Digital Skills and Giftedness: a Comparative Analysis of Technology Use

ABSTRACT In the face of the popularization of Digital Information and Communication Technologies (TDIC) and the ease of access to the Internet we have today, we cannot ignore that today’s students are immersed in a digital culture, have characteristics and different behaviors, are influenced by the huge flow of information available on the Internet and the immediate interactivity of digital resources. Considering the skills of these students on seeking, selecting and sharing information, it is possible to think and investigate how the early and/or gifted students relate to technology. We consider the TDIC as important intellectual tools for the enrichment of gifted students, however, it is necessary to identify the skills that are specific to these students and those that are common to all digital natives to guide and help them develop their digital competencies. Thus, the aim of this study is to verify the quality of the actions of digital native students with and without early and/or gifted behavior regarding the TDIC. As for the method, this is a comparative study that describes the use of the early and/or gifted students in their behavior (G1) and students without this specificity (G2), from the initial and final years of elementary school, make of the TDIC. We noted that although the skills and digital competences of students in both groups are similar, students of G1 showed more quality in their actions. We noted that G1 were more aware of the actions, resulting in a bigger difference between the students in the early years of elementary school, attributed to the characteristics of phenomenon of precocity.