Enhancing Social-Emotional Development through Service-Learning: Experience from Gifted Students and Their Parents in Hong Kong

This study looked into the experience of a group of elementary school students as well as their parents from Hong Kong, in a service-learning programme that aimed at facilitating the social-emotional development among gifted students. A total of 51 students and 72 parents participated in the focus group interview three months after the service-learning programme for working with children who have Down Syndrome. Transcripts of all interviews were reviewed using thematic analysis. Four broad themes were identified. These were: knowledge enhancement on Down Syndrome, improvement in interpersonal skills, facilitation of personal growth, and enhanced empathy, were identified. Our findings provided support for the benefits and impact of a short-term service-learning programme on improving multiple aspects of gifted students' personal and social growth. As students and parents endorsed the value of this experiential learning opportunity, such a service-learning programme can be promoted as an educational option addressing gifted students' socio-emotional needs and facilitating their psychosocial development.

Keywords: Service-learning; social-emotional development; gifted students

Gifted and talented students, though always characterised by exceptionally high cognitive abilities, may suffer equally as their non-gifted peers from interpersonal conflicts and other social and emotional problems (e.g. Garland and Zigler [13]; Piirto [23]; Robinson and Noble [26]). In fact, because the gifted may develop asynchronously to their peers (Neihart [19]; Morawska and Sanders [18]), Besides, researchers also suggested that as the gifted experience asynchronous development to their peers (e.g. Neihart [19]; Tannenbaum, [29]), they may feel a stronger sense of misalignment with their non-gifted counterparts and, therefore, undergo even more interpersonal problems (e.g. Piechowski [22]; Robinson [25]). Such social-emotional characteristics of gifted students may produce special educational needs. However, traditional educational practices adopted by schools and families tend to place more attention and resources on cognitive development, providing gifted children with few opportunities congruent with their non-cognitive developmental needs (Neihart [19]; Pfeiffer and Stocking [21]; Piirto [23]; Robinson and Noble [26]; Tannenbaum [29]; Webb [33]). Especially in Hong Kong, where tradition highly values academic excellence (Chen and Wong [10]), education is achievement oriented. Many more resources are inclined to gifted young people's intellectual development and academic results, while opportunities for non-cognitive development are rarely available from schools or families. In such context, out-of-school opportunities may be imperative for satisfying gifted young people' social-emotional needs and facilitating their development in non-academic areas (Chan [6]; Nelson [20]; Renzulli [24]). Service-learning, a pedagogy that integrates meaningful service activities into traditional academic curricula, might be an approach that can match gifted learners' needs, personality traits, and abilities (Lewis [16]; VanTassel-Baska [32]).

While researchers and practitioners have defined and implemented service-learning somewhat differently, they generally agree that it is by nature an experiential learning method. Typically, service-learning programmes involve a series of events that are deliberately planned and organised to stimulate participants' learning and development (Terry [30]). Exposing students to novel people and experiences in real-life situations, these programmes encourage students to apply newly acquired skills and knowledge. Students' active participation in the designed events and openness to diverse perspectives are keys to attain learning and development (e.g. Abes and Jones [1]; Cashel, Goodman, and Swanson [5]; Eyler and Giles [12]). Participating students are always allowed structured time and guidance to foster their thoughts and reflections during programmes, which further enhance their learning (Terry [30]).

With these characteristics, service-learning programmes have been shown to facilitate students' personal development. For example, some researchers found service-learning increased students' cognitive and social skills (e.g. Billig and Klute [2]). Others suggested this approach promotes students' interpersonal relationships, personal development, emotional growth, and community involvement (e.g. Simons and Cleary [28]). Studies similarly found that service-learning programmes can promote gifted students' development of moral principles and compassion toward issues and problems in their community (Terry and Bohnenberger [31]; Terry [30], [30]). Nonetheless, there are few service-learning programmes tailored to gifted students in Hong Kong.

The service learning programme described in this study was designed to address social-emotional needs of a group of gifted students in Hong Kong. Gifted children from Grade 3 to Grade 5 were admitted to the programme as mentees. To facilitate the implementation and maximise the effect of this programme, gifted children of a university programme studying at senior secondary levels or undergraduate degree programmes at universities were arranged to be mentors. Each mentor paired with 2–5 mentees (depending on each year's ratio of participants), and mentor-mentee groups ensured adequate opportunities for each participant.

