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27 The effect of frustration caused by difficult tasks on gifted learners' achievements.

Gifted pupils frequently underachieve. Not having learnt how to solve problems due to a lack of confrontation with challenges is a possible reason for underachieving. This research studies how pupils’ mindsets affect their success in overcoming challenging hurdles and completing complex tasks, such as translating Latin texts. The focus of the study lies on how well pupils achieve after being faced with difficulties while translating Latin sentences into Dutch. The results of these analyses will hopefully give insights into how to determine which pupils are likely to be negatively or positively affected by a frustrating task.

Author(s):

Chelsea O'Brien
cobrien1@uva.nl
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Netherlands

Having completed a Masters degree in Classical Languages I started teaching Classics at a Dutch secondary school where gifted pupils are placed together in one class. I have been tutoring these special classes for five years. In 2015 I was granted a PHD grant that allows teachers to combine teaching with research. My PHD project focusses on how gifted pupils react to tasks they find difficult; what (metacognitive) strategies do and don’t they utilize and how can (teachers help) gifted pupils learn from difficult tasks?