Kenneth J. Smith – författare

Gifted students have the potential to learn material earlier and faster, to handle more complexity and abstraction, and to solve complex problems better. This potential, however, needs stimulating experiences from home and school or it will not unfold. The books in the Challenging Units for Gifted Learners series are designed to help teachers provide the stimulating curricula that will nurture this potential in school. The units presented in this series are based on research into how these students actually think differently from their peers and how they use their learning styles and potential not merely to develop intellectual expertise, but to move beyond expertise to the production of new ideas.The Language Arts book includes units that ask students to develop strong personalities for their main characters while writing mysteries, to study Freud's psychoanalytic theory and then analyze a classic novel using what they've learned, to focus on writing from a specific point of view, and to increase their appreciation for poetry by studying famous poets.Grades 6-8

Gifted students have the potential to learn material earlier and faster, to handle more complexity and abstraction, and to solve complex problems better. This potential, however, needs stimulating experiences from home and school or it will not unfold. The books in the Challenging Units for Gifted Learners series are designed to help teachers provide the stimulating curricula that will nurture this potential in school. The units presented in this series are based on research into how these students actually think differently from their peers and how they use their learning styles and potential not merely to develop intellectual expertise, but to move beyond expertise to the production of new ideas.The Social Studies book includes units that ask students to explore the struggles of America's first permanent English settlement in Jamestown, to hold an African economic summit, to study various Supreme Court cases and primary source documents, and to create a Civil War documentary that views the war from the perspective of a person living in a particular state.Grades 6-8

Gifted students have the potential to learn material earlier and faster, to handle more complexity and abstraction, and to solve complex problems better. This potential, however, needs stimulating experiences from home and school or it will not unfold. These books are designed to help teachers provide the stimulating curricula that will nurture this potential in school. The units presented in this series are based on research into how these students actually think differently from their peers and how they use their learning styles and potential not merely to develop intellectual expertise, but to move beyond expertise to the production of new ideas.The Math book includes units that ask students to develop a financial portfolio that includes high- and low-risk stocks, options and margins, AAA and junk bonds, mutual funds, and money markets; use math, science, engineering, technology, and art to design and build a miniature golf course; develop games based on probability; and run a real-life small business.Grades 6-8

Gifted students have the potential to learn material earlier and faster, to handle more abstraction, and to solve complex problems better. This potential, however, needs stimulating experiences from home and school or it will not unfold. These books are designed to help teachers provide the engaging curricula that will nurture this potential in school. The Science book includes a medical simulation in which teams of students work as doctors to diagnose patients' cases, a food science project in which students use a variety of information-gathering techniques to learn how nutrition impacts performance, a hands-on study of human memory and expertise, and a study of the physics of sports.Grades 6-8