Identifying Gifted and Talented Students

General Checklist for Identifying Gifted and Talented Students

Gifted and Talented students may:

• Possess extensive general knowledge, often know more than the teacher and find the usual reference books superficial
• Easily grasp underlying principles and need the minimum of explanation
• Have mental speeds faster than physical capabilities and so be often reluctant to write at length
• Be reluctant to practise skills already mastered, finding such practice futile
• Be inventive and original when interested
• Often see the unusual rather than the conventional relationships
• Display intellectual playfulness,fantasise and imagine and be quick to see connections and to manipulate ideas
• Show good insight into cause-effect relationships
• Quickly make generalizations and extract the relevant points from complex material
• Prefer to talk rather than write and often talk at speed with fluency and expression
• Have exceptional curiosity and constantly want to know why
• Ask searching questions, which tend to be unlike other students questions
• Be able to pose problems and solve ingeniously
• Read rapidly and retain what is read and can recall detail