Enrichment and gifted education pedagogy to develop talents, gifts, and creative productivity

Abstract

Providing challenging and engaging learning opportunities is one way to motivate students to learn. In this article, we discuss the contributions of the gifted education field to the development of enrichment pedagogy and identify several different types of these engaging instructional strategies, including interest-based learning pedagogy, differentiation and curriculum compacting, project-based learning, open-ended choice, and the application of creative productivity to students learning. We identify this specialized pedagogy and give examples of how these exciting pedagogical strategies can be implemented in classrooms and by enrichment specialists and school counselors, both for academically talented and for all students. We conclude with a brief overview of research that demonstrates longitudinal benefits for students who are exposed to this type of teaching, suggesting positive outcomes.