This service learning programme included three phases. The first phase was a series of workshops that teach leadership, problem-solving skills, knowledge on organising activities, interpersonal skills, activities for participants to practice what they learned during workshops, and volunteer service to children with special needs (e.g. those with cognitive or physical disabilities). The second phase required members in each group to cooperate with each other in order to complete a series of activities throughout the programme. In the third phase, mentors and mentees together conducted a programme to a group of children who were diagnosed with Down Syndrome. During the whole mentorship journey, both mentors and mentees within each group were required to self-reflect and share with others, culminating at a closing ceremony. Three months after the completion of the programme, students and their parents were invited to a semi-structured focus group interview on a voluntary basis to provide feedback regarding personal growth and experiences relating to the programme.

The programme has accumulated comprehensive empirical data. Previous exploratory studies focusing on data collected by self-reported scales and students' written reflections during the programme found that gifted children attending this programme demonstrated stronger responsibility, empathy, autonomy, and more profound self-understanding (Chan et al. [9]; Chan et al. [8]). These findings support the immediate effects of such a short-term service-learning experience on an individual student's personal growth. However, it remains less clear whether such beneficial effects sustained after completion of programmes and except for students' self-perception, whether parents also consider such programmes as beneficial to gifted students' growth. To gain a clearer picture, we collapsed data collected from three years of semi-structured interviews (2016–2018) to get a larger sample size for our analysis. By conducting content analysis of interview transcriptions, we aimed to examine how these short-term service-learning experiences influence gifted students' growth from both students' and parents' perspectives.

We obtained approval from the research ethics review board of the university before all participants were recruited from a pool of gifted members who attended the service-learning programme. Parents of recruited participants were also invited to join the study. Interviews were conducted three months after the service-learning programme each year, and parents and children were interviewed separately. Each session lasted for approximately 60 min. From 2016 to 2019, a total of 8 parent focus groups and 8 children focus group were held. Data from these interviews were collapsed for the current study.

For both children and parents, the interviews followed a semi-structured format to identify their opinions regarding the service-learning programme. The semi-structured interview encompassed 10 questions for children (three of which were relevant to the present study; e.g. After participating in the programme, did you improve in aspects such as self-understanding and acceptance, confidence, or problem-solving, etc.) and 11 questions for parents (three of which were relevant to the present study; e.g. Do you find your children changed in aspects such as self-understanding and acceptance, confidence, or problem-solving, etc.).

Each interview was conducted by members in the research team who have a background in education. Interviewers played the role as listeners who gently directed the conversation to cover the main questions. Emerging new ideas that were not anticipated with the initial schedule were followed by probing questions not included in the interview guide. Consent for participation and tape recording was obtained before each interview.

A total of 72 parents (34 female/mothers and 38 male/fathers) and 51 students (38 boys and 13 girls) participated the semi-structured interviews. Parents were primarily middle-aged. Among the students, aged from 8 to 12 (M = 10.1, SD =.92), 22 were from Grade 3 (43.1%), 13 from Grade 4 (25.5%), and 16 (31.4%) from Grade 5 (refer to Table 1 for students' profile).

Table 1. Distribution of demographic information of students and parents.

Parents' and students' interviews were transcribed verbatim. The interview data were then analysed for content. The main categories and themes were identified and coded using thematic analysis and constant comparison of the data (Corbin and Strauss [11]). This method involved a line-by-line analysis of transcribed text to identify themes and describe the context in which they occur. Specifically, researchers reviewed each data set using an open coding method whereby each reviewer pulled together similar and overlapping examples in the text to identify themes independently. Then the authors discussed, compared, and agreed on commonly identified themes using a memo writing method (Böhm [3]; Ryan and Bernard [27]). The reiterative comparison was conducted by matching the transcribed content to identified common themes independently by researchers to ensure the best fit and final agreement.

