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Engaging Gifted Students in Solving Real Problems Creatively: Implementing the Real Engagement in Active Problem-Solving (REAPS) Teaching/Learning Model in Australasian and Pacific Rim Contexts

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Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

We believe that engaging students in solving problems they perceive as real and relevant in their lives, combined with differentiation, is an effective way to nurture giftedness and talent in all domains while also discovering hidden talents and providing a setting for developing all students’ strengths, interests and passions. In this chapter, we describe a teaching model made up of three other evidence-based teaching models with a common goal of enhancing students’ ability to think creatively, critically and collaboratively while learning essential content-related ideas and skills. We demonstrate the model’s comprehensiveness as a way to differentiate the curriculum for all levels of learners and children with varied types of abilities, inclusive of gifted students; outline the guiding paradigms of thinking that led to its creation; give an overview of the evidence-based models that form the framework and methods of teaching that make up Real Engagement in Active Problem-Solving (REAPS); describe ways it has been implemented in Australasian and Pacific Rim contexts; provide examples from classrooms in Korea, Australia, China and New Zealand; introduce a long-term, whole-school collaboration to improve the model and test its effectiveness; and summarise results of research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    C. June Maker

  2. NSW Department of Education, North Sydney Demonstration School, Waverton, NSW, Australia

    Myra Wearne

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  1. C. June Maker
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  2. Myra Wearne
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Correspondence to C. June Maker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Susen R. Smith

Section Editor information

  1. Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    James J. Watters

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Maker, C.J., Wearne, M. (2019). Engaging Gifted Students in Solving Real Problems Creatively: Implementing the Real Engagement in Active Problem-Solving (REAPS) Teaching/Learning Model in Australasian and Pacific Rim Contexts. In: Smith, S. (eds) Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3021-6_40-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3021-6_40-1

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