This past weekend, Bridges 2e Center for Research and Professional Development hosted the . I had the honor and privilege of attending its Super Sunday program, which offered a diverse range of presentations by leading experts in the field of Gifted and Twice-Exceptional research, advocacy, talent development and education. While not the full picture of the many wonderful conversations I had with new and familiar faces, here are a few highlights of the people, places and presentations that I learned from at this special event.

Susan G. Assouline, Ph.D. is a research, scholar and director of the at the University of Iowa, as well as 2019 2e Hall of Fame inductee. Her presentation, The Paradox of Twice Exceptionality: Unlocking the Door to Talent Development, introduced psychoeducational implications of clinically-based research with twice-exceptional individuals, as well as interdisciplinary research aims of neuroscientists, educators, computational geneticists and clinicians to help unlock and celebrate talent development.

Rick Olenchak currently serves as Head of the Educational Studies Department, Professor of Educational Psychology & Research Methodology, and Professor in the at Purdue University. His presentation, Twice-Exceptional Persons, the 21st Century, and Lifespan Development as Viewed through an Affective Lens, emphasized the importance of socio-emotional development on all other development, and as it relates to Affect Development areas of need on the Bull鈥檚 Eye Model, including Natural Affect, World Context, Meta-Affect and Personal Affect.

Dr. Joseph S. Renzulli established the University of Connecticut鈥檚 annual with Professor Sally Reis, with whom he is also a co-founder of the Joseph S. Renzulli Gifted and Talented Academy in Hartford, Connecticut. He received the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Award for Innovation in Education, considered by many to be 鈥渢he Nobel鈥� for educators and was a consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted and Talented. His presentation, A Curriculum Enrichment Infusion Process for Jazzing Up The Standards Driven Curriculum, introduced guiding steps to incorporate higher-level thinking skills, creativity training activities and application of skills into curricular content.

Sally M. Reis, Ph.D. holds the Letitia Neag Morgan Chair in Educational Psychology at the and is past-president of NAGC, co-director of Confratute, and former Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at University of Connecticut. Honored as a 2019 2e Hall of Fame inductee, her presentation, From Deficits to Strengths: Past and Present Turning Points on 2E Students and the Education They Deserve emphasized the need for presenting each individual with challenging learning that is strength-based, that enhances interests and task development, and that results in a positive reaction to challenges

Ann Smith is Executive Director of and serves as Past-President for the California Association for the Gifted, on the advisory board for the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, on the Editorial Board for the Gifted Education Communicator, on the Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee for the USC/US Department of Education Jacob Javits Grant, Project CHANGE, and on a Public Policy Committee for the Institute for Educational Advancement. is an interdisciplinary language arts curriculum created by Gifted Support Center that uses poetry and music to engage across disciplines for PreK through 8th-grade students. The Leave Your Sleep for Educational Project: How an interdisciplinary curriculum can help 2e learners be recognized for their gifts, introduced non-negotiable elements of an interdisciplinary language arts curriculum that is designed to provide opportunities for sustained engagement and talent development.

We look forward to incorporating many of the takeaways from these fantastic presentations into the programs at 优蜜视频. 

For more resources for 2e students,

An article regarding hands-on learning in math noted:

鈥淭he more avenues there are to receive data through the senses, the more connections the brain can make. The more connections that are made, the better a learner can understand a new idea. This holds not only for primary age learners, but through adulthood. All students need to approach the learning of mathematics by actively doing mathematics.鈥�

Examples included physically measuring objects, collecting data and handling geometric objects at all stages. Experiencing lessons beyond paper or lectures deepens students鈥� understanding of a concept and serves those who are more tactile learners.

In fact, a found notable differences in brain function between those who physically experienced math and science concepts. When thinking about concepts during a test, hands-on students had a higher rate of activity in the sensory and motor-related parts of their brain, leading to better memory.

These methods don鈥檛 just hold true for college students. Eighth-graders in a who were assigned to build a water purification device in their science class scored an average of 20% higher on the unit test than those taught simply through lectures and text-book readings. The hands-on students worked in groups of three or four to engineer a water-purification device while the teacher walked around the classroom discussing the scientific principles of water-purification and asking individual groups questions about the principles behind their device. Once completed, students tested their devices using water from a local river to see if it had become drinkable.

While none of this research serves as impetus to drop the traditional methods of classroom instruction (students do, in fact, need to learn the fundamentals of a material before starting hands-on projects), it does give solid evidence of the benefits of mixing hands-on learning into traditional classroom learning. Integrating hands-on activities and experiments into classroom instruction helps students remember concepts and perform better on tests, in addition to aiding in long-term retention of the material. Perhaps it may also strike up an interest in science or math that a student would not otherwise realize.