MRS ANGELA FOULDS-COOK
associate dean of learning & teach ing h ead of gifted education programs 7-12
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n Gifted and Talented (G&T), we encourage intellectual humility by acknowledging that every boys’ learning journey, be it gifted, high ability, learning support or neuro-normal, is unique and special. We encourage all students to understand the research on neuroplasticity where everyone, no matter where they start, can improve with consistency and practise. I am proud that in G&T, we created an intellectual safe space and a team to belong to, with badges and academic recognition and, where no one talent defines you. It is okay to be smart and an artist, musician, cyber warrior, sportsman or actor. The focus of our Senior School G&T Extension classes has been on igniting high ability and gifted boys with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, often referred to as STEM. With unprecedented, monumental levels of change in areas of cybercrime, climate change and pollution, technological innovation, the proliferation of fake news and shifts in global economic power, never has there been a time where the skills of collaborative, critical and creative thinking have such great importance. In 2011, Rindermann and Thompson discovered that a country’s gross domestic product is directly influenced by the aggregate accomplishments of its citizens’ abilities in STEM. Research such as the SMPY study of 320 participants since age 12, now in its 47th year, found that highly gifted men post-schooling pursued credentials in inorganic fields such as maths, science, engineering and physical science, and they had secured over 25 times the graduation rate of university doctorates compared to the rest of the U.S. population. In the G&T and Honours Program, TSS continues to offer real world based extension classes and Honours Projects that keep our boys at the forefront of
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engagement with STEM and critical, creative and collaborative thinking skill development so needed for 21st Century citizenship and employment. While our gifted and high ability boys are not homogeneous in their abilities and aptitudes or personal characteristics and family circumstances, it is evident that our TSS boys take up the challenge of the different G&T programming options such as extension classes, competitions, concurrent university enrolments and accelerated Maths and English. In fact, many Year 9 students successfully completed their first online university MOOC course with topics including Electric Cars, Business Analytic Fundamentals, Neuroscience, Introductory Mandarin, Law for NonLawyers, Opioid Crisis in America and Cosmic Rays and Dark Matter and the Universe. The purpose built G&T rooms based on purposeful Agile design to include Edutec boards, collaborative whiteboard areas and a microscope and laptop bar, fosters an engaging, non-hierarchical, personalised learning environment. The boys love this new facility, which embodies what it looks like when young people have a seat at the education table to drive their own learning.
It is with sadness that I leave after 13 years but with satisfaction at the legacy of this G&T program and general academic culture contributed to by so many here at TSS. The baton passes onto the next educator to continue to inspire our boys to honour themselves and their families by achieving to their very best personal potential at TSS and beyond.