Overall, four common themes can be identified from both students' and parents' feedback in terms of gains and benefits from participating in the programme: knowledge of Down Syndrome, interpersonal skills, personal growth, and enhanced empathy, with differences in frequency and sub-themes. The following section demonstrates these commonalities and distinctions in detail. See Table 2 and Table 3 for percentages of different themes and sub-themes.

Table 2. Distribution of themes from students and parents.

Table 3. Specific distributions of sub-themes under each theme for students and parents.

Improved knowledge about Down Syndrome was an obvious theme identified from both students' and parents' feedback. As a programme involving service to Down Syndrome children, such result was straightforward and expected. Both parents and students indicated that participating in the programme provided students opportunities to get to know people with Down Syndrome. Such a way of knowing cannot be replaced by reading books or searching for information on websites or Wikipedia. Through personal interaction, students' stereotypes toward people with Down Syndrome was reduced, and they acquired more knowledge about this group of people.

Specifically, both parents and students mentioned that prior to joining the programme, students showed 'reluctance towards people with Down Syndrome because they were not yet accustomed to their differences.' Due to the inborn cognitive difference, students thought it would be particularly difficult to communicate, let alone collaborate, with children who have Down Syndrome. However, after attending this programme, students realised that their preconceptions were biased. These students consistently remarked that people with Down Syndrome were in fact not that different from other people and were easy to get along with as highlighted in the following comments:

"Before participating the program, I thought they [people diagnosed with Down Syndrome] were not intelligent but I found them no different from average people." (Student 27)

"I must admit that I walked away immediately when encountering people with Down Syndrome around my neighborhood in the past since I was afraid of them ... ... The experience of this program corrected my bias and I do not keep away from them anymore." (Student 49)

"After interacting with them, I found it unnecessary to use simple words interacting with this group. They can understand what we say. And they are well-behaved." (Student 20)

"I found my child shows a higher acceptance to those with Down Syndrome. He is even willing to explain to his sisters why people with Down Syndrome behave the way they do." (Parent 1)

Furthermore, changes in cognition motivated students' attitude shifts and behavioural transformations. Students mentioned that there was no need to regard people with Down Syndrome as a special group. Instead, the students' shifted to a mindset that those with Down Syndrome should be regarded as ordinary people:

"In the past, my child was frightened by people with Down Syndrome when meeting them in public. But after attending this program, he obtained more knowledge about this group through personal interaction with them. Now he takes people with Down Syndrome as common people. She/he does not overreact to them anymore." (Parent 18)

"My child told me that people with Down Syndrome in fact can learn new things as others do. They just need more time to learn. I think such understanding demonstrated a sharp contrast to her/his previous views on these people. He considered people with Down Syndrome as difficult to communicate with. And he thought this group of people may be unable to understand others." (Parent 36)

Students even recognised that people with Down Syndrome indeed have their own characteristics and talents as others do:

"After interacting with them in the program, I found they were positive and optimistic. They seemed less likely to be unhappy and worried. And they have many talents ... ... Through participating the program, I really understand the saying 'Never judge a book by its cover.' I had poor impressions about people with Down Syndrome. But having the chance to get to know them and to interact with them, one may find their characteristics that were overlooked in the past." (Student 20)

"I felt that we should not discriminate 'them' from 'us.' They were actually nice, innocent, and sincere." (Student 12)

"My child talked to me about Down Syndrome proactively. Last week we went to watch a dance performance. She suddenly told me that people with Down Syndrome have artistic talents. Some of them are really good at dancing." (Parent 7)

Improvement of interpersonal skills is another significant theme that emerged from students' and parents' feedback. This improvement was manifested in specific aspects such as communication, cooperation, peer relationships, consideration, and perspective taking. Students' self-reflections focused more on what they learned from the programme in terms of communicating, cooperating, and establishing harmonious relationships with others more effectively. Through participation in the programme, they seemed to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the importance of compromise, taking others' perspectives when solving interpersonal conflicts, and achieving interpersonal consensus:

"Collaborating with other members enabled me to further understand the team spirit. I know it is important to put myself in others' shoes." (Student 12)

"Now I consider more when deciding what game to play with others. I want others to enjoy the game as I do. I don't want others to lose easily and become unhappy."

