In many respects, the ‘gifted brain’ resembles an active volcano on the verge of eruption: swirling, chaotic and yearning for release. Stemming the Flow … explores the neuroscience that fuels everything educators admire about the gifted and talented yet tends to wreak emotional havoc. In an effort to facilitate focus, confidence and competence, this presentation explores the arts as a whole and disaggregated by artistic discipline and defines their specific roles—individually and in concert—in stemming the flow of cognitive lava. Resources and recommendations are disaggregated by grade level and unique attention is paid to special populations within the gifted community, including twice exceptional pupils and those who are diverse linguistically and socioeconomically.

1. Morgan P.Appel
Director, Education Department

2. Into the Light:
Understanding the Gifted
Using Plato’s Allegory of
the Cave
In many ways, the gifted and
talented are akin to the
imprisoned featured in Plato’s
Allegory. Their perceptions are
shaped by shadow, distortion and
exaggerated interpretation
emerging from their unique
neurobiology and socio-affective
characteristics.
Thus, one of the most important
duties parents of the gifted have
is to help bring them into daylight
and offer them a quality of life
with a lesser degree of anxiety
and intensity.
The same neurochemistry that
fuels all we love about the gifted
in the classroom and at home can
wreak havoc internally.That is
why counseling the gifted takes
all the king’s horses and all the
king’s men.

3. Brian Bits:
Wisdom from the
Ancients
In ancient Egypt,
when humans were
preserved through
mummification, the
brain was discarded-
-viewed as a
superfluous organ. It
was believed that
the heart was the
center of all emotion
and learning.

4. Wisdom from the Original
Renaissance Man: Good
Ol’ Leo
“As every divided kingdom
falls, so every mind divided
by many studies confounds
and saps itself.”
“I have been impressed
with the urgency of doing.
Knowing is not enough; we
must apply. Being willing is
not enough. We must do.”
“He who loves practice
without theory is like a
sailor who boards a ship
without a rudder and a
compass and never knows
where he may cast.”
“All our knowledge has its
origin in our perceptions.”

5. “When we are at work, we ought to be at work.When we are at play, we ought to be
at play.There is no use trying to mix the two.” – Henry Ford
“People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it.”
– Southwest Airlines Mission Statement
The Conceptual Age/Knowledge Economy requires creativity; empathy; happiness;
meaning; critical thinking; problem solving; effective communication; metacognitive
abilities (sound habits of mind) and collaboration.
Providing manifold opportunities for flow compels students to be creative and
collaborative, playing important and more interdependent roles in the creation of
their own learning environments that address their cognitive and affective needs.

6. Brain Bits:
Teaching as Art
Versus Science
Teaching is an art form—
not a delivery system.
Teaching is an arts
practice. It’s about
connoisseurship and
judgment and intuition.We
all remember the great
teachers in our lives.The
ones who kind of woke us
up and that we’re still
thinking about because
they said something to us
or they gave us an angle on
something that we’ve
never forgotten.
--Sir Ken Robinson

7.  Involving
 Spirited/Manic
 Chaotic
 Porous/Focused
 Tense
 Artistic
 Creative Play
 Collaborative
 Competitive
 Energetic
 Purpose-Driven
 Synergistic
 Differentiated
 Epiphany-Based

8. The Importance
of Creative Play
Creativity
Abstract thinking
Problem solving/Process
Imagination
Mastering new concepts
Self-confidence
Self-esteem
Anxiety reduction
Cooperation
Sharing
Empathy
Conflict resolution
Leadership
Communication
Vocabulary
Storytelling
Persistence
Concentration
Communication skills
‘Brain release’

9. 1. The brain is a complex adaptive system.
2. The brain is a social brain.
3. The search for meaning is innate.
4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning.
5. Emotions are critical to patterning.
6. Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates
parts and wholes.
7. Learning involves both focused attention and
peripheral attention.
8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious
processes.
9. We have at least two ways of organizing memory.
10. Learning is developmental.
11. Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and
inhibited by threat.
12. Every brain is uniquely organized.
Source: Caine andCaine (1997)
Vygotsky’s Zone of
Proximal Development

10. The gifted brain is
much like a volcano
on the verge of
eruption.
Chaotic, swirling, yet
somehow controlled
unconsciously
seeking order and
release.
The same neurochemistry
that fuels all we love about
our gifted and talented
students cognitively also
tends to wreak tremendous
affective havoc.

12. • Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (1975, 1990)/positive
psychology
• A Zen-like, intensive state in which an individual becomes
completely emerged in an experience
• “In the groove,” OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE, “In the zone”
• Time stops (almost a meditative state) or flies
• “Seeing the seams of the baseball” or “seeing the Matrix”
• Losing oneself so that one is so focused, s/he is unaware of
distractions, even bodily needs
• A universal and cross-cultural experience
• Connectivity between emotion, motivation and
internalization

13.  Balance between individual’s ability and level of difficulty in
the challenge (cannot be too easy or difficult or flow cannot
occur).
 Goals should be clear. Expectations are foreseen and goals are
attainable.
 High degree of concentration in a limited field of attention—
person should be able to focus and become deeply engaged in
the activity.
 A loss of self-consciousness is experienced (unaware of self
and what the self is doing).
 Sense of time transcendence (subjective experience of time is
altered—passes quickly/slowly/slow motion)

14. When in the flow state,
the brain is actively
seeking out information
from multiple sources
to engage in problem
solving activities.
That is where motivation,
Persistence and creativity
make their homes.
That is FLOW.
Where are your students?

15. Flow is cognitive, affective and metacognitive. It is primitive,
innate and essentially brain compatible at its core. It defines us
as human. For gifted individuals, flow helps contain (or at least
guide) the flow of cognitive lava, as it were.
Teachers establish conditions for flow and monitor the flow
channel.You can continue the work at home. Flow, however,
cannot be compelled or scheduled in a traditional sense.
One cannot flow all day. A little goes a long way—both at
school and at home.

16. Another From the
Ultimate Renaissance
Man
Everything is
connected to
everything else.
--look at daVinci’s
Design for a Flying
Machine to
appreciate the
merits of this
simple, yet
profound
declaration.

17. The Arts Tell Our
Stories
From the cave
paintings at
Lascaux that told
the stories of
those who resided
therein—what
they encountered
and how they
lived…

18. The Arts Tell Our
Stories
…to the
Modernist Era of
the early 1960s
that captured our
consumer culture
and commented
eloquently on the
state of society...

19. The Arts Tell Our
Stories
…to the music that
helped communicate
information about the
quality of life from
Compton to Oakland to
NewYork…
The arts tell our stories
in ways that are non-
traditional, rich and
unusually robust.They
belong to us all, and
compel us to think
about things differently.
The arts serve as
catalysts for flow.

20.  Need for holistic metacognitive training as well as
organizational/time management skills
 Multimodal, multisensory learners
 Great integrators of information
 Tremendous analytical skills
 Frequently bored, unchallenged
 Naturally drawn to aesthetics
 Seek out the tacit, tangible, ‘real world’ applications
 Enjoy hypotheses, role playing, etc
 The brain intuitively seeks multisensory patterns to make
sense of the world

21.  Provides ‘safe’ environments for gifted learners (no ‘right’ or
‘wrong’ answers
 Facilitates freedom of expression and seeing ‘shades of gray’
 Provides unique opportunities for flexible grouping, tiering and
differentiated instruction (ability, learning style and interest)
 Provides opportunities to move from concrete (manipulation) to
application and abstraction
 Socially constructed learning that connects to the ‘real world’ –
answers the question ‘when will I ever use this again’
 Offers challenges to students at all levels—students can find their
own levels, automatically (self differentiation)
 Measure longitudinal progress, including closure events

22. Although we all see lines and boxes, our
Experiences will dictate whether we see the
front as nearest to us or in the back. A rather
rudimentary tool like the Necker Cube can
compel gifted pupils to think beyond black and
white and ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Important in ethics,
important in physics.
Is the front here?
Is the front here?

