Both are attending the math research workshop, which took place in the 2024 summer semester for the first time. Every other Thursday afternoon, about 15 students meet to do math outside of their regular lessons, supervised by future primary school teachers. The room on the Golm campus is bright, and it is very loud. The children work on solutions in pairs or groups of three at five tables in parallel, kneeling on yellow, red, and blue chairs and using thick felt-tip pens.
Giftedness is often neglected
Luisa Wagner, who supervises the workshop, goes from table to table and monitors the progress. She holds a doctorate in educational science and works at the University of Potsdam in inclusive education with a special focus on learning. She got the idea for offering the “Recognizing and Promoting Giftedness” seminar when she was studying to become a primary school teacher in Berlin and came across a similar course, which was an aha moment for her. “It’s rare to be with so many high-performing children at the same time.” Inclusive education focuses primarily on children with special needs, while gifted children hardly play a role, she criticizes.
In order to change this, Wagner distributed flyers at elementary schools and clubs for gifted people in Potsdam, inviting them to the research workshop. Her offer met with great interest, a mother from Berlin even brought her son to Potsdam every other week. “In Berlin, there are very few programs for gifted children,” the mother said when she brought Christian. “He skipped a class, is now in the third grade and is bored again.”
The giftedness of the eight-year-old boy had already been noticed at nursery school. The teacher in first grade also noticed it and sent him to the next grade in math in line with the so-called revolving door model. But it was only the research workshop that really challenged her son. “When Christian comes home from school, he sits in his beanbag for four hours. After the research workshop, he doesn’t stop talking. His brain is activated.”
Christian visibly feels at ease with Noah-Jonathan in their group of two. While he does the talking and the other works rather silently on the tasks, they take quick decisions: “Our zoo is called 64,” “...because we have six enclosures,” Noah adds, “...and are only open four days,” exclaims Christian. He is not afraid of numbers. In a math competition, he was multiplying in the millions, the prospective teachers tell one another.
There is no precise definition for giftedness
Giftedness already exists as a module in teacher training. However, it tends to be treated only in theory and does not involve actual children, Wagner emphasizes. It is still difficult to define: “Are you gifted if you have an intelligence quotient of over 120, or if you are particularly creative? Is giftedness congenital, like the prodigy Mozart, or does it need to be encouraged by parents and schools?” These children often don’t stand out at school, they are bored in class, withdraw, or become hyperactive.
In its brochure “Begabte Kinder erkennen und fördern” (Recognizing and supporting gifted children), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research refutes the prejudice that gifted children are brilliant thinkers who are unable to cope with everyday life and somehow weird. Many scientific studies prove that this is a heterogeneous group without any particular social or emotional problems. “If you disregard their high (cognitive) abilities and related characteristic features, they are hardly any different from other people. Of course, gifted people also have problems but no more than anyone else; and certainly not because their giftedness directly causes problems. On the contrary – it is a resource for coping well with the demands of everyday life.”
In the research workshop, the focus is on solving tasks together. According to their credo, social learning is important for social skills. And the tasks that Wagner has devised are tricky. It’s not just about sketching a zoo with animal enclosures, walls, and paths according to various specifications. Story problems also have to be solved, the distances a zookeeper has to cover on foot or by bike have to be calculated, and the code of a combination lock has to be cracked, as well.
Eight university students are taking part in this last workshop afternoon before the semester break. They work with a group alone, in pairs, or in groups of three, listening and making suggestions. Marc Tanneberger is studying German and math to become a primary school teacher. “There are only a few other practical seminars where you can work with children,” he points out. He listens patiently to the long discussions between Xaver and Rozalia about which animals should go into which enclosure.
Attracting attention to the potential in children
“My goal was to show the students how much untapped potential there is in the children,” says Wagner. Unlike at school, where it’s all about multiplying, dividing, and story problems, they also work with large numbers here. “Children get excited when things get big,” she says. She wants to share ideas on how tasks in school lessons can be adapted for gifted children so that they don’t get bored. “Teachers later stand in front of a class of 25 children, five of whom have special educational needs, four are high achievers, and the rest is in between.” You have to be able to deal with that.
Eventually, the children introduce their zoos. “Ours is called Golm Zoo,” Xaver explains, “and it has something special because one square on the paper is one hectare, so this little line would be one kilometer. There’s a bus network so you don’t have to walk so much.” Xaver and Rozalia focused more on creative design than mathematical tasks, reports student teacher Tanneberger during the follow-up discussion. This was “fascinating and challenging at the same time” because the size of each enclosure was up for debate.
The university students experienced a few surprises during the seven sessions, as they summarize: “We taught a third-grader written multiplication – and he did it independently in the millions,” said a prospective math teacher. “That was very impressive.” The children are not only particularly good at working with numbers. “They are also better able to imagine and explain things like the curvature of the earth.”
“Unfortunately, I’m in fourth grade and won’t be able to attend anymore after the school vacation,” Xaver says as he leaves. If there is a free spot, she will let his mother know, Wagner promises. And then she calls out to the children, “You can continue solving puzzles at the beach!”
Mathematics Research Workshop
https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/inklusion/lernen/mathematik-forscherwerkstatt
Further information from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research:
„Begabte Kinder finden und fördern – ein Wegweiser für Eltern, Erzieherinnen und Erzieher, Lehrerinnen und Lehrer“ (Identifying and supporting gifted children – a guidebook for parents and educators)
https://www.bmbf.de/SharedDocs/Publikationen/de/bmbf/3/30004_Begabte_Kinder_finden_und_foerdern.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2
This text (in german language) was published in the university magazine Portal - Zwei 2024 „Europa“ (PDF).