Activities for Challenging Gifted Learners by Increasing Complexity in the Common Core

Alyssa McKeone, University of Northern IowaFollow
Lenora Caruso, University of Northern Iowa
Kailyn Bettle, University of Northern IowaFollow
Ashley Chase, University of Northern Iowa
Bridget Bryson, University of Northern Iowa
Jean S. Schneider, University of Northern IowaFollow
Audrey C. Rule, University of Northern IowaFollow

Grade Level

Gr. 4; Gr. 5; Gr. 6;

Document Type

Activities and Labs

Keywords

Academically Gifted; Student Needs; State Standards; Difficulty Level; Creative Thinking; Critical Thinking; Language Arts; Mathematics Instruction; Science Instruction; Social Studies; Core Curriculum; Middle School Teachers; Preservice Teachers; Student Diversity; Teaching Methods; Lesson Plans; Vocabulary Development; Concept Formation;

Abstract

Gifted learners need opportunities for critical and creative thinking to stretch their minds and imaginations. Strategies for increasing complexity in the four core areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies were addressed using the Common Core and Iowa Core Standards through several methods. Descriptive adjective object boxes were created, based on the themes of bees, surface area and volume, cultural beliefs and mummies, and bee colony collapse disorder. The sets of materials were used in various ways to increase the complexity of instruction in the core subject areas of literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science. The descriptive adjective boxes consisted of several small objects related to a theme with corresponding cards. This card set provided activities to increase the complexity of the topics. [This paper is based on the conference presentation, "Smartening up the Common Core: Increasing Complexity for Gifted Learners" that was presented at the Iowa Talented and Gifted (ITAG) Annual Conference: Reaching for the Future (Des Moines, Iowa, Oct 13-14 2014.)]

Department

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Comments

ERIC Number: ED556335

Original Date

4-29-2015

Copyright

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

McKeone, Alyssa; Caruso, Lenora; Bettle, Kailyn; Chase, Ashley; Bryson, Bridget; Schneider, Jean S.; and Rule, Audrey C., "Activities for Challenging Gifted Learners by Increasing Complexity in the Common Core" (2015). Open Educational Resources. 286.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/oermaterials/286