A weeklong program managed by students in the Master of Education program welcomed academically gifted grade school students to campus for cultural enrichment while helping professional teachers learn how to engage their classrooms' brightest minds.
From creating restaurant concepts to producing stop-motion videos, it was a busy week for some of Alamance County’s academically and intellectually gifted children.
Four dozen students from the third through eighth grade took part in Elon University’s sixth annual FLEX Program from July 13-17, 2015, and concluded their campus experience with a Friday afternoon “Floating Family Showcase” in Mooney building to share work with parents and siblings.
Third through fifth graders presented skits they wrote about famous paintings. They also displayed art created with food based on famous paintings and structures. Individual work included tessellations based on the art of M.C. Escher and canvases created with visiting local artist Meredith Parker.
Sixth grade students hosted a competition in which they worked to create a model restaurant that would be successful in the community. Visitors were asked to vote on their favorite concepts, which included Mexican and Italian themes, a dessert eatery and a Japanese steakhouse.
Seventh and eighth grade students displayed their creativity LEGO stop-motion movie presentations and demonstrations of Rube Goldberg machines, which are devices deliberately over engineered to perform a simple task. The FLEX students found inspiration with dominoes, cardboard tubing and rubber balls.
While many teachers understandably focus their efforts on helping children who struggle with learning in the classroom, another set of students – those identified as academically or intellectually gifted – have their own unique needs, said Professor Emerita Glenda Crawford, who taught the graduate course.
Those children often need classroom activities that demonstrate real-world applications, creativity, problem solving and support in learning from failure.
The FLEX Program (short for “Formative Learning EXperience”) is managed by graduate students in Elon University’s Master of Education program. Crawford said the camp is part of a summer course for educators to learn strategies to teach children with strong intellectual abilities.
“Sometimes in schools, teachers don’t have the opportunity to make curriculum come alive like what they’re doing here,” she said.