Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Question on demonstrating gifted ability...

This is from my other post about beginning assessment for ds10 for giftedness in math.
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I have just recently gotten another book on pre-algebra, one on algebra and one on 'solving problems in astronomy' to see what would appeal, and to have something more substantial to hand in for the 'work at home' aspect of this assessment.

Well, the pre-algebra was ok for a few minutes, but quickly became obvious that he knew all there was or picked it up so fast it was like he knew it already...ok, onto the algebra book.
Granted this thing starts with pascal's triangle, which he's checked out before, and math with exponents, substituting for variables/etc., (easy stuff) but we are 1/4th of the way through the book in a couple of days and not finding anything to have him even pause to think about it before he's like 'ok', I get it, does a few problems and gets a bit bored with the repetition aspect...."

I have about a week left before they close the book on data / examples to collect on ds.
I have gone through these books, asking ds to work a few problems here and there on several different pages, mostly algebra or pre-algebra kinds of work. I did not want to take him deep into this subject but just see about what sorts of ideas he could quickly/easily pick up and demonstrate some comprehension of... I think if he got any real instruction at this level he would do really well, but I worry too that I am fooling myself.

I can think of several criticisms of this approach, so I am wondering - would a child's ability to quickly pick up and work on algebra at a basic level seem to indicate some good math potential (he is in 5th grade, and supposedly this won't be presented until 7th grade for kids who do well on math in 5th grade testing; 8th grade for others). Or would most folks consider this too scatter-shot an approach to be able to tell anything??
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

They will probably be doing a woodcock johnson ability test of some sort, not even sure what it is called, so that will probably have the most weight anyway.

It certainly seems to me that picking up and being able to use mathematical concepts without really being taught is a sign of mathematical potential. The approach you describe might be too scattershot to be convincing about what an appropriate placement is, however; that of course depends on achievement as well as ability. Might be OK if the school is flexible enough to commit to helping him catch up with any bits of earlier material he's missed, but they might reasonably want to see that he's secure on everything in level N before they put him in level N+1. What are you aiming for? If you want him placed in a particular class, it would probably be useful to google up a test of prerequisites for that level and make sure he can do them. E.g., Art of Problem solving gives a brief assessment sheet labelled "Are you ready for this?" and another labelled "Do you need this?" for each of its courses, which might be handy: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php

(Watch also for how much, if any, direction/correction/encouragement you're giving him as you work through the books: I find that with my DS there is quite a gap between what he can do with a minimal helping hand and what he can do completely unaided in a classroom. I think that's fine and normal, but one does have to be aware of it, and if you're using assessment tests, be clear which condition you're using them under.)

Good luck!

Thanks Colinsmum, the 'are you ready for this?' sounds like a good resource, I will check it out.
I am not trying to figure out a placement at this point; I do give him some instruction for most of the pages, usually just 1 or 2 examples and then he does a handful of problems based on what I've shown him. I am definitely not expecting him to handle the same unaided in a classroom, at least not the hardest ones, so perhaps I will add this to my note I will be sending along with the work examples.