Students love learning outdoors, but how do you ensure they are absorbing the science and gaining skills as they do so? The authors found a way--a fourth-grade classroom teacher, a gifted/science resource teacher, and a group of fourth graders--embarked on a yearlong study of birds and the plants they depend on. They used their school yard as the…

This study used data from questionnaires completed by teachers employed in North Carolina schools (N = 370) to determine if teachers felt that non-school-related or school-related factors served as barriers that limited the number of African American male children from participating in gifted programs. The majority of the teachers taught 3rd- to…

Urban gifted children encounter many forces that derail the development of their full potential. A report by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and Civic Enterprises found that more than a million children in poverty rank in the top quartile academically, but few of these children will find adequate opportunities to fulfill such potential in urban…

This report presents information on the Connecting Worlds/Mundos Unidos Project and provides a general comparison overview of accomplishments during its five years of operation. The Connecting Worlds/Mundos Unidos Project has been operating in the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) for eleven years, but in the present format as a Jacob K.…

This article presents a social studies unit plan taught to fifth graders in a gifted resource class that infuses technology into student-centered activities. The unit demonstrates how the teacher and students were able to use the technology to learn about life during the Klondike Gold Rush. The goal of the unit was to show how the Klondike Gold…

The purpose of this study was to examine ethnic and gender differences in using DISCOVER, a performance-based assessment, for identifying gifted students from diverse ethnicities. DISCOVER is an acronym which stands for Discovering Intellectual Strength and Capabilities while Observing Varied Ethnic Responses. The sample consisted of 941 boys and…

This article reports on the Action Research Project undertaken by four primary teachers. The aim of the Project was to make their science teaching more effective in challenging gifted pupils. The teachers were interviewed at the end of the Project to see how successful they had been in achieving their aim. They all indicated that action research…

Robert J. Sternberg often writes about a lecture-style psychology course he took as a college freshman in which he got a C. "There is a famous Sternberg in psychology," the professor told him at the time, "and it looks like there won't be another." To Mr. Sternberg, the vignette illustrates that conventional assessments do not measure all the…

Gifted students have unique educational needs. Although gifted students are as varied as other students in terms of their learning styles and preferences, all gifted learners have exhibited unusual performance or potential and they have distinctive characteristics, shared by most of these students, which require effective responses from educators.…

This article discusses a campaign called STIR: Stop Tobacco in Restaurants, that was started by fourth and fifth grade students. The goal was to end smoking in public places, including restaurants, bowling alleys, sports bars, and pool halls. For two years they motivated their peers, coordinated an information campaign to urge kids and adults to…

The attitudes towards science of upper-primary students in three ability strands (average, above average, and gifted) were investigated. A total of 580 upper primary students from co-educational government and government-aided schools in Singapore were involved in this study. The attitude subscales investigated were enjoyment of science,…

The way we define excellence dictates the way we achieve it. The author looks at four models of excellence that operate in schools today. The first looks only at the lowest-performing students, focusing all resources on getting these students to score above "proficient" on standardized tests so that the school will be in compliance with…

To spotlight effective practices, the Washington State Board of Education (SBE) is highlighting schools that are closing achievement gaps and performing at high levels. In 2009, SBE partnered with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to create the Washington Accountability Index. The Index is a new way to measure schools'…

During 3 field experience visits, 23 elementary preservice teachers implemented mathematical problem-solving tasks with grade 3-6 gifted students. Researchers investigated what the teachers learned about gifted students regarding student characteristics, mathematical problem-solving tasks, and pedagogy. Each teacher completed a pre- and…

Culturally/linguistically diverse and economically disadvantaged students are under-represented in gifted education programs. White middle-class children tend to be afforded the opportunity of gifted education services. This study analyzed Ashe City Schools' journey to implement Project U-STARS-PLUS in order to identify and serve…