Kiki Zanolie and Bart Vogelaar (Psychology) have been teaching the master's course ‘Giftedness and Talent Development: A Transactional Perspective’ for three years to students from all disciplines within the study of Psychology. The course focuses on talent development in gifted children, and is an example of socially engaged education. “What makes this course unique is that students not only learn about giftedness, but also directly create something that impacts gifted children,” says Bart Vogelaar.   

Professionals  

Bart: "In this course we treat students as professionals. They look for solutions learn to connect theory and practice. In groups, they develop a workshop for gifted elementary school children, which these children may attend at a secondary school. The students present their workshop and then may actually implement it. The latter is not a required component, but most students are so enthusiastic that they jump at the chance."  

Go for it  

Many students appreciate the challenge and freedom within the course. Even international students, for whom language can be a barrier, or students with no experience with children, often fully go for it. Kiki Zanolie: "So they almost all choose to give their workshop, and learn an awful lot in the process. And the elementary school children really enjoy learning in a different way, outside the regular school subjects."  

Enrichment  

The course has a dual effect, Kiki says. "On the one hand, the students develop enriching content for gifted children; on the other hand, they experience enrichment themselves. They can influence their own learning process and get the chance to learn more in an active way. We encourage them to keep the connection between theory and practice alive, also in their future careers. When they later work in practice, we hope they will continue to apply their theoretical knowledge."  

Sensitive  

Bart: "We have been teaching this course for three years now and it is different every year. The students largely determine what the lectures look like. We discuss many cases, have discussions and are flexible in the topics we explore. This also makes it a lot of fun for us as teachers. We try to teach in a sensitive way and hope to show that this is also the best approach for gifted children."