Pretense or Belief: Creating Meaningful Scenarios and Simulations for Authentic Learning about Diverse Underserved Gifted Students

Abstract

Understanding of the complexity of gifted students who present with an intersection of unique profiles of abilities and challenges, cultural, ethnic, gender and linguistic perspectives, learning experiences across contexts and personal expectations remains a challenge in identifying and serving diverse gifted students. Training teachers to recognize talent and high ability in these diverse populations remains a central problem in addressing issues of underrepresentation and providing a differentiated curriculum to meet their unique needs. The use of scenarios and simulations offers ways to observe, engage, interact and practice strategies in the post-pandemic online and hybrid learning modes, as demonstrated through a simulated classroom of diverse gifted learners. Presented here are ways to ensure that the scenarios and simulations can be designed to be authentic and present cases that approximate real students so that teachers can transcend the ‘pretense’ into ‘belief’ with real lessons and develop knowledge and skills to address the needs of underserved gifted students.