All students are entitled to a respectful and meaningful education in this decade of No Child Left Behind, and yet attention to the gifted wanes with the emphasis on standards-based education and testing. Educators of the gifted have wrestled with this dilemma for many decades, even as early as the 1920s when Leta S. Hollingsworth, noted…

The author mentions Project THINK (Tapping Heuristic Intelligence for New Knowledge) and describes the Isle of Independent Study, a seven-step procedure designed in the form of a map for use with upper elementary gifted students. (SB)

Teachers in a South Windsor, Connecticut, program for gifted elementary students improved their students' independent study skills through the structure of nine steps such as selecting a topic, planning a schedule, writing objectives, and locating resources. (DB)

An outcome of a federal project for highly gifted students, the booklet outlines a course in archaeology. Introductory notes assess the value of critical thinking and inter-disciplinary exploration in archaeology. Narrative information on the history and theory of archaeology are followed by task cards designed to be given to students for…

Teachers should design individual project ideas to provide creative motivations for creatively gifted students in regular school classrooms. Examples of project ideas are cited in three case studies. (CL)

Guidelines are offered to help teachers improve the task commitment of young gifted children as they work on independent projects. Among suggestions offered are to work with small groups of students and to foster the child's ability to work at levels beyond those normally thought possible. (CL)

Instructional techniques and modifications in independent study tailored to the needs of gifted, learning disabled students are described. (JW)

Guidelines are offered for facilitating independent or small group investigations by gifted and talented students. Steps include exploring student interest, developing the chosen topic, using the management plan, implementing and monitoring the project, and helping students with evaluation. (CL)

Stamps can enhance the curriculum for gifted students and serve as an exciting introduction to a new hobby as well as a mechanism for developing skills of self-directed learning. Suggestions for followup activities using theme stamp albums (famous persons, science and scientists, animals, and transportation) are given. (CB)

The use of independent study contracts as a method of individualizing educational planning for the gifted allows gifted students to pursue in depth a topic or field of study, to use outside resources when appropriate, to make decisions about the mode and media to be used, and to assume some responsibility for their own learning. (SBH)

The authors propose a three-stage model for gifted education which proposes a hierarchy of instructional activities to enhance creative thinking, problem-solving skills, project abilities, exploratory reading, and independent learning capacity. Activities which extend the three-stage model to career education for the gifted are described. (SBH)

These 13 project ideas, designed to be reproduced, cut, and distributed to elementary/middle school students, can serve as launching points for in-depth independent study in social studies. Topics include dramatization, maps, letter writing, cartoons, creative writing, charts, editorials, opinion, comparisons, sketching, oral presentation,…

The article offers suggestions for helping gifted elementary students learn to use independent thinking skills to challenge their own thinking as well as to solve mathematical problems. (DB)

Suggestions for motivating gifted underachieving secondary students include independent study projects for credit, science fair projects, curriculum compacting, the use of adult mentors, and other approaches which emphasize building on student interests. (DB)