The actiotope model of giftedness: a short introduction to some central theoretical assumptions

Scenario 1: Favela Rocinha in the south of Rio de Janeiro. Little Carlos is

sitting on three piled-up tyres. The four chairs around the only table in the

wooden hut are occupied by his oldest brother and his friend playing cards

together.

Scenario 2: 155th street, Holocombe Rucker Playground, in the middle of

a neighborhood in the poorest part of Harlem. Mike, aged eight, is dreaming

of doing one 'slam dunk' after another some day during the 'Rucker',

the world's most famous street basketball tournament.

Scenario 3: The room of Lian, a third-grade pupil. She's going to do a

mathematics test in two weeks, but cannot decide if she should start studying

or watch a TV show which is very popular among her classmates.

It may seem unlikely to us that Carlos is going to be a professional card player,

that Mike is going to be a professional basketball player or that Lian is going to

be a great mathematician. But how could this scenario change?