Some parents dream of developing the child's talent almost from a nursery. The kid is still sitting on the pot: how to understand that he is gifted? Why is ability in math related to drawing? How does a set of genes affect USE scores?
Hundreds of scientific teams around the world are racking their brains over how to predict a child's success in school and in life. For example, it has been experimentally proven: by how a four-year-old child draws a little man, one can predict his grades in mathematics in the sixth grade. Why? Drawing is a good test of intelligence. The number of details, the level of their elaboration, even how many arms and legs a drawn hero has - everything can serve as a kind of "marker". But this does not mean that a child who draws well will receive a Fields Prize in the future. Everything is much more complicated. The set of genes inherited from the parents and the environment in which the baby grows plays a role.
- Research is underway to identify specific sets of genes responsible for intelligence. For example, British scientists have proved that the grade received by English schoolchildren for the final test (analogous to our USE) depends on heredity by 60 percent, - says the director of the Institute of Biology and Biomedicine of the UNN. N. I. Lobachevsky (university - participant of the 5-100 project), specialist in the field of neurosciences Maria Vedunova. - In another study, scientists found a set of genes associated with how many years on average a person spends on learning, what grades they receive.
True, the reliability of such forecasts is still low, but the tools in the hands of scientists are becoming more and more perfect. In many countries, studies are underway with thousands of children. So, in America, for example, 13-year-old schoolchildren were asked to write a math test for high school students (analogous to the USE). The fate of those who did the best (1 percent of the participants), scientists followed for 35 years. For many of these guys, science has become a profession. So the researchers were eventually able to predict success in terms of the number of patents and scientific publications received.
Perhaps, in the future, the results of the Russian Unified State Exam will be able to become a similar benchmark. We are already beginning such studies. True, according to Maria Vedunova, the test solution does not correlate in any way with leadership and other personal qualities. Therefore, it is so difficult to predict who a child who is good at solving problems at school might become.
- There is a very powerful volitional component that ensures the success of people with a lower starting intellectual level. And here it is obvious that sometimes the ability to pull yourself together and teach, while there are games, TV, friends, is more important than a genetically conditioned ability, for example, to think logically, says Maria Vedunova.
A very famous "marshmallow test": they put a marshmallow on the table in front of the child and offer a choice - take it now or be patient for 15 minutes. If you endure it, you will get two marshmallows. The experiment was carried out at Stanford back in the late 60s. And here's the hard evidence: Children who choose two "delayed" marshmallows instead of one are more successful in school and in life. Why? They know how to control their desires.
“In addition, there are so-called epigenetic factors: they are activated or suppressed depending on external conditions. Even a very good genetic predisposition may end up unrealized if a person, for example, was unable to continue learning, says Maria Vedunova. - This is what is called “unrealized genotype”. Therefore, the most important thing is to engage in the development of the child and monitor his inclinations, directing his creative and intellectual potential, creating motivation and strengthening the volitional component.
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