Why These Classes?
Research and practice clearly shows that gifted students thrive on their relationships with other gifted students. Having time together to build potential and share ideas is an important factor when looking at the development of the gifted child. Classes such as these create opportunities for gifted students to energize one another to higher levels of thinking. These classes allow students to take in a tremendous amount of new information which serves to motivate and excite the students for creative problem solving. These become lifelong skills and abilities.
In a recent study highlighted in The Wall Street Journal article entitled “As Brain Changes, So Can IQ” researchers found that teenager’s intellects may be more malleable than previously thought. It states that “a teenager’s IQ can rise or fall by as many as 20 points in just a few years.” An important aspect of the study’s findings is “that those who are mentally active will likely benefit”, while “the couch potatoes among us who do not exercise themselves intellectually will pay a price.” To view the full article, click here.
These classes are designed to set the stage for real life success in drawing out the best from each individual child. Students are motivated to demonstrate their full potential because they are given the tools in how to do it and they understand why it is important to their future lives. The curriculum is tailored to the individual needs of each child and the teaching strategies develop higher level thinking. Students soon realize that there is joy in learning. They see that learning should include the motivation for self discovery as well as the quest for knowledge. Students realize that feelings of being cared for and belonging have vital effects upon their learning. They see that learning is a deeply personal affective experience and governed by the fulfillment of regular challenge. This challenge takes place because of the development of new knowledge which perpetuates more and more learning. Students come to understand why learning is so important and they are able to explain the reasons behind what they are doing. Students understand what they need to know in order to be successful in life and are given the tools to make it happen.
Students in these classes often experience real world learning through culminating activities such as Future Fairs, Stock Market Simulations, Mystery Museums, Student-Run Businesses, Science Fairs or Mock Trials. In this Mock Trial, students developed their own immigration trial and performed their work in a Delaware courtroom.
In the photo below, former Olentangy gifted students developed their own mock immigration trial and performed their work in a courtroom in Delaware, Ohio!
Updated Bloom’s Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom was a pioneer in the study of thinking and how people process information to find meaning. His original research showed that true learning begins with basic knowledge and should develop rapidly through levels of complexity for gifted individuals until the highest level of evaluation. Today, however, this theory has been revised to place CREATIVITY as the highest level of thinking. Our classes emphasize analysis, evaluation and a regular dose of creativity which stimulates the mind and motivates the child to develop lifelong learning skills. This practice and exposure at the early years can create a foundation for future careers using the highest levels of thinking throughout a lifetime. Books such as The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell point out the need for practice and creativity in order to successfully rise to the top in our global world.
Our classes focus on creative thinking which stimulates and motivates lifelong skills within the gifted students. This creates a foundation for lifelong success.
