“A key position in curriculum design for gifted learners is that modifications must be made on content, process, product, and environment to differentiate appropriately for these students” (133).
PROCESS SKILLS (Ch. 5). Gifted students must learn to use the knowledge they consume to product new knowledge. To do so, students must learn process skills so that they are better able to manage advanced content, these skills must be explicitly taught.
1. Purpose: Emphasis on higher level thinking such as Bloom’s Taxonomy leads to independent thinking and transfer of skills into other situations. Critical thinking and decision making should be embedded components to develop judgment skills. A constructivist perspective to student learning will be provided with a question in which they must tackle. Curriculum is adapted to consider student viewpoints and learning so that their understanding is the center of instruction.
2. Must be (1) well-defined, (2) consistently addressed over time, (3) taught within content domains with intensity, (4) organized by scope and sequence, and (5) developed by the teacher in the classroom, and (6) used as questioning techniques by the teacher (136).
3. Modifications:
a. Higher levels of thinking – focus on using information through application, analysis & evaluation
b. Open-endedness – use of teacher questioning techniques to elicit complete, complex, and diverse responses, as well as facilitate interactions between classmates *
c. Discovery learning – students learn to make meaning of what they already know to draw conclusions *
d. Evidence of reasoning – explain reasoning process to see how others analyze and evaluate personal responses/rationale to revise them and understand the ideas of others *
e. Freedom of choice – students need to choose topics, methods, products, and context of what they are learning and provided the opportunity to manage and benefit from their independence.
f. Group interactions – builds group effectiveness, social and leadership skills *
g. Pacing – speed at which instruction is being presented; gifted students benefit from accelerated pacing
h. Variety of processes – types of presentation and interaction strategies provided by the teacher *
4. * Communication skills (internal and external) are a means for thinking, processing, exploring, transforming, presenting, and reflecting. “It is important for gifted learners to realize that the greatest ideas and solutions in the world are not worth anything unless they can be communicated effectively” (139).
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (Ch. 6). “The transformation of knowledge into creative products is a critical goal for gifted students (152). They should present an application, analysis, and synthesis of knowledge acquired through research. Student learning styles can influence the type of product, but the teacher should also encourage students to try a variety of mediums for presentation.
1. Examples of Product Types:
a. Written – letter, poem, research paper, report, advertisement, questionnaire, survey, song, glossary, script, story
b. Visual – drawing, poster, story map, graph, mobile, map, model, video, costume, multimedia, collage, web
c. Performance – dance, puppet show, demonstration, skit, experiment, play
d. Oral - debate, speech, discussion, mock interview, show and tell, reading to the class
e. Multicategorical – uses two or more of the above products; also includes exhibit, game, video, website, lesson
2. Design Process assists students for developing and creating a product.
a. Formulate a topic – brainstorm topics, narrow them down, identify areas of interest (questions) and resources
b. Organization – timeline of completion, student logs, determine audience, product selection, and material gathering
c. Transforming content – research, idea generation, reflection, manipulation, and production of new knowledge
d. Communication – learning opportunity for presenter and audience by sharing of knowledge, enhancing speaking skills, showcasing products, and discussions
e. Evaluation – multi-dimensional, from self, student, and peers. Established criteria for product organized through rubrics
f. Celebration – praise accomplishments and work through parties and product fair
g. Reflection – debriefing or the project; what could have been done differently, what went well and what didn’t
Product development is an excellent and essential component to meet the complex and advanced needs of gifted students as they become tomorrow’s creative problem solvers and thinkers (174).
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