Courses+for+Gifted+Students

__**The GATE Honors Seminar**__ will give students the opportunity to investigate a topic of interest (through authentic learning and the methodology of the chosen field/profession). The focus for the class would be on career and college investigation as well as in-depth learning about a topic of interest. Students would evaluate their current levels of mastery, analyze the learning task, set their own learning goals, choose the appropriate strategy to master material, and monitor their own performance--this is a learning academy model developed by Zimmeran, Bonner, and Kovatch (1996). The purpose of this learning model is for students to develop self-regulatory skills in the context of new learning. 0.5 credits, Honors level weighting. Here is this year's syllabus:

Support for taking this seminar is outlined in this video from TED.com: **Sir Ted Robinson** Why I want students to take the time to play during class: **Dr. Stuart Brown** In fact, I did my research proposal on "The Correlation of Play and Academic Performance." I'll try to remember to post my paper here.

**__GATE Socratic Seminar:__** Students need the opportunity to discuss topics of interest with their intellectual peers without the pressure of having a grade. Using the Socratic method, the class would discuss topics of interest, which might range from art history to current events to college concerns. The class could also choose to participate in the Siemens STEM Academy webinars, Change the World Challenge, and/or listen and discuss Ted Talks speeches. Participation is a must and this will not be a study hall. There will be no predefined curriculum; however, SAT and Mensa type questions will be used for At-the-Bell activities. Some affective education will also be incorporated. 0.5 credits Pass/Fail only.

__**GATE College Transition:**__ Research has shown that because gifted students traditionally progress through the early years of school without being challenged, their good memory and fast processing skills can compensate for note-taking and other study skills. This can and has led to underachievement in the later school years. The text __College Transition: A Critical Thinking Approach__, which was written by two college professors, a long with other resource materials, will be used to guide students to develop specific learning strategies and engagement through active learning. 0.5 credits