|
0
|
1 <html>
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
3 <!-- Mirrored from users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/Gifted.html by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Sun, 06 Nov 2022 06:49:33 GMT -->
|
|
|
4 <head>
|
|
|
5 <title></title>
|
|
|
6 </head>
|
|
|
7 <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0">
|
|
|
8 <a name="Go And The Gifted Child">
|
|
|
9 <p><strong><hr>
|
|
|
10 </strong>
|
|
|
11 <br wp="br1"><br wp="br2">
|
|
|
12 <p><strong>Go And The Gifted Child</a></strong>
|
|
|
13
|
|
|
14 <p><strong>© 2002 Milton N. Bradley</strong>
|
|
|
15
|
|
|
16 <p>There are many kinds of "giftedness" beyond that expressed by a high score on a standard IQ
|
|
|
17 test, but however identified and measured each presents essentially the same problem to parents,
|
|
|
18 teachers and developmental psychologists - how best to nurture and develop those so identified.
|
|
|
19
|
|
|
20 <p>In our society's search for equity, in recent years great emphasis has been placed upon providing
|
|
|
21 help and remediation to the less fortunate who have mental, emotional and physical disabilities,
|
|
|
22 and this is unquestionably a noble and worthwhile effort. But the reality is that essentially all of
|
|
|
23 human progress has been the result of the insights and talents of a select very few gifted
|
|
|
24 individuals and not all the rest of the vast mass of humanity. The sum of the output of all of the
|
|
|
25 millions of "ordinary" musicians who have ever lived does not equal that of one Mozart, nor did
|
|
|
26 the insight of all of the people who ever lived equal that of one Copernicus in determining the
|
|
|
27 true state of our solar system. So it should be apparent that if our society is to continue to
|
|
|
28 progress, identifying and nurturing the "gifted" among us must receive a far higher priority than
|
|
|
29 it has heretofore, cries of "elitism" notwithstanding.
|
|
|
30
|
|
|
31 <p>It has long been known that the human brain is "incomplete" at birth, and that most of its
|
|
|
32 important development takes place between then and adolescence. In a feature article in The New
|
|
|
33 York Times of June 24, 1986 entitled "Rapid Changes Seen In Young Brain" it was reported that
|
|
|
34 "...there are twice as many synaptic connections ..... in certain regions of children's brains than
|
|
|
35 those of adults. The number of synapses seems to fall by half in early adolescence." The article
|
|
|
36 further states " ... the child's brain develops virtually all potentially useful neural
|
|
|
37 interconnections by the age of 2. But <strong>it is childhood experience that shapes the architecture of
|
|
|
38 the brain, strengthening the neural circuits that are used and ultimately sacrificing those
|
|
|
39 that are not used."</strong>
|
|
|
40
|
|
|
41 <p>These facts have always been more or less intuitively recognized by parents, many of whom have
|
|
|
42 traditionally attempted to enhance their children's intellectual development via such devices as
|
|
|
43 "flash cards" to teach them specific skills such as arithmetic and language. But even when
|
|
|
44 augmented with physical exercise and sports training to enhance motor development, and
|
|
|
45 training in music and the arts to enhance cultural development, all of these historic attempts have
|
|
|
46 missed the most important single skill which can determine the individual's ultimate success or
|
|
|
47 failure in adult life, that of REASONING. In this area, the game of Go stands alone in its unique
|
|
|
48 ability to teach this almost infinitely valuable skill in the disguise of a pleasurable and non-threatening yet almost infinitely challenging strategic board .game
|
|
|
49
|
|
|
50 <p><em><strong>The extraordinary pedagogical attributes of Go improve both the mental development and
|
|
|
51 REASONING processes and academic performance of <u>all</u> children, but are even more
|
|
|
52 efficacious for the gifted.</em></strong> Not only are gifted children naturally attracted to the challenges posed
|
|
|
53 by the subtle and incisive tactics and profound strategy of Go, but they most readily learn how to
|
|
|
54 play and then move on to the higher skill levels where the benefits to their thinking processes and
|
|
|
55 study habits are actually developed and refined. For this reason, in this writer's view it is
|
|
|
56 inevitable that Go will ultimately become an integral and essential element in the education of
|
|
|
57 every gifted child.
|
|
|
58
|
|
|
59 <p>To learn how you can introduce Go to your school, group or organization, please send me an
|
|
|
60 email by clicking on my name at the bottom of my Go page.
|
|
|
61
|
|
|
62 <p><a href="NoAlt.html"><Font Color="#0033FF"><strong>Continue</strong></Font></a>
|
|
|
63
|
|
|
64 <p>Click here to return to<a href="index.html"><Font Color="#0033FF"><strong> Milt's Go
|
|
|
65 Page</strong></Font></a>
|
|
|
66
|
|
|
67 <p><hr>
|
|
|
68
|
|
|
69 <br wp="br1"><br wp="br2">
|
|
|
70 </body>
|
|
|
71
|
|
|
72 <!-- Mirrored from users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/Gifted.html by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Sun, 06 Nov 2022 06:49:33 GMT -->
|
|
|
73 </html>
|
