Building the Scaffolding for Creative Development

by Anne Stevens How often do children talk in the media about how parents can support them in their efforts to develop expertise? This recent article in Forbes generated some interesting discussion here at CTD: http://www.forbes.com/sites/coelicarr/2011/09/15/10-tips-from-a-15-year-old-app-developer-on-the-vc-fast-track-how-parents-can-nurture-their-teenage-tech-prodigies/ The points this young developer makes are all related to the delicate act of "scaffolding" a gifted child’s development. A scaffold is a temporary structure: you roll it up when it's needed and then roll it away when it is not. "Scaffolding" allows the child to feel supported in his/her efforts, but not pressured to develop his/her work to your expectations. Knowing when to "roll away" is a demonstration of trust to your child. As one of our staffers pointed out, it is important to recognize that while engaging in these sorts of self-directed projects, the child is often in what Czikszentmihalyi described as "a state of flow," where he/she is fully engaged in the moment. This state itself is highly motivating all on its own. Allow and encourage your child to reap the rewards that comes with this state of flow, rather than ‘pulling them out of the moment’ by introducing external pressures or distractions. The ‘flow’ is inevitably accompanied by bumps, bruises and false starts. A brief article like this one does not address the likely cul-de-sacs and wrong turns D’Alosio took in his path to his app release, or the doubts that he or his parents might have had along his long and intense path to programming. Steady parental support and trust through an intensive learning process yielded an engaged and self-assured young adult. What about in a family, unlike Nick D’Aloisio’s, where parents do have background in their child’s area of interest? How might parent expertise contribute to creative development? A colleague pointed us to an article in the International Journal of Learning and Media about a detailed qualitative study of eight young technology users with parents working in Silicon Valley. These tech-savvy parents all acknowledged their children’s developing expertise by focusing their support on scaffolding through labor (claymation, anyone?), resources, and non-technical consulting. ‘Teacher’ as a role was identified as something that happened early and gradually shifted to Field Consultant, Project Collaborator, Learning Broker, or Resource Provider. The parents in the study carefully describe making space for their kids to develop individual identities in a technologically rich environment. As a parent myself, I liken the thousands of hours this boy spent teaching himself the software and programming languages he uses to the hours my daughter spends drawing and reading. As parents, we can reflect quietly on where this might all lead…but, according to Nick D’Aloisio, we should keep our hopes and aspirations for our kids to ourselves. "Scaffolding" is a useful metaphor for effectively supporting our gifted students: provide support, resources, and a listening ear, and gently move away to savor their independent learning when they signal they are ready. How do you help your child(ren) build scaffolding for their creative pursuits? Anne Stevens is a visual artist with an MA in Visual Studies from UC Berkeley. She has developed the Creative Studies program exclusively for the Center for Talent Development’s Saturday Enrichment Program, as well as an online curriculum for CTD’s Gifted LearningLinks Program.