Technology Talent Development: Beyond an Hour of Code

Abstract

As technologically gifted students apply their abilities to computer science, they naturally flow through the talent development stages of potential, competency, and expertise. Processes that have always been important for gifted students to learn as they develop potential are embedded in learning code, which engages the beginning programmer in rich and complex authentic projects (Housand et al., 2017). As stakeholders present opportunities for open-ended, creative processes and products, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA; 2017) and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE; 2016) Standards can form guidelines for gifted students to self-direct their education through technology. Learning to code results in both cognitive and psychosocial skill development, including creative and critical thinking, logical and systematic reasoning, positive risk-taking and processing of feedback, perseverance through challenges, social skills, and collaboration.