The current best-selling book, , chronicles the thrilling story of a group of groundbreaking scientists whose string of discoveries launched a scientific revolution that will make possible medical miracles including the ability to fight off viruses, cure diseases and have healthier babies.  We are grateful for one of those miracles as we receive our COVID-19 vaccine shots and see hope for an end to the pandemic.  It is not surprising that the importance of gifted and talented education is noted in the book. 

Feng Shang, who immigrated from China to America with his mother at the age of 10, began his path to biology in the 1990s with his Des Moines, Iowa middle school鈥檚 Gifted and Talented Program.  He recalls that initially through his regular school science classes he thought biology was uninteresting.  He found activities such as dissecting a frog on a tray to identify its heart unchallenging and the curriculum was focused on memorization.  In contrast, his gifted and talented program featured a regular Saturday enrichment class in molecular biology that focused on DNA and how RNA carried out its instructions with an emphasis on the important role of enzymes in the process. He was able to do many hands-on experiments including one that transformed bacteria to make them resistant to antibiotics.  This class inspired his eagerness to learn and discover in the field of biology.  For high schoolers, Des Moines had a gifted and talented program called STING (Science/Technology Investigations: The Next Generation), which allowed talented students to work at local hospitals and research institutions.  Zhang鈥檚 Saturday teacher helped him get selected to work at the gene therapy lab of Methodist Hospital.  He had the opportunity to work with a molecular biologist who assigned Zhang progressively sophisticated experiments.  One of these experiments deconstructed the HIV virus and examined how each of the components worked.  Part of the goal of the Des Moines Gifted and Talented Program was to help students compete in the Intel Science Talent Search, a national competition.  Zhang鈥檚 virus experiment won him third place and $50,000 which he used to help pay tuition for the next step of his education journey at Harvard University.  Today, at only 39 years old, he is considered one of the most transformative biologists of his generation.

Feng Zhang is a prime example of the impact that gifted and talented programs can have on turning American students into world-class scientists.  Gifted children need a much more challenging education than can be offered in the regular classroom.  Gifted and talented programs such as those offered at the Institute for Educational Advancement, provide advanced enrichment classes and workshops that fill a critical gap in our public education curriculum. These challenging and creative programs focus on a wide variety of STEM and other topics taught by experts from such institutions and organizations as Caltech, NASA, Harvard University, Art Center College of Design and Walt Disney Animation. Our high potential youth are the scientists, innovators, engineers and leaders of our nation鈥檚 future and the educational opportunities they receive make a difference in their ability to reach for their full academic and personal potential.  Gifted and talented education programs provide the support and inspiration our brightest students need to thrive and reach for the stars.

With the end of the school year fast-approaching, you may find yourself looking for things to do with your child that are fun, engaging, and educational. 听As some of you know, I鈥檓 a huge fan of tinkering and believe it鈥檚 important to incorporate opportunities for tinkering in children鈥檚 daily routines. 听I鈥檝e culled the internet and found a number of fantastic activities, challenges, and experiments that may interest (you and) your child. They are all relatively affordable and can be conducted in the comfort of your own home. Please keep in mind that some of these activities require the help and/or supervision of an adult. So break out the cardboard, popsicle sticks, and tape and get ready for some fun!

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This website provides ideas for building several gadgets including pyramid catapults, propeller cars, slingshot rockets, and more!

This blog offers four different engineering challenges that require only popsicle sticks, plastic cups and wooden blocks. 听Test your child to build the tallest structure; build a structure on top of a single wooden block or cup; or balance a number of cups against several blocks. 听The possibilities are endless!

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Learn about ecosystems and aquaponics by creating a mini ecosystem using a soda bottle or mason jar!

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Using household items only, challenge your child to package a raw egg so that it would survive–unscathed and unbroken–when dropped from a great distance.

5. 听

Learn about inertia, mass, equilibrium and Newton鈥檚 First Law by building inertia towers with blocks, index cards, and string. 听Challenge your child to pull the index cards from the tower without toppling the structure!

6. 听

This activity is a DIY version of the classic wooden labyrinth game where the object is to use to move a single marble through the maze without it falling through the holes. 听Help your child construct their own labyrinth made of popsicle sticks and cardboard.

7. 听

In this fun experiment, your child will learn about DNA and how to extract it from the inside of their cheek with the help of just a few kitchen ingredients!

8. 听

Learn about buoyancy and put your engineering skills to the test by constructing a boat using solely cardboard and tape! 听Here鈥檚 the catch: make the boat large enough for you and your child to row across a pool. 听Don鈥檛 have a pool? 听Construct a mini version and see how many pennies, wooden blocks, or objects of your choice it takes to sink the boat.

