Deep and Wide

A recent study has shown that high school seniors who scored high in originality and quality on a creative writing assignment were more likely to have high grades their freshman year in college than those who did not score well. Dr. Robert Sternberg, a professor at Tufts, believes that imaginative children are better at adapting to new situations and challenges. His advice - foster creativity from a young age by encouraging out of the box thinking and curiosity. A practical way to encourage this creativity is by providing your child an education that not only acclerates curriculum but also enriches it.

Acceleration and Enrichment

What is the difference between acceleration and enrichment? When we accelerate a child through a curriculum we move them through at a quick pace. Math is a subject that is easy to accelerate. If your child learns single digit addition and subtraction problems in a week, you move onto to double digits, then multiplication and then division. Acceleration follows the pace of the child’s learning of the basic skills. When accelerating reading, your child may read through a book quickly, then you move on to a more challenging book. In history, your child memorizes the important dates, people, and events of a time period and moves onto the next time period. Many gifted educators call this moving vertically through the curriculum. Think of it as advancing up through a curriculum.

Enrichment, on the other hand, can be thought of as moving horizontally through a curriculum. Enrichment is looking at things from different angles or perspectives, applying skills to new situations, looking for many different ways to solve a problem (not just finding the right answer), or synthesizing skills to create something new.

Enriching Math
Let’s take the skill of adding and subtracting single digit numbers. This is a skill that comes quite naturally to children who are gifted in math. Parents are often tempted to move on once the child can answer 7+3=10, 9-7=2 and 3+8=11. Let’s look at some ways to 'enrich' the skill of single digit addition.

• Ask your child to show you how he got his answer.
• Ask him if he can show you another way to get the same answer.
• Teach him another way to get the right answer and let him practice.
• Use objects to represent the numbers.
• Teach him to use a number line.
• Count forward and backward to get the answer.
• Ask your child if he can create a 'game' that involves addition and subtraction.

These are much more complex tasks than finding the answer to simple addition and subtraction problems. Enrichment also insures that your child understands the 'concepts' behind the math. This is quite important as he gets into more abstract math.

Enriching Reading
Now let’s look at reading. Instead of seeing how many books your child can get through in a month, encourage her to really think about the material she is reading. For example,

• Do a character study on the main character.
• At the end of each chapter, discuss decisions the character had to make and whether or not she believes the character made the 'right' decision.
• Ask her to compare the book to a book she has read in the past and to find similarities and differences among the characters and events.
• Encourage her to write a letter from one character to another.
• Make up a song or poem that one of the characters might sing or say.

Enriching History and Social Studies
What about history or social studies? When reading about different countries, don’t just read the 'facts' about the country.

• Make food from the country.
• Listen to music from the country.
• Interview a person who emigrated from the country.
• Ask your child to think about how his own country is similar and different from the country he is learning about.
• Ask him to create a travel brochure for someone who is interested in visiting the country.

As parents of gifted children it is rewarding to see how quickly our children are able to master skills and memorize facts. Because gifted children can move through educational material so easily, it is tempting to accelerate them through a subject-area or curriculum at lightning speed. Just because they are able to do this, however, does not mean it is best for them.

Of course gifted children need to accelerate through the curriculum at a faster pace than other students, but this must be balanced with quality enrichment of the materials and skills your child is learning. Enrichment allows children the opportunity to be creative and inventive.

A balanced curriculum for gifted children combines acceleration with enrichment.