23.  The theory of ‘transference’ has not been proven (that is,
arts knowledge does not transfer in a linear way to other
disciplines)—although the arts have been shown to develop
‘sound habits of mind’
 As the benefits of the arts are developmental in nature,
students do not show the same gains from ‘one shot’ arts
events, ‘holiday arts’ experiences, or arts as reward for good
behavior
 Benefits are enhanced by meaningful teacher participation
(not as a time to grade papers)
 One does not have to be an artist to integrate the arts across
the curriculum—just have an artistic spirit!

24.  Enhances biological survival (hard wired for music—
attracting mates, imitation, etc.)
 Advances cognitive systems (visual-spatial; analytical;
mathematical; creative)
 Advances stress-response systems
 Improves memory, concentration and recall
 Improves ability to follow directions, work collaboratively
and/or individually
 Positively affects emotional systems, including
enhancement of cultural understanding; social skills;
personal skills
Source: Jensen, 2001

25. The arts and higher-
order thinking
Education in art is an
invitation to use the
reasoning skills of an
artist.The artist
visualizes and sets goals
to find and define the
problem, chooses
techniques to collect
data, and then evaluates
and revises the problem
solution with
imagination in order to
create.The artist, in his
or her creative process,
requires a high-order
thought process (Goertz,
2002).

26.  Again, hard wired as part of survival mechanism—also a
‘sketchpad’ to accompany the spoken word
 Link between visual arts and improvement in creativity, critical
thinking and reading (no easy answers!)
 Can enhance awareness in cognitively and culturally diverse
classrooms
 Improvement in vocabulary and writing skills
 Improvement in recall, identification of patterns and outliers
 Provides students with ‘choice’ and greater levels of motivation
(attendance, participation)
 Improved levels of task commitment and self control; teamwork,
time management (especially relevant for twice-exceptional
pupils)
Source: Jensen, 2001

27. Wisdom from Pablo
Picasso
Every child is an
artist.The problem is
how to remain an
artist once (s)he
grows up.
We tend to lose our
enthusiasm for the arts
around third grade,
when we feel less free to
color outside the lines
and become more
aware that our
renditions look less and
less like the ‘real thing.’

28.  Enhance cognition, positive attitudes, confidence—may grow new
brain cells
 Enhance ongoing development of various neurobiological
systems, including cognition, immune, circulatory and perpetual-
motor
 Provide unique challenges and environmental constraints that
require the application of multiple tools/systems to manage
(versus seatwork)
 Compels making rapid decisions, keeping attention up, alertness
for potential problems, scaffolding upon past experiences
 Increases Emotional Intelligence (monitoring own emotions,
reading those of others)
Source: Jensen, 2001

29. Healing Thyself
Research undertaken
with medical residents
immersed in the visual
and performing arts as
part of the core
curriculum indicate
improved diagnostic
abilities and
understanding of non-
verbal cues. ‘Bedside
manner’ was also shown
to have improved
(empathy, self regulation
of emotions, stress
management).

30.  Inspire creativity because of a ‘natural recipe’ for brain growth:
challenge, novelty, feedback, coherence and time
 Improve understanding of sequencing, time, and collaborative
interpretation skills
 Improve learning through multimodal reinforcement (running
from state to state)
 Opportunities to relate with the opposite sex in a non-threatening
setting that calls for social discipline
 ‘Language’ of dance
 Improve Emotional Intelligence, empathy (puts oneself in the
shoes of another)
 ‘Feel good’ chemicals run high: noradrenaline, dopamine
Source: Jensen, 2001

31. The Language of
Dance
Laban notation is a
symbolic language (not
unlike hieroglyphs or
today’s Emojis) that
provide us with a way to
choreograph and
understand human
movement.
Dance, like music, offers
a unique interpretation
of cultural perspectives,
histories and
traditions—for example,
the Hula or the
Vietnamese Harvest
Dance.

32.  Designed reinforcement and redundancies across the
curriculum
 Slower, more interactive learning versus ‘teaching to
the test’ (takes longer, but builds more complex and
intelligent neural networks)
 Arts yield mutually reciprocal benefits (other
disciplines help to develop proficiency in the arts)
 Affords opportunities for informed intellectual risk
taking, as well as the opportunity to pursue the tacit,
tangible and emotionally inspiring

33. The Monuments
Men
The story of the Monuments
Men is inspiring for a number
of reasons – a good movie
and an even better read.
Beyond preserving our
shared cultural history as war
raged through Europe, the
epilogue of the Monuments
Men helped bridge science
and the arts.
The field of conservation and
restoration involves a host of
scientific tools and concepts
(infared, x-rays, chemistry,
among others)—with many
techniques pioneered by Lt.
Cdr. George Stout (played by
George Clooney in the
movie).