Do you have any favorite activities in your household? 听Feel free to share ideas and resources below!

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Tiffany Kwong graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she received B.A.s in Sociology and Asian American Studies. She then pursued an M.A. in the Social and Cultural Analysis of Education at California State University, Long Beach. She enjoys working behind the scenes and playing a role in all of the programs and services 优蜜视频 has to offer and loves the incredibly warm and inclusive spaces 优蜜视频 has a way of creating. In her free time, she really enjoys cooking and sewing, especially in the company of family 鈥� the experience of spending time with her loved ones makes these activities particularly special to her.

In this day and age of technology, more and more web-based resources are becoming available at our fingertips. Apple鈥檚 iTunes App Store, for example, has hundreds of applications specifically geared towards children鈥檚 learning and enrichment. Likewise, more e-learning websites are cropping up all over the Internet, offering a seemingly endless amount of educational lessons and tutorials in the form of short videos. Such educational resources are great for homeschoolers, teachers looking for ways to differentiate in their classrooms, and the life-long learner in all of us. While some parents may frown upon the use of web-based videos as a learning tool for their kids, I believe that these can be great resources for supplementing one鈥檚 education when used in moderation.

Some of the benefits of e-learning include:

• The freedom to discover and explore. With all of the information available online, your child has the opportunity to discover new subjects and delve deeper into topics that interest him or her.
• The freedom to learn at his or her own pace. Your child also has the freedom to decide on the pace of learning based on his or her ability in any one subject. In regards to videos specifically, your child has the freedom to control (literally) the speed of the lesson by pausing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding through content if he or she desires to review or skip specific segments of a lesson.
• The freedom to learn practically anywhere at any time. Since these are web-based resources, your child can learn anywhere you have access to the Internet and a computer or mobile device and at times that are most convenient to your family鈥檚 schedule.

With all of these benefits of e-learning in mind, I did a little research of my own to pinpoint which websites out there are the most gifted kid-friendly. Each of these websites is devoted to providing accessible, user-friendly educational tools; and best of all, these resources are free to the public! So here are my picks. Enjoy!

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NeoK12 is a website that offers educational videos and lessons, including games and quizzes, specifically geared to Kindergarten through 12th grade students. According to its mission, NeoK12 promotes learning through educational videos because they 鈥渂elieve that kids learn best when they 鈥榮ee鈥� how things work, when, where and why they happen.鈥� Through its comprehensive collection of videos, kids can learn about areas of study such as geography, social studies, physical science, English, math, and the human body. The site even hosts segments of the Discovery Channel show How It鈥檚 Made.

My picks:

• 鈥� Learn about the properties of the four fundamental states of matter: solid, gas, liquid, and plasma!
• 鈥� Check out this lesson on how our organs, vessels, and muscles work together in our bodies鈥� circulatory systems.
• And for fun,

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Khan Academy seeks to 鈥渉elp you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace鈥� via video tutorials and lessons. It currently hosts a library of over 4,200 videos on topics ranging from chemistry, physics, trigonometry, and even humanities.

Students can create their own profiles to track their activities and earn achievement patches and badges, while parents can track their child鈥檚 progress over time. There is also a community aspect to this website, where students can ask questions about a concept they didn鈥檛 understand and have them answered by other Khan Academy students.

My picks:

• 鈥� Get an introduction to one of the coolest numbers in math! It also informed the .
• 鈥� Learn about the nuts and bolts of our DNA in this video about cells, chromosomes, and genes.

To learn more about the origins of Khan Academy, view creator, Salman Khan鈥檚 TEDTalk, .

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An offshoot of TEDTalks, TED-Ed delivers 鈥淟essons worth sharing鈥� through brief videos on topics ranging from the arts and literature to mathematics and psychology. Each lesson also includes multiple choice and open-ended questions for your child to engage with the content, as well as a 鈥淒ig Deeper鈥� section, which provides additional information and resources for your child to further explore the topic.

My picks:

• 鈥� Learn about how the invention of the train shaped the invention of standardized time zones.
• 鈥� Check out this fascinating video on bacteria and its chemical language!

(Please note that 优蜜视频 is not in any way affiliated with Apple, Inc., NeoK12, Khan Academy, or TED. We just wanted to share some of the great resources we鈥檝e found with you!)

What鈥檚 your child鈥檚 favorite online resource? Please share in the comment section below.

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