The Department of Education and Training website link to various theories, strategies and approaches to gifted and talented education provision. It also offers a range of suggested activities across learning areas and developmental phases.
This is a wonderful source of creative and lateral thinking techniques.
http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/links/weblinks.html
Provides links to a wealth of creative thinking websites, some of which are purely commercial but many of which contain a lot of free activities and ideas.
Michael Michalko is considered one of the world's foremost experts on creative thinking. This is an excellent site that explores techniques used by people such as Einstein.
"Flow" & Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “Flow comes from optimal engagement with a task. It doesn’t come from doing, yet again, what one has been able to do for weeks – or months – or years.”
Current Affairs
http://www.cagle.com/teacher/
This site explores the use of cartoons to portray contemporary events. Five cartoons are available for free classroom use. Possible questions are included as well as links to resources to help students to explore these questions. A range of very good lesson plans for early, middle and upper developmental phases are included.
This site offers the opportunity to learn another language to those students who show a strong interest in LOTE. There are many languages to choose from including Arabic, Indonesian and Cree!
This site is maintained by the Victorian government and offers activities in French, Indonesian, German and Italian. There are loads of printables as well as interactive activities. Excellent!
This lesson introduces students to the writing, art and religious beliefs of Ancient Egypt through hieroglyphs and tomb paintings. It includes some great resources.
Often referred to as “Bloomgard”, this Australian site offers a range of course plans using Bloom’s Taxonomy and Gardiner’s Multiple Intelligence theory.
This site offers a range of simple but effective ideas for differentiating various themes, including hieroglyphics, constellations and free verse, to suit gifted students.
Music
http://home.earthlink.net/~jbertles/front.html
This is an excellent site with interactive elements for children as well as ideas for teachers. Learn how to make your own musical instruments from rubbish.
Tournament of Minds (TOM) is a national challenge held annually throughout Australia and also in Singapore and New Zealand. Following regional and state finals, a national final is held. In 2006, Western Australian teams won the Secondary Maths and Engineering Challenge and the Primary Social Sciences Challenge. Two other teams received honours for the Secondary Social Science Challenge and the Primary Language/Literature Challenge. Has your school participated in this exciting challenge that truly encompasses the concept of problem solving?
Future Problem Solving is an international educational program for students from P - 12 that focuses on the development of creative thinking skills. In particular, it centres on the skills of problem identification and positive solutions to those problems. Above all, it aims to give young people the skills to design and promote positive futures for the society in which they live.
Program Examples for The Classroom
The following units of work were developed for use by teachers in the classroom. The correlating worksheets for students can be found just below these links.