(Student 29)

"For completing teamwork, it is important to compromise. Otherwise, our plans may not proceed and be finished. In the past, I considered myself as always right. During the program, I learned to take others' perspectives and accept others' opinions, as others can also propose good ideas. When I went back to my school after the program, I was able to take a step back when there was disagreement between my classmates and me."

(Student 42)

Parents' observations mostly echoed and complemented the students' reflections with comprehensive examples from their school and daily lives. Convergently, parents observed that their children changed the way they interact with others. Such change benefited their children in building peer relationships and allowed their children to develop a stronger tendency for taking others' perspectives and opinions seriously:

"My child used to complain about others. But now he is thoughtful and considerate. He can understand problems from multiple angles, rather than merely attributing problems to others." (Parent 43)

"My child used to be judgmental of others, especially those he/she does not like. But after participating in this program, I found my child being more modest. He can appreciate others at the same time." (Parent 45)

"My child can appreciate others from multiple perspectives." (Parent 52)

"After attending this program, my child has become more proactive in approaching peers. For example, when conducting a group project for his school course, he took the role as a leader and contributed ideas and comments actively. While prior to participating in the program, he just followed others." (Parent 40)

"In the past, my child was isolated from his peers. He always thought others disliked him. But now he told me there is a boy's group in school. He feels a strong sense of belonging to this group. He is not the boy who is alone anymore. He has changed a lot and has begun to make friends with others." (Parent 64)

"I think my child has grown in cooperation skills due to the opportunities he obtained during the program to improve. After participating in your program, he succeeded in leading and organizing a school singing competition (e.g. inviting another student to play guitar, discussing, determining the song to play, and singing the song together)." (Parent 3)

"I think my child learned to take others' perspectives. He is not self-centered anymore. He shows empathy with others. She/he wonders what others really feel and think. My child now can understand others to a larger extent. He can understand why others get angry. He can think from others' standpoint." (Parent 2)

"My child did not listen to us in the past. He just ignored what we said. But now he has learned to listen to others." (Parent 23)

The third overarching theme identified from students' and parents' feedback is personal growth. Some students mentioned this programme as an opportunity for them to develop a stronger self-awareness, especially about their own strengths and weaknesses. Parents and children seemed to share similar views as highlighted below:

"I know more about my strengths and weaknesses. I found myself to be a person with a strong action-orientation. I can act quickly and am not easily distracted. But I also found that I too often rely on others to find answers, which may disturb them." (Student 12)

"My child understands his own limitations through participating in this program. He also understands and knows how to make the best use of his strengths. He also recognized that others may outperform him on certain aspects. He can learn much from others." (Parent 17)

Such clearer self-awareness seemed to facilitate students to build higher confidence and demonstrate stronger self-expression, perhaps because students also discovered their strengths through the programme:

"Prior to participating in this program, I was always a person of low self-esteem. But after participating in this program, I became more confident. I think I am competent." (Student 38)

"I have a new sense of confidence now. Before attending this program, I was passive. I did not express myself or take initiative even if I really wanted to do something. But now, I find that I am proactive and speak my thoughts more." (Student 1)

"I was afraid to raise my hand and ask a question either in the classroom or in a public lecture. After attending this program, I have overcome this weakness and dare to take the opportunity to ask questions during public lectures." (Student 4)

"My child has become more confident about herself/himself. And she/he is braver now." (Parent 64)

"My child has now become more self-expressive. In the past, he was reluctant to share much with us. He just replied to questions with one or two words. Now he shows a stronger intention to share with family. He speaks much more with us." (Parent 28)

"In the past, my child was shy. He just hid himself/herself and did his/her own stuff. But after participating in the program, he is more open to others. He discusses his assignments with us proactively." (Parent 49)

"My child demonstrates stronger curiosity. He now tries more new things. For example, he is trying new approaches when completing his work." (Parent 41)

Aside from more profound self-understanding, students also experienced an improvement in self-regulation after participating in the programme. This progress included better emotional regulation, higher patience, proactivity toward friends and family, and stronger resilience and determination when facing difficulties. Students and parents both observed and confirmed such changes:

"I was impulsive and apt to start quarrels with others in the past. But now I force myself to calm down and think more clearly first. I do not lose my temper if something does not work out the way I expected." (Student 5)

