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Universal Themes |
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Children and
students learn best when they relate new information to familiar things and
ideas. Teaching through universal
themes/concepts (relationships, power, structure, change, discovery, patterns,
etc.) helps students to form “big ideas” that can be transferred to future
experiences. Gifted students are
capable of looking at these ideas in-depth and understanding the complexities
surrounding them. Universal themes
bridge the gap between knowledge and understanding--learning many facts vs.
being able to apply those facts to something meaningful. - Carol Fertig Our universal theme for this
school year will focus on structure. Some of the underlying generalizations to
be explored will include: ·
Structures
have parts that interrelate. ·
Parts of
structures support and are supported by other parts. ·
Smaller
structures may be combined to form larger structures. ·
A structure
is no stronger than its weakest component part. (Adapted from Curriculum Guide for the
Education of Gifted High School Students, Some questions to ponder… ·
How would
you define structure? ·
Where do
we find structure? ·
What holds
things/people together? ·
What causes
them to fall apart? ·
How can we
structure our lives so that we attain our goals? |
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