Comprehensive curriculum for Gifted Learners

more excerpts from the gifted curriculum book

Content topics need to be selected according to the following criteria

1. Is the content topic important and worthy of the time to be expended on it.
For example, spending six weeks studying designer jeans or the history of teddy bears (two topics actually explored in gifted programs) would be judged less important then topic such as consumer economics or political opportunities in the nineteenth century.

2. Is the content topic conceptually complex enough to render it meaningful for gifted students?
Gifted students enjoy explorering a topical area, examining it from various perspectives. The topic choice has to be conceptually interesting and complex enough to hold up under intense investigation. Thus, the study of magnetism could offer more to the gifted then the study of horseshoes.

3. Is the content topic relevant to how the world works?
The study of law or a language, it could be argued, is more appropriate for the gifted to study than movie starts of the 1940s since the more general areas of study could provide the gifted with insights into societal systems rather than transitory cultural fads.

4. Is the content topic likely to be of interest to students?
Although student interest can be guaged formally before curriculum is contracted, it also grequenctly can be assessed more informally as topics are being considered. What is "likely to be of interest" may be more important than demonstrated interes since interest tends to follow exposure to particular types of experiences. Content topics to be chosen should not deliberately narrow a student's vision of knowledge area available to be explored.

5. Is the content topic one thta could be taught efectively by the designated instructor?