En rekke anerkjente navn fra Amercan Psychological Assosiations «Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education» har sammenstilt en liste med det de mener er de 20 viktigste prinsippene når det gjelder skolens møte med kreative, talentfulle og evnerike elever (fra barnehage og oppover). Dokumentets redaktører er anerkjente navn fra American Psychological Association:  Matthew Makel, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Jonathan Plucker, and Rena Subotnik. Mange andre kjente navn innenfor fagfeltet gifted ed. har også bidratt.

The document presents the most important principles from psychology as identified by the APA Coalition for Psycholo­gy in Schools and Education—the Top 20—that would be of greatest use in the context of preK–12 classroom teaching and learning with gifted children and youth.

Listen med de viktigste 20 prinsippene er delt inn i fem ulike områder

1. Tenkning og læring: Hvordan lærer og tenker elever? (1-8)
2. Motivasjon: Hva motiverer elever? (9-12)
3. Sosio-emosjonell læring: Hvorfor er sosial kontekst, relasjoner med andre og følelsesmessig well-being viktig for elevenes læring? (13-15)
4. Klasseledelse: Hvordan kan klasseromsadferd best styres? (16 og 17)
5. Vurdering: Hvordan kan lærere vurdere elevens fremgang effektivt? (18-20)

Kan alt som forskes på og skrives om i USA hentes rett inn i norsk skolevirkelighet? Nei. Men at vi kan ha ting å lære – eller at vi kan få emner å fundere over – det skjer rett som det er. Jeg tror vel at mye av det som oppsummeres i de 20 prinsippene er kjent for mange av oss, men nå er de altså sammenstilt med tanke på oss som møter de evnerike elevene i hverdagen. Forfatterne skriver selv:

Research syntheses such as this one help practitioners make sure that they are applying effective practices in their classrooms.

De 20 prinsippene

Klikk på lenkene for å komme til riktig side hos APA.

Each principle is described based on evidence from research with gifted populations. The brief description is followed by practical suggestions for the classroom and references from both the regular and gifted education literature.

====Tenkning og læring====

1. Students’ beliefs or perceptions about intelligence and ability affect their cognitive functions and learning. Students with a growth mindset focus on learning goals, are more willing to take on challenges, and rebound more easily from negative feedback and failures compared to students with a fixed mindset.
(mer info og tips for lærere her)

2. What students already know affects their learning (tips for lærere her)

3. Student’s cognitive development and learning are not limited by general stages of development. (tips for lærere her)

4. Learning is based on context. Generalizing learning to new contexts is not spontaneous; it needs to be facilitated. (tips for lærere her)

5. Acquiring long-term knowledge and skill is largely dependent on practice. (mer info og tips for lærere her)

6. Clear, explanatory and timely feedback to students is important for learning.

7. Students’ self-regulation assists learning; self-regulatory skills can be taught.(her)

8. Student creativity can be fostered. (mer info – og tips her)

====Motivasjon====

9. Students tend to enjoy learning and to do better when they are more intrinsically (rather than extrinsically) motivated to achieve. (her)

10. Students persist in the face of challenging tasks and process information more deeply when they adopt mastery goals rather than performance goals. (her)

11. Teachers’ expectations about their students affect students’ opportunities to learn, motivation and learning outcomes. (her)

12. Setting goals that are short term (proximal), specific and moderately challenging enhances motivation more than establishing goals that are long term (distal), general and overly challenging. (her)

====Sosio-emosjonell læring====

13. Learning is situated within multiple social contexts.

14. Interpersonal relationships and communication are critical to both the teaching-learning process and the social-emotional development of students.

15. Emotional well-being influences educational performance, learning, and development.

====Klasseledelse====

16. Expectations for classroom conduct and social interaction are learned and can be taught using proven principles of behavior and effective classroom instruction. (her)

17. Effective classroom management is based on (a) setting and communicating high expectations, (b) consistently nurturing positive relationships, and (c) providing a high level of student support. (her)

====Vurdering====

18. Formative and summative assessments are both important and useful but require different approaches and interpretations. (her)

19. Students’ skills, knowledge, and abilities are best measured with assessment processes grounded in psychological science with well-de ned standards for quality and fairness. (her)

20. Making sense of assessment data depends on clear, appropriate, and fair interpretation. (her)

Dokumentet «TOP 20 PRINCIPLES FROM PSYCHOLOGY FOR PREK–12 CREATIVE, TALENTED, AND GIFTED STUDENTS’ TEACHING AND LEARNING» finnes på denne siden: http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/teaching-learning/top-twenty-principles.aspx – lenke til dokumentet finnes midt på siden.

Les også artikkelen hos Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

Connecting psychology research to gifted education practice

When (and how) should gifted education teachers apply general teaching principles vs. specialized instruction in their gifted education classrooms? In what circumstances are gifted learners like all others in classrooms around the world and when are they uniquely different? These questions plague the field with many implications regarding access, equity, and educational values. A new publication, published by the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education at the American Psychological Association in collaboration with scholars in our field, aims to help educators answer these questions.

Finn artikkelen her.

Top twenty principles from psychology for pre-K–12 creative, talented, and gifted Students’ teaching and learning – Contributing Authors: 

Linda Brody, EdD
Elissa Brown, PhD
Pamela Clinkenbeard, PhD
Jennifer Cross, PhD
Tracy Cross, PhD
Marta Fulop, PhD
Scott Hunsaker, PhD
Susan Johnsen, PhD
Mojca Jurisevic, PhD
Layne Kalbfleisch, PhD
Lannie Kanevsky, PhD
Tonya Moon, PhD
Maureen Neihart, PsyD
Mattie Oveross, BS
Anne Rinn, PhD
Heidrun Stoeger, PhD
Rena Subotnik, PhD
Karen Westberg, PhD
Hope Wilson, PhD
Echo Wu, PhD

Reviewers in addition to Authors

Katie de St. Paer, MA
Rima Binder, PhD
Jeb Puryear, PhD
Michelle Swain, MEd
Matthew Zakreski, PsyD