34.  Have students study history and geography through
the arts, creating multimedia representations of
significant events using multiple perspectives (such as
analyzing the life of an historical figure using music,
visual representations and speeches)
 Study art phenomena during a particular period of
history, explaining how the arts depict the time
 Apply scientific concepts (such as the study of light
and light waves, looking for patterns and outliers,
prediction) to an artistic composition
Source: Smutny, 2003

35. 1940s2000s
Elements of
Depth and
Complexity
• Details
• Big Picture
• Perspectives
• Ethics
• OverTime
• Rules
• Language
• Patterns
• Unanswered ?s
• Across Disciplines

36.  Math, art and science explore the ‘true nature’ of the world
around us. Exploring works of art help students understand and
explain whether things are what they seem.
 Investigate works of art from two sides of a conflict—how is the
world depicted by each side using music, visual, dramatic arts?
How are the arts used to tell stories and present causes (WWII
propaganda is particularly telling)
 Have students design a low-cost, eco-friendly (but saleable) car,
including marketing media (commercials, print ads, etc)
 Use teaching artists to help teach across the curriculum using
the arts (many have their own equipment)

37. Yo trabajaba, mis hijos iban creciendo
Todos nacieron bajo de esta gran nacion
-- y mis derechos los han ido pisoteando
van formulando leyes de constitucion
Que ha ya viejo si me quitan mi dinero --
yo solo quiero mi seguro de pension
LosTigres del Norte, “Mis dos Patrias,”
1997
Now fill your glasses up, my boys, a
toast come drink with me,
May Erin's Harp and the Starry Flag
united ever be;
May traitors quake, and rebels
shake, and tremble in their fears,
When next they meet theYankee
boys and Irish volunteers!
God bless the name ofWashington!
that name this land reveres;
Success to Meagher and Nugent,
and their Irish volunteers!
Chorus--God bless the name, etc.
“The Bonny Blue Flag,” 1861
What are the
similarities/
differences?

38. 1940s, Iwo Jima 2000s, Baghdad
What is the symbolism? How do things change over time?

39. When was this car built?
How do you know?
How does the design of the
car reflect the times?
Beyond style, is there purpose
behind the design?What is it? How
do you know?
Your assignment: Design a modern car with a ‘retro’ influence—taking into consideration
cost, price, fuel efficiency, environment, etc. Alternatively, design a car that best depicts
the times we live in today!

40. The Night James
Brown Saved Boston
Say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud!
Say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud!
Some people say we've got a lot of
malice, some say it’s a lot of nerve.
But I say we won't quit moving until
we get what we deserve.We have
been bucked and we have been
scornedWe have been treated bad,
talked about as just bones.
But just as it takes two eyes to make a
pair, ha Brother we can’t quit until we
get our share! Say it loud: I'm black
and I'm proud! Say it loud: I'm black
and I'm proud!
One more time! Say it loud: I'm black
and I'm proud! I worked on jobs with
my feet and my hand. But all the
work I did was for the other man Now
we demand a chance to do things for
ourselves.We're tired of beatin' our
head against the wall And workin' for
someone else.
--James Brown, 1968

41. Blackbird Singing in
the Dead of Night
Blackbird singing in the
dead of night
Take these broken wings
and learn to fly
All your life, you were
only waiting for this
moment to arise
You were only waiting for
this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for
this moment to arise
--Paul McCartney, 1968

42. Trust a scientist
Creativity is seeing
what everyone else
sees, but then thinking
a new thought that has
never been thought
before and expressing it
somehow. It could be
with art, a sculpture,
music or even in science.
Dr. Neil deGrasseTyson

44. Morgan Appel, Director
Education Department
UC San Diego Extension
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-N
La Jolla, California 92093-0170
mappel@ucsd.edu
858-534-9273
extension.ucsd.edu/education