Associate Indigenous Students Leap Ahead (ISLA), Massachusetts
Short description: Culturally and linguistically diverse GT students – often strongly visual-spatial – may not fluently conceptualize higher-level content in verbal ways. When visual arts are integrated as a full partner in all content areas, these children are able to unlock, acquire, process, synthesize, and communicate advanced material in visual-spatial ways. They can then translate that learning into verbal-sequential pathways.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will:
Come to appreciate that a broad objective in the arts should not just be to support the development of those already identified as artistically gifted and talented, but also to recognize the importance of the arts for all GT children
Explore recent research documenting trends among visual-spatial students and issues of auditory-sequential processing
Recognize that instructional strategies must lean heavily on the inclusion of the visual and performing arts to reach diverse GT students in every curricular area