Global Awareness: A History of Connection to Today's Classroom Needs

S. Nikki Myers
Network Chair, Global Awareness Network 
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

We have a tendency in educational presentations to go down two paths: immediate classroom techniques; and research towards teacher training. In the process, we can lose the stories of history and universal needs, including the need for human connection. Students who drop out of school often indicate a lack of connection to the school environment, relevant topics, personal motivation, and/or support for challenges or for the heaviness of world events (Bridgeland et al., 2006). Even very young gifted children feel the need for connection early and strongly (Harrison, 2004) as they search for peers who “get” them, with emotional development that is uniquely different from typical peers their age (Cathcart, 2018; A. Roeper, 1996).
Strong empathy, with connection and compassion, is one of the most prevalent traits of gifted children (Wood et al., 2024).

For this reason, Annemarie Roeper advocated passionately for the Global Awareness Network to be added within NAGC. She wanted to recognize this drive for connection, empathy, and concern for one’s impact on the world, and for gifted professionals to connect with each other, too. Her Jewish family fled Nazi oppression in Vienna (Murray, 2012; Silverman, 2016). They believed that “an education that fails to teach children to think and speak for themselves, to recognize the humanity of those about them, and to be able to analyze and interpret events and policies clearly and compassionately leaves them vulnerable to demagogues and mass movements (Roeper School, 2025).” They also believed that children are being born into an increasingly interdependent world (G. Roeper & Roeper, 2013). Annemarie’s interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is powerful for anyone to watch, and even to share with older students (Oral History Interview with Annemarie Roeper, 1992).

We can continue to build upon the need of gifted students to connect with each other, their families, their schools, their study topics, and their world. Social-emotional techniques for communication, emotional regulation, and artistic expression are building blocks, with several practical examples mentioned in a previous Global Awareness blog (Cathcart, 2020; Myers, 2025). Penpals in other cities, and countries, and with nursing homes, professionals, and older and younger students; and virtual museum tours can illustrate how other people think differently and similarly. Community volunteers could help with the time it takes to find these contacts.    

Discussing artwork yields strong possibilities. Musical artist Post Malone recently held a concert at the Louvre in Paris, and social media posts show his walk with an art historian where they connect and react to artwork (Chan, 2024). Annemarie sought these moments for students to understand others’ perspectives and their own actions upon the world, which broadens the concept of Global Awareness to be more than important aspects of food and culture, countries and capitals. The awareness that global humans share similar needs and experiences, and also build different perspectives through situations and backgrounds, is a much bigger awareness to cultivate.

This is where great critical thinking skills can be bound in context, not isolated for its own sake or for general enrichment; but instead, taught as a way to connect and understand, which is a foundational need for gifted students. Just as everyone needs mathematics, everyone needs connection; and at the next level, there are gifted students who need math for breakfast and there are gifted students who need to wrestle with the deep questions. The Global Awareness sessions provided at NAGC conferences attempt to offer these ideas from the work of professional colleagues.  

However, teachers and families must mitigate the potential heaviness of connecting with other people’s emotions and provide limits where overwhelming grief is involved, such as news of the 2011 tsunami in Japan where over 20,000 people died and there were little ones, gifted, who could conceptualize just how big that number was.

Even daily classroom routines can be draining, especially for high sensory needs or no academic peers. A majority of gifted people, old and young, are introverted (Burruss, 1999) with quickly-depleted energy stores, needing quiet time to recharge; the inner world is strong. Just let me think quietly to myself for just a moment… Please let me just read my book with headphones on… Adults can ensure that there are quiet moments in the school day, balance independent and group work, and find opportunities to identify one’s own emotions distinguished from others’. They can provide permission to relax and shift into happy moments despite painful events. We know that gifted children can grow up into gifted adults who join educational circles and read NAGC publications, too. Here is looking at you. How are you supporting your own opportunities for joy? This is an ongoing journey towards the Global Awareness that Annemarie was hoping for. 

