Today - David Shenk Webinar

FutureofEducation.com is hosting a live and interactive webinar featuring David Shenk is the author of a brilliant book The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong. This is a ground-breaking - even liberating - book on talent and potential that has radical implications for how we think about education.

Date: Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12 am GMT

Duration: 1 hour

Location: Eluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed

Event and Recording Page: http://www.learncentral.org/event/142210

For more information, check out Steve Hargadon's blog.



Other Posts:

We inherit - and we also become

IQ: Misunderstood and Misused

Irrational IQ tests

Maybe it's my fault

The Power of Context

Perhaps it's time to rethink the term "gifted"? by John Robinson

Perhaps it's time to rethink the term "gifted"?

This was written by John Robinson who has taught High School English Middle School Language Arts 16 Years, School Level Administrator 5 years, BA English, MA Instructional Technology-Computers, MSA School Administration, EdS Educational Leadership, Licensed Teacher, Instructional Technologist, Principal, Superintendent.

You can find him on Twitter here: @21stprincipal. 


And he blogs here: http://the21stcenturyprincipal.blogspot.com/


by John Robinson

“Talent is not a thing; it’s a process,” is the argument made in David Shenk’s book The Genius in All of Us.  For years, the nature versus nurture debate has simmered, with most of us coming out on the side of nature at times. Since psychologists Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray warned that our society was increasingly becoming stratified between those who have the genes for intelligence and high cognitive functioning, and those who are unfortunate in that they inherited genetically the lot of mediocre intelligence and only average cognitive functioning, it has been widely accepted that there are those who are “gifted” or “talented” and then the rest of us.


But, what if, genetics is more complicated than that? What if our talents and giftedness are not solely dictated by those magical genes we carry inside us? Shenk’s book tries to provide such an argument by pointing out a new “dynamic model” of genetics called “interactionalism.”  In this model of genetics, rather than being blueprints that dictate who or what we become, genes are more like “knobs and switches” that respond to a wide variety of factors both internal and external. According to Shenk, these factors include things like: nutrition, hormones, sensory input, intellectual activity, and even other genes. The old genetics model basically says that genes come first and influence what we are and what we become. The interactionalism model says it all begins with interaction with these internal and external factors which determine how genes express themselves.


This model of genetics is intriguing to me as an educator. Like Shenk, it makes me ask the question, “What if no one is genetically doomed to mediocrity?” Shenk clearly qualifies this model of genetics by saying that it doesn’t necessarily mean that we can become whatever we want to become. We are still limited within both environmental factors and genetics, but he gives us a perfect analogy in his book to describe our genetic differences. He says, “Our genetic differences aren’t straitjackets holding us in place; they are bungee cords waiting to be stretched and stretched.” Perhaps we as educators can consider ourselves these “stretchers of bungee cords” in some fashion. Our job is to find a way to tap into and use what Shenk calls “Positive Environmental Triggers” to pull all we can academically from our students. Shenk gives a list of some of these positive environmental triggers in his book:

• Speaking to children early and often
• Reading early and often
• Nurturance and encouragement
• Setting high expectations
• Embracing failure
• Encouraging what Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset”

David Shenk’s book and the ideas of genetic interactionalism are definitely something we as educators should ponder. What if our school policy is actually holding back students who could otherwise demonstrate a level of talent or giftedness of which we were not aware? What if there are missed opportunities to “stretch” students beyond the achievement boundaries many have set for them? I think we’ve all known those occasional teachers who seem to miraculously do just that. They get students to do things that no one else has ever been able to do. Just maybe, these teachers actually redefine the word “gifted” by what they do with kids.

We inherit - and we also become

The nurture vs nature debate is a timeless one. Many people tend to polarize to one or the other and then dig their heals in and debate.

I was reading David Shenk's The Genius in All of Us and was blown away by this photo:

Otto and Ewald are identical (monozygotic) twins. That means they were born from twin embyos derived from  the same fertilized egg. They share the same DNA.

If you look closely you can see some very subtle differences.

Otto trained as a long distance-runner, and Ewald for strength events. Together, they trained for two very different athletic advantages.

Some would have us believe that we don't become. We are.

And while it would be ridiculous to suggest that anyone can literally do or be anything they want to, it is equally as foolish to see our abilities as set in genetic stone. David Shenk explains:

But the whole concept of genetic giftedness turns out to be wildly off the mark - tragically kept afloat for decades by a cascade of misunderstandings and misleading metaphors. In recent years, a mountain of scientific evidence has emerged that overwhelmingly suggests a completely different paradigm: not talent scarcity, but latent talent abundance. In this conception, human talent and intelligence are not permanently in short supply like fossil fuel, but potentially plentiful like wind power. The problem isn't our inadequate genetic assets, but our inability, so far, to tap into what we already have...

So where is this hidden talent?

How do we unlock this long lost source of success?

In her book Mindset, Carol Dweck points towards our minds:

Physical endowment is not like intellectual endowment. It's visible. Size, build, agility are all visible. Practice and training are also visible, and they produce visible results. You would think that this would dispel the myth of the natural. You could see Mugsy Bogues at five foot three playing NBA basketball, and Doug Flutie, the small quarterback who has played for the New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers. You could see Pete Gray, the one-armed baseball player who made it to the major leagues. Ben Hogan, one of the greatest golfers of all time, who was completely lacking in grace. Glenn Cunningham, the great runner, who had badly burned and damaged legs. Larry Bird and his lack of swiftness. You can see the small or graceless or even "disabled" ones who make it, and the god-like specimens who don't. Shouldn't this tell people something?

Rather than seeing ourselves as prisoners of our genetics, it would be far more wise for us to realize that we can't even begin to quantify our unactualized genetic potential.

David Shenk summarizes this all nicely:

Our abilities are not set in genetic stone. They are soft and sculptable, far into adulthood. With humility, with hope, and with extraordinary determination, greatness is something to which any kid - of any age - can inspire.