All children's names have been changed.
Example by Hanna Vock, Bonn
In Kindergarten, the children are sitting by the Christmas calendar. There is a pouch hanging on a string for each child. Every day another child gets to cut its pouch off and unpack it.
Whose turn it is, is determined by lottery the day before: We have a jar with every child's little cloakroom logo in it. At lunch one child gets to draw one from it. The child whose logo has been drawn gets to cut off its pouch the next day.
Daniel (3;5) und Leo (3;6) are seeing this procedure for the first time this year. Leo is a child of average cognitive development, Daniel is gifted and has a preference for sets, numbers and logical relations, which he would show again and again over time.
Now, if I ask, “Well, what do you think, whose turn it is tomorrow?”, the older children think they know and shout a name. Daniel stays calm. Leo is deeply disappointed every time, whines and keeps asking me: “Why aren't you choosing me?”.
One day I ask the two to stay put for a minute and I turn to Leo first: “Well, Leo, do you think it'll be you tomorrow?”. Leo is gleaming: “Yeeees!”. I dig deeper: “Why do you believe that?” Leo replies: “Because I want it.” Daniel's answer to the same question is different: “Maybe, maybe not.“ So I ask: “How is that?” Daniel: “See, if I get drawn today, I will be up tomorrow, and if not, I'm not…, maybe I'll only come up last.”
Leo shows the typical reaction of a child of his age: His thinking is governed by his urgent wish to finally be drawn. Every day he gets all psyched up, he is full of expectation and then disappointed again and getting angry with me, his teacher. He requests that I have him be drawn and eventually I cheat in order to relieve our relationship of a building tension. The oldest children notice this but keep quiet, smirking forgivingly.
Leo does not yet understand the principle of random choice . Neither does he understand the other children's attempts to explain it to him, he does, however, partially feel comforted by their attention. He is mentally active and tries to make sense of it all. Yet, without any insight into the phenomenon of randomness as an explanatory device and no sufficient understanding of the temporal relation between the terms “yesterday”, “today” and “tomorrow” he is at a great disadvantage. He can only arrive at the conclusion that there is somebody who intentionally prevents him from being drawn. Not surprisingly the first person who comes to his mind is the kindergarten teacher.
Daniel on the contrary has the system all figured out. Even though he is disappointed when not drawn, he reacts differently: “Bad luck again!” / Oh no, can't I be drawn for once?!”
Date of publication in German: November 30th, 2008
Example by Hanna Vock, Bonn
Jan (name changed) was 6 years old and was hopelessly bored at elementary school as it didn't challenge him intellectually at all. He had a student's ticket for public transportation in a city of more than half a million residents. This ticket, his early interest in systems and his extraordinary memory he combined into an intellectual challenge of his very own making:
After school he didn't go home, but rather explored the local network of public transportation systems. He spent several hours every day and wouldn't go home before he felt he had done enough exploring for the day or he got too hungry or too thirsty.
This was also a tough challenge for his mother. She understandably felt like many mothers do, that she should keep her little son from such an unusual activity. Jan could temporarily be persuaded to let go of it, but the next day, his urge to add ever new pieces to the network “stored” inside and to learn something in his own adventurous way always proved stronger.
Eventually he became an expert who found himself talking to bus- and tram-drivers and occasionally they would refer passengers to him for directions. He simply had all stations and transfers of all lines perfectly memorized.
Later on, he was by the same token attracted to computer sciences with their “networks of information”.
Jan's case shows us that complex networks can be of great appeal to gifted children. It also demonstrates that gifted children may come up with learning strategies that are entirely different from what elementary schools have to offer. Finally, Jan has shown great perseverance in his freely chosen task.
Date of publication in German: October 30th, 2008
Copyright © Hanna Vock 2008, see Imprint.