21st World Conference
Educating Gifted and Talented Children - Turning Research Into Practice
10-14 August 2015 Odense, Region of Southern Denmark
World Council for Gifted and Talented Children
www.worldgifted2015.com
Dear Colleagues and friends, The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC) is very pleased to invite you to participate in its 21th Biennial World Conference. This event is being held in Odense, Denmark, and is the official international event of the WCGTC 2015. This conference will be very exciting. It will seek to build multicultural bridges and networks across many interests related to Giftedness, Creativity and Talent for those working in Research, Education, Advocacy as well as Social-Emotional areas and Parenting Gifted children. These multicultural viewpoints and networking opportunities will lend a richness to the venue and many new and refreshing perspectives. Exploring the birthplace of the gifted and celebrated children’s story teller Hans Christian Anderson with international colleagues will add unforgettable memories and strengthen ties within our gifted communities and beyond. This conference will provide a programme with the highest calibre of keynote speakers, scholars, presenters and exhibitors. It will bring leaders in gifted education together to share their knowledge, expertise and practices from many cultures. The venue will provide a perfect scientific platform for gifted education, professional dialogue and peer networking aimed at strengthening our services and practices that fulfil our mission. I would like to thank our Danish Conference team for all their ongoing hard work, and to encourage you to attend. Here’s hoping to see you all in Odense, Denmark 2015! Leslie S. Graves WCGTC President
World Council for Gifted & Talented Children
www.world-gifted.org
Focus of the World Conference With the group of researchers and practitioners in the area of gifted and talented education being relatively small the need to come together on a global scale is essential. This is why as the focus of this international conference we suggest working together in transforming knowledge from research into practical tools for teachers and other educators to use on an everyday basis. We will urge all participants to take part in this collaboration and networking in order for the gifted area to advance. We might even agree on a joint research project to be carried out on a global scale. By facilitating a conference where we not only share information but process it through collaboration and crossborder networking, we have the potential to both increase the effectiveness of and validate previously isolated research cells, whilst also forging a much more tight-knit international community. This community is something we refer to as the “Global Village�. Through it, we hope to reach a networking milestone from which we may continue on to fully unfurl both our intellectual and creative potential, ultimately securing a better future for the gifted and talented children everywhere.
The Strands Are: Turning research into practice • Practitioners experience • Who are the gifted • Who are the talented • Teaching gifted and talented in the regular classroom • Differentiating methods • Creativity in the classroom • Successful home/school partnership Giving gifted and talented children a voice • What does it mean to be gifted • What does it mean to be talented • Children’s rights • Their needs, intellectual as well as socio-emotional • What do they need in adults – parents and teachers alike On-site collaboration • Study groups • Networking dinner groups Online collaboration • Setting the stage for future sharing of information • E-networking • E-learning possibilities
We encourage you to submit a proposal that fits one of these strands at www.worldgifted2015.com
Welcome to Odense It is with great pleasure that we welcome The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children World Conference in 2015. We consider our city to be one of the centers in Denmark when it comes to knowledge and education, and we support these in every way we can. Hosting this conference underlines our strong profile of Odense as a city for education and science. Odense has a bit of everything: City life and diversity, but also a charming atmosphere and many green sites right in the middle of the city. The river flowing through the city connects the parks and offers unique opportunities to combine city life with relaxation in beautiful green oases. Odense has a wide and diverse shopping environment. The everyday shops line the pedestrian streets, while the small side streets and alleys are home to tempting specialist shops with international labels and leading Danish design. See you in Odense! -Anker Boye, Mayor of Odense
“To be of use to the world is the only way to be happy.” - Hans Christian Andersen
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Important Dates Online registration opens: August 2014 Proposal abstract submission opens: September 2014 Early registration closes: March 2015 Proposal abstract submission closes: April 2015 Participants should register by June 5, 2015 Final program published: July 17, 2015
Greetings from the Local Conference Committee Our vision for the World Conference is that during the conference people will get to know each other through study groups and networking dinners so that smaller networking groups will be started and continue to thrive after the conference thereby establishing a strong international online community. We will do our very best to make you feel at home in our small city – and we hope you will enjoy the cozy atmosphere as well as our ideas.
www.worldgifted2015.com