The Best Gifted Resources and Curriculum We’ve Found: Mostly Free!
Free Gifted Education Resources:
The Marshmallow Challenge: Fun creative team building exercise for students.
TED: Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world: From the podcast publisher: “Each year, TED hosts 80 of the world’s most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. Each week, we’ll release a new talk to inspire, intrigue and stir the imagination. For best effect, plan to listen to at least three, start to finish. (They have a cumulative effect.) If you have a curious soul and an open mind, we think you’ll be hooked.”
And “ If you’re a teacher, consider incorporating TEDTalks into your courses. Distributed under a Creative Commons license, TEDTalks are freely available for use in the classroom — just credit the source and don’t distort the speakers’ intended meaning.”
Our two favorite companies for ordering gifted resources and units of study:
Interact Simulations: Great simulation units for gifted curriculum: My colleagues and I liked many of these units, we used approximately one unit a year as a gifted unit of study.
Prufrock Press: Fav resources for gifted materials (workbooks, journals, activities): As a teacher I ordered many materials from this site.
More free gifted resources:
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM): Excellent resource for teaching math.
Alcumus Art of Problem Solving: Alcumus offers students a customized learning experience, adjusting to student performance to deliver appropriate problems and lessons. Alcumus is specifically designed to provide gifted students with a challenging curriculum appropriate to their abilities.
NASA: Science and math lesson plans.
Khan Academy: “Free Education to anyone”. Students practice at their own pace, first filling in gaps in their understanding and then accelerating their learning.
Brilliant-Free Test Prep: Free problem solving and test prep. Problems are created by people all over the world, including olympiad champions and university professors.
Science Simulations: From the University of Colorado at Boulder. You can choose by grade level–elementary to university.
The Kennedy Center: ARTSEDGE: The National Arts and Education Network: Supports the placement of the arts at the center of the curriculum and advocates creative use of technology to enhance the K-12 educational experience.
Mystery Doug: 5 minute videos that inspire students to ask questions. K-5.
Smithsonian Education: Lesson plans on various subjects including the arts.
The Museum of Modern Art, NYC: Free online activities.
The Stock Market Game: Students invest a hypothetical $100,000 in an on-line portfolio. Most of my gifted students really enjoyed this game and learned a lot.
The New York Times: The Learning Network–teaching and learning with the New York Times, online free lesson plans for grades 3-12.
C-SPAN in the Classroom: Free resources for primary social studies teachers.
National Geographic: The lesson plans and curriculum on this site were written by educators and have been tested in the classroom.
Typing Club: Teaches young children how to type in an easy and fun format.
English/Language Arts Worksheets: A very large assortment of worksheets ready to print. K-10.
OK, so these next programs aren’t free, but still worth checking out:
LEGO Robotics Program: Teaches robotics and programming, labs, and simple machines…PC/MAC compatible, and hands-on.
Zome Tool: Can be used for all grades, including the university level, to help teach algebra, scale, number sense, symmetry, proportion, geometry, DNA structure, trigonometry, and more.
Some lesson plans are available free as a download from this website or purchasable in printed form.
Odyssey of The Mind: Teaches creative problem solving methods and students can participate in tournaments.
Gifted Curriculum and Gifted Resources, curriculum for gifted, gifted program curriculum
