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Gifted and Talented
The prescription for creating an appropriate curriculum for
gifted and talented children provided by a number of bodies
(e.g. DfES, BECTA, QCA, National Academy for Gifted and Talented
Youth) contains a number of elements
that are inherent to the Espresso service.
It is widely agreed that activities for the gifted and talented
learner should provide opportunities to:
- develop independence as
a learner
- pursue their own interests
and individual enquiries
- respond to open-ended questions
- engage in interdisciplinary activities
- develop research skills
Espresso offers an immense resource bank of video, text and
multimedia activities that cover every curriculum area. The
news service with its regular updates introduces topical issues
that extend the boundaries of the formal curriculum and introduce
a natural environment for interdisciplinary
work. Navigation of the site is highly intuitive and
all of the resources can be accessed without support from the
teacher. The open-ended nature of Espresso allows for flexible
and imaginative use of the content.
- present ideas and findings
in a variety of ways
Espresso resources can be used with presentation software (e.g.
PowerPoint) to create multi-media presentations.
- employ different levels of language
Espresso provides a wide variety of both written (e.g. Telegraph
articles, including the original articles and websites) and
spoken language (e.g. video voiceovers, television interviews)
- interact socially
- engage in self-evaluation
- apply and develop higher order
thinking
Take me further
Based on real life stories, the 'Take Me further' activities are designed to meet the needs of more able pupils. They introduce a number
of different strategies to encourage discussion and the expression
of ideas and opinions and also provide structure for self-evaluation.
The activities are designed to engage pupils in higher order
thinking as defined for example by Bloom and Resnick:
Bloom suggests that higher
levels of thinking can be thought of as a progression:
- Knowledge
- Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
Resnick says that higher order
thinking:
- is non-algorithmic - i.e. the path of action is not set
out
- is complex - the extent and direction of the path cannot
be appreciated from any single vantage point
- often leads to multiple solutions
- involves nuanced judgement and interpretations
- involves the application of multiple criteria, which sometimes
conflict with one another
- often involves uncertainty
- involves self-regulation of the thinking process
- involves imposing meaning - finding structure in apparent
disorder
From: Effective Provision for Able and
Exceptionally Able Children - Valsa Koshy and Ron Casey -
Hodder and Stoughton (1997)
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