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The Office of Gifted and Advanced Learning
At Home Educational Resources and Activities
Grades PreK – 12
Volume 4
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Table of Contents
I. Overview
II. Online Educational Resources
III. Featured Digital Resource: Legends