Type3s - Part 3

In the last two posts, I explained how to engage students through Type 3 enrichment projects. In this blog, I want to shed some light on how to provide students with the skills needed to successfully complete Type 3s.

You see, without the proper skills, students will have difficulty completing an intensive research project, which calls for engaging in tasks they likely have never experienced before. That is one reason I love...

Last blog, I discussed the key elements of an authentic Type 3 project.

First, the student has to solve a real problem. There is lots of research, and the project could take the entire school year. Next, there is the development of a product or service, which is presented to an authentic audience.

So a student researching dinosaurs and putting together a PowerPoint would not qualify as a Type 3 project. Rather, it might involve a...

Several years ago, I had my fifth-grade gifted students stand up, one at a time, and share their dreams for the future. I asked them, “How do you plan to use your gifts and talents when you grow older?” Many answers were the kind a teacher would expect: to play professional baseball, to become a marine biologist, to go into law. Until one boy stood up and proudly announced:

“I want to create a virus that could be used to wipe out half the planet.”

The room...

You can have big dreams and high expectations when it comes to having your students complete projects. But if they lack the skills necessary to complete those projects, you’re going to run into some trouble.

That’s where Type 2 activities come in.  Type 2 activities provide students with how-to-think and how-to-learn skills.  The term Type 2 falls within Dr. Joseph Renzulli’s Enrichment Triad Model (For a full description, visit...