At a school that’s tailored specifically for talented and gifted students, you are unlikely to find traditional workbooks or lessons scrawled on a white board. Non-traditional learning opportunities abound at these specialized learning institutions, and outside-the-box instruction is highlighted in many ways. Here are some of the choices a school for gifted and talented kids might offer.
Project-Based Learning
Depending on students’ ability levels, many schools focus on lessons that are taught through long-term projects involving teams of students. Not only do the children learn to about the designated topic, they also get experience working as a team. This involves planning, problem-solving, and micro-goal elements. Upon completion of each project, students evaluate what worked and what didn’t.
Service Learning
Many times getting out of the classroom and into the community can be a huge benefit. In service learning, schools for gifted and talented kids set up volunteer sessions for students where they take an active role in helping community members. They may learn how a food bank runs by spending a week sorting, packing, and preparing pantry items for those in need.
Field Trips
Field trips for gifted students are similar to those practiced at other schools, but the nature of the visit might be different. Where another class might visit a local historical museum and just look around, gifted and talented students might head to an aerospace museum where they will meet scientists and complete on-site lessons using what they learned from their speaker.
Independent Projects
Sometimes schools for gifted and talented students allow children to craft their own project ideas. This might be something like a long-term science experiment that lasts a whole semester or an in-depth report on something particularly interesting to that student. The project might include visual elements, a schoolwide presentation, and maybe an online portion.
Gifted and talented schools often practice a different approach when it comes to lessons, allowing the students to learn in a wider variety of ways.
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