"In the past, I was impatient with my younger sister when she asked me to help with her assignments. Now I am glad to help if she asks me to." (Student 19)

"In the past, I gave up immediately once the difficulties emerged. I have become more resilient after participating in the program. I insist to try my best to complete what I began." (Student 44)

"In the past, I was passive. I never volunteered to take tasks. But now, I am always ready to assume responsibilities in school." (Student 10)

"My child is determined to take on challenges. At least he does not hold back or escape from difficulties encountered." (Parent 7)

"I felt my child has improved in facing difficulties. He is willing to try. Though he cannot not always be gritty, at least he does not give up easily." (Parent 8)

The fourth theme identified from students' and parents' feedback is enhanced empathy. Students developed concern for vulnerable groups beyond people with Down Syndrome:

"I notice there are people with intellectual disabilities nearby my house, and I think we should take care of them." (Student 2)

"In the past, I did not like spending time with senior citizens as they move slowly and have a poor memory. They have difficulties in hearing and understanding what I say unless I raise my voice and repeat several times. But now I am beginning to understand how they suffer from the aging process. I think they have rich life experience that we can learn from." (Student 20)

"I always complained about my grandmother because she walked too slowly. I just kept my pace and left her behind. But after attending the program, I realized I should be considerate. I have stopped complaining and try my best to help her." (Student 45)

Parents' observations were more detail oriented. They not only noticed that their children's empathy increased in the general sense, but also found their children's improved empathy extended to more contexts in daily life:

"After participating in the program, my child is not judgmental toward people with physical disabilities anymore. One day, he noticed that a child with a physical disability fell, and he gave a hand to him. I think his empathy has grown a lot." (Parent 26)

"My child now displays stronger empathy. In the past, my child refused to give a seat to others on the subway, saying that he was tired. Now he is willing to give his seat to others." (Parent 64)

"My child was in junior grade in school. He met and learned much from older 'sisters' and 'brothers' during the program. The group members also took care of him and shared their experiences. I guess he received much kindness from attending this program, which in turn has made him aware of the importance of establishing personal connections with others and giving back the love to his classmates." (Parent 52)

The impact of service-learning in western contexts has drawn much interest in the research (e.g. Simons and Cleary [28]). Despite these developments, studies evaluating the effect of short-term service-learning projects on gifted students' personal and social development are still lacking. Our research attempted to fill this gap. Both students' and parents' reflections and feedback constituted rich sources of information for yielding insights into students' service-learning experiences. Findings provided support on the benefits and enduring effects of conducting the short-term service-learning programme that improved multiple aspects of gifted students' personal and social growth.

Expectedly, service-learning students acquired further knowledge about children with Down Syndrome. Instead of gaining only factual knowledge that can be learned from websites or books, personal interaction during the programme helped students to correct their preconceived notions about Down Syndrome and discard stereotypes that society attach to this group of people. Students taking part in the programme learned to regard these people as individuals who also share similar personalities or characteristics with others. In addition, both students' and parents' feedback indicated that such modified cognition induced behavioural changes, such that the student participants responded to and treated people with Down Syndrome and other underrepresented groups with more respect in their daily lives. Such finding corresponds to a broader notion found in previous research: average students and other groups of gifted students gained greater understanding, tolerance of, and respect for diversity among individuals (Eyler and Giles [12]; Lee and Olszewski-Kubilius [15]; Terry [30]; Zeldin and Tarlov [35]).

Notably, both students and parents considered the current programme a useful avenue for students to achieve personal and social development. These two overarching themes were revealed in multiple aspects from students' self-reflections and parents' observations. In terms of personal growth, students were found to become more aware of personal strengths and shortcomings through participating in the programme. Such in-depth self-understanding enabled students to be more open toward others and, at the same time, more self-confident. Meanwhile, such clearer self-awareness set the basis for students to develop stronger self-regulation, including better skills in emotional regulation, greater resilience and perseverance, and higher proactivity in interpersonal interactions.