For the new school year: add “Connection” as one of your universal themes, and know that you are advancing one of the important ideas from Annemarie and the Global Awareness network (Curry & Samara, 1991; Tucker, 2008; “Universal Themes & Generalizations,” 2006). There are many ethical discussions to have about AI, connection, the environment, robots, and other topics great for another article (please consider being a blog author). However, as a teacher’s time-saving tool, ChatGPT 4.0 suggests that generalizations could include: Connection fosters empathy and understanding; is essential for community building; transcends physical boundaries; enhances personal growth; and is a fundamental human need. Students can analyze this list and consider what could be missing or should be redefined as criteria across disciplines. For example, does this account for connection in electricity? equations? bridges? 

As a researcher, mental health or educational professional, consider the moments where connection can be studied, grown, and supported in your work. We exist within an increasingly connected world despite polarizing topics in the news. We have all seen situations where truly listening to each other bridges gaps that otherwise seemed insurmountable. Annemarie Roeper lived through times that caused the Roepers to commit the rest of their lives to building awareness in students for connection, compassion, and understanding of oneself and others, and we have strategies for this awareness that we can use, too. We can also remember to turn to the colleagues around us right now and say, I see you. Thanks for advocating for kids and adults on these journeys. We’re all in this together. And we hope you check out the ways to connect with Global Awareness Network conversations on the new Engage platform, too.

References

Bridgeland, J. M., DiIulio Jr., J. J., & Morison, K. B. (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Civic Enterprises, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Burruss, J. (1999, October 2). Introversion: The Often Forgotten Factor Impacting the Gifted. SENG. https://www.sengifted.org/post/introversion-the-often-forgotten-factor-impacting-the-gifted

Cathcart, R. (2018). Giftedness for our time and place. Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 27(2). https://doi.org/10.21505/ajge.2018.0015

Cathcart, R. (2020). They’re Not Bringing My Brain Out: Understanding and Working with Gifted and Talented Learners (4th ed.). Hachette New Zealand.

Chan, T. (2024, June 4). Post Malone Packs the Louvre for Private Show in Paris. https://www.rollingstone.com/product-recommendations/lifestyle/post-malone-visa-live-at-louvre-paris-concert-1235032059/

Curry, J., & Samara, J. (1991). Curriculum guide for the education of gifted high school students. Texas Association for the Gifted. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED373471

Harrison, C. (2004). Giftedness in early childhood: The search for complexity and connection. Roeper Review, 26(2), 78–84. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02783190409554246

Murray, D. D. (2012, May 13). Founder of Bloomfield Hills Roeper School dies at 93. New Haven Register. https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Founder-of-Bloomfield-Hills-Roeper-School-dies-at-11473914.php

Myers, S. N. (2025, March 6). Global Awareness, Ethical Development and This Moment in Time—National Association for Gifted Children. National Association for Gifted Children: NAGC Blog. https://nagc.org/blogpost/2061726/508535/Global-Awareness-Ethical-Development-and-This-Moment-in-Time

Oral history interview with Annemarie Roeper (1999.A.0122.75). (1992). [Video recording]. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn507746

Roeper, A. (1996). A personal statement of philosophy of George and Annemarie Roeper. Roeper Review, 19(1), 18–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199609553776

Roeper, G., & Roeper, A. (2013). The Roeper Philosophy. Brill. https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789462094192/BP000004.xml

Roeper School. (2025). Early educational philosophy. The Roeper School. https://www.roeper.org/list-detail?pk=93120

Silverman, L. K. (2016). A Garden of Ethics, Roeper Review, 201. Roeper Review   The Legacy of George and Annemarie Roeper, 4. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2016.1220856

Tucker, T. N. (2008). Searching for hidden treasure: The identification of under-represented gifted and talented students. [Doctoral dissertation]. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS.

Universal themes & generalizations. (2006). Duke University TIP. https://emcsdgate.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/6/0/11600328/themes_generalizations.pdf

Wood, V. R., Bouchard, L., De Wit, E., Martinson, S. P., & Petegem, P. V. (2024). Prevalence of Emotional, Intellectual, Imaginational, Psychomotor, and Sensual Overexcitabilities in Highly and Profoundly Gifted Children and Adolescents: A Mixed-Methods Study of Development and Developmental Potential. Education Sciences, 14(8), 817. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080817