Students with superior intellectual abilities may fail at school and university

Students with superior intellectual abilities, who make up 4-6% of the school population, often find themselves in a kind of limbo in the educational system. And at university, the challenge is even greater: choosing between a face-to-face and a virtual centre can be decisive for their motivation and performance.

Ferrer has a degree in History from the UB and is currently studying the university master's degree in Chinese and Japanese Studies: Contemporary World at the UOC. "In some subjects at on-site based courses I really felt a great lack of motivation because the teaching criteria applied by the professors were based on memorization and the repetition of what we already knew", she explains.


Special educational needs to motivate them

It is a serious mistake to think that these people have no specific needs in class. Anna Ferrer has suffered from an educational system too heavily based on standardizing knowledge and on the repetition of the same exercises, which "creates frustration and a lack of motivation in us, and which, in some cases, can lead to poor performance and even academic failure", she warns.

In class, they need:

• An environment that helps bring out their potential.
• Autonomy, independence and self-management.
• A feeling of belonging to the class group.
• Acceptance and trust by the people around them.
• Tuition adapted to their needs and their personal pace of learning.
• A flexible syllabus offering that enables them to develop the contents to greater depth.
• Access to additional educational resources.
• Planning and evaluation of their learning process.
• A faster pace of tuition.

At school, gifted children must mingle with the rest, because their affective and emotional development must take place with people of their own age, who will often do better than them in artistic, sports or social interaction activities.


How can online learning help them?

When the time comes to go to university, choosing a virtual university allows them to "study two degrees at once and enrol for as many courses as they want", explains Silvia Mata at the UOC's Student Support Services. In addition, "there are offered complementary activities, if they finish very quickly those proposed in the classroom for the other students to do".

"The key is to provide study plans that the student can follow and which are matched to his or her interests; and the UOC's model makes it easier for them to do this", says Eulàlia Hernández, professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. In addition, "the student can explore the subjects in depth because he or she has all the teaching resources and support that he or she needs".

"Students with superior intellectual abilities are a very diverse group and, therefore, how they are catered for must be equally diverse", Hernández explains. However, she continues, a common approach is to "move the students a year ahead (accelerate the syllabus), give them more tools (enrich the environment) and group them together (more convenient for the educational centre)", explains the UOC's psychologist.


Who is a person with superior intellectual abilities?

They are people with superior cognitive abilities whose intellectual resources have a high level of both logical reasoning and creativity, good memory management and information uptake. These resources manifest in verbal reasoning, mathematical reasoning and spatial aptitude, explains the specialist Mercedes Martínez Torres in Discapacidad(es). Discapacidad, altas capacidades intelectuales y trastornos del espectro autista, Editorial UOC (chapter 3, p. 210).

They are also people who have significant affective and social problems, such as low self-esteem and difficulty in expressing emotions and with interpersonal relationships.

On a social level, it is thought that superior intellectual abilities are detected in childhood, for example, children who are very quick in learning to speak, read and write, and have an excellent memory. However, Professor Hernández points out that, even though "biological, environmental, personal and social factors have an influence, intellectual giftedness is a dynamic phenomenon and may vary over the years".

Eulàlia Hernández is a professor at the UOC's Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences and an expert in ICT, and health, personal and professional use of the Internet for health, health promotion using the ICTs, and lifespan developmental psychology (how people are at different times of life). She is also the principal investigator of the PSINET research group (Psychology, Health and Internet) at the UOC IN3.

References:

• Pié, Asun (coord.). Discapacidad(es). Discapacidad, altas capacidades intelectuales y trastornos del espectro autista. Editorial UOC
• Torres, Mercedes (coord.). Psicologia i salut: una visió integradora dels conflictes psicològics. Editorial UOC
• Les altes capacitats: detecció i actuació en l'àmbit educatiu. Departament d'Ensenyament. Generalitat de Catalunya