Students' social development was manifested in their enhanced interpersonal skills and empathy. From the first-person perspective, students stated that they understood team spirit and how to collaborate with others to a larger extent. They learned specific strategies, such as making comprises and perspective taking, which are useful in conflict resolution and achieving agreement and consensus with team members or others. From the third-person perspective, parents observed that their children improved much in interpersonal skills, such as building close relationships with their classmates and peers. Students and parents consistently perceived strengthened empathy towards various disadvantaged groups.

This study has several limitations despite the students' and parents' positive feedback. The most obvious one is that our data can only be interpreted descriptively. It is impossible to attribute the change over time to this programme alone as there was no pretest conducted. Furthermore, the absence of a control group precludes any causal conclusions. For example, students participating in the programme may differ from other students in a variety of ways. They may be more committed to service, more motivated to volunteer activities, or more concerned with vulnerable groups and civic issues. Thus, caution is needed in concluding that such short-term service-learning alone had an exclusive impact on the students.

Albeit the limitations, our findings overall substantiated the beneficial effect of a service-learning programme that conducted on a small scale and lasted for a short term on gifted students' personal and social development in Hong Kong. While adding to existing literatures under Western context (Abes and Jones [1]; Eyler and Giles [12]; Lundy [17]), the present research also shed light on the somewhat understudied topic regarding the value of experiential learning for gifted children in Hong Kong. Specifically, it provided empirical evidence derived from both students' self-report and parents' observation supporting the effectiveness of service-learning programme in promoting gifted children's social-emotional development.

The practical relevance of our key findings highlighted the importance of offering gifted children with opportunities in collaborating with same-aged peers and interacting with people differing from themselves, so that they can receive and digest comprehensive stimuli from both similar and different groups and achieve personal growth. The cognitive transformation resulted in positive outcomes such as development of more respectful attitude toward diverse groups of people in the society, and more in-depth and clearer self-awareness. In essence, such experiential learning opportunities help students develop self-reflection or self-management skills, as well as relational or people skills, all of which in turn are contributory in promoting gifted children in realising their full potential (e.g. Brackett et al. [4]).

To schools or educational institutions, the programme described in the present study provided an example, which can be repeated with other groups of underprivileged people or community residents. To parents, teachers, or educational practitioners, relational or people skills can also be developed or strengthened through any similar programmes integrating opportunities for cooperative learning and peer teaching, as well as creating situations in which students are given feedback from each other and from mentors.

To note, programming for gifted children has historically been concerned with offering enriched learning opportunities in various academic subjects with little emphasis on the social and emotional needs of these children (Zeidner and Matthews [34]). For many years the educational system in Hong Kong has also put too much emphasis on gifted youth's cognitive intelligences (Chan [7]). Recently, social and emotional skills have been proposed as an important subset of 'twenty-first Century Skills,' essential for academic and occupational success and thriving in modern society (Kyllonen [14]). Based on findings in this study, experiential learning opportunity integrating service-learning and peer mentoring can be promoted as a promising educational option fulfilling gifted students' socio-emotional needs and facilitating their psychosocial growth.

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

• Do you change your view about the Down Syndrome group after participating PGT's service-learning programme? If yes, how?
• Whether and how does PGT's service-learning programme impact on you? We especially would like to know whether you changed in the following aspects:
• self-understanding and self-acceptance (e.g. knowing strengths of yourself, aware of your deficits)
• confidence (e.g. unsusceptible of others' comments or expectations, not afraid of expressing selves)
• the way interacting with others (e.g. appreciating and accepting others, understating others' needs, and being considerate to others)
• communication and cooperation with others
• the way dealing with problems and difficulties
• taking care of your daily affairs or responsibilities
• Would you like to share with us other changes that were not mentioned in last question? Please specify with examples.

• What did you expect for your child for participating PGT's service-learning programme? Do you think such goals or expectations achieved?
• After participating the programme, do you observe changes in the following aspects from your child:
• self-understanding and self-acceptance (e.g. knowing strengths of himself, aware of his own deficits)
• confidence (e.g. unsusceptible of others' comments or expectations, not afraid of expressing selves)
• the way interacting with others (e.g. appreciating and accepting others, understating others', and being considerate to others)
• communication and cooperation with others
• concerns over underprivileged groups
• Do you observe other changes we did not mention in the last question? If yes, please specify with examples.