the child's
personality is very important and extremely beneficial in the
educational process. It is also important to realize that gifted
children are an extremely heterogeneous group, which is
manifested in qualitative and quantitative differences of
individual factors of giftedness (intellect, creativity, social skills,
psychomotor abilities, arts), and areas of its application (Ivleva,
M., 2018).
Characteristic developed cognitive skills of gifted children
include abstract thinking, quick understanding of complex
patterns, excellent memory, but also the need for precision.
Based on complex thinking, they create new ideas with deep
meaning, they can transfer knowledge and patterns through
various areas and even into unusual situations, they make
connections between unrelated topics. Gifted children acquire
and process information, and solve problems more efficiently,
better, faster, and at an earlier age compared to ungifted children
(Johnson, D. T., 2000; Robinson, A., Clinkenbeard, P. R., 2008).
F. Eren, S. Avicil et al. (2018) add that gifted children are
characterized by a combination of convergent and divergent
thinking at an earlier age. These individuals are able to
memorize more words and facts, thanks to which their
vocabulary is richer. The acquired information is complemented,
verified, and structured into various systems, they have more
complex thinking, know how to work with abstract concepts,
and are able to think critically. Their preconceptions are at a
better level and they understand the concepts (conceptions) that
are usually learned at an older age, because their thought
processes are, among other things, faster and more logical
(Hříbková, L., 2009; Bainbridge, C., 2020; 2018; Ivleva, M.,
2018; Rimm, S., Siegle, D., Davis, G., 2018).
S. Rimm, D. Siegle, and G. Davis (2018) state that gifted people
show a high level of self-confidence, self-control, and
independence. They have high moral thinking and empathy. This
statement is also supported by N. M. Ishak, M. H. Z. Abidin, and
A. Y A. Bakar (2014), who argue based on research that gifted
people have high empathy, especially the ability to help and
satisfy the needs of others. M. Ivleva (2018) states that gifted
people show a high level of psychosocial sensitivity, which is
manifested by an increased sense of justice and moral
development. They react sharply to injustice, like truth and
harmony, place high demands on themselves and others, and
have negative self-knowledge. The author also states that there
are also cases of exaggerated fear and increased sensitivity to
non-verbal signals of others.
In addition to the above characteristics, T. Curby and T. R.
Konolod (2008) state that a gifted child plays mostly on his/her
own, can easily confront others, and therefore does not even seek
social contact. Gifted children also have different expectations
and ideas about friendship. Preconceptions of the gifted people
about friendship are more advanced at all stages, which means
that they look for deeper and longer-lasting friendships than
other children of the same age. Gifted children look for safe
refuge, trust, fidelity, and authenticity in friendship, while their
peers look for a friend for a game or a casual conversation. Just
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