Analytical Thinking and Gifted Students

Abstract

Introduction: In June, 1980, Texas Wesleyan College hosted twenty-four students of above-average intelligence (ages 10-12) at a two-week seminar in a cooperation with the Gifted Students Institute and funded by the Fleming Foundation. The students spent two weeks living in a dormitory on campus and studying intensively Analytical Thinking for Children. The text Lisa by Matthew Lipman was used. A study in ethics and logic, the text was designed for use with children of junior high level (ages 12-14), but was chosen for these younger children because of their advanced intellectual potential. Under the direction of Dr. Ronald Reed, Director of The Program For The Advancement Of Analytical Thinking For Children at Wesleyan, nine teachers worked in study groups daily with the children, using the teacher's manual which accompanies Lisa. Six of the teachers were novices at doing philosophy with children. Three, including myself, were experienced either by having been involved in pilot programs of Analytical Thinking in the Fort Worth Independent School System or by having been trained in the Analytical Thinking course at Texas Wesleyan College. The children were grouped with one experienced and two novice teachers in groups of eight, with Dr. Reed overseeing the seminar by rotating from group to group.