I like your comments.
Designing & testing paper aeroplanes is an excellent activity for gifted first graders. My DS was an origami whiz in kindergarten and went through a paper aeroplane craze in first grade. He learnt a lot about engineering from self exploration of this activity.
I’m no longer a fan of separate programs for gifted and mainstream students. Wherever possible, I think resources should enable ALL kids to reach their full potential. Both of the activities described in the article would have enriched students across a wide range of abilities. My kids attend(ed) local schools. Except for the first few years of schooling for my eldest, they aren’t/weren’t in any special gifted programs - their teachers were just very flexible and also looked for digital programs that enabled self paced learning. DS is a poster child for our local school. I’ve lost count of the number of families who have transferred from selective and private schools because he’s demonstrated it’s possible to succeed in a mainstream environment.
