Problem Solving
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Some gifted students are not the strongest in the areas of flexibility, growth mindset, and social and emotional maturity. Many gifted students experience perfectionism and anxiety. These students tend to be used to getting fast, correct answers and more difficult problems can sometimes disrupt that routine.
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Problem solving activities help to build many important skills and allow gifted students' creativity to flow. Problem solving can be incorporated in many ways- from a component of a larger project to the way students are encouraged to approach a math problem.
Strategies
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Grouping
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Differentiation
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Project Based Learning
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Delving Deeper
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Problem Solving
STEM challenges are great for gifted students. They make students consider situations from multiple perspectives and brainstorm a unique solution to the problem. Also, STEM challenges incorporate math skills, which tend to be a strength for most gifted students.
STEM Activities
Some teachers like to give students "brain busters" or challenge problems that cannot be immediately solved. These problems might build off of what the students have been learning but then also incorporate a skill that has not yet been taught. These problems could also require multiple steps or additional information. The key to brain busters are that they are problems that will challenge students and puzzle them.
Brain Busters
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This activity has no right or wrong answer. Students must look at the four objects, numbers, shapes, etc. and figure out which one doesn't belong. All of the objects have some things in common and some things that would make them stand out. Which One Doesn't Belong forces students to focus on the process of examining and considering options rather than just looking for an answer.
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This activity is something that teachers can create on their own, however, this website (link below) has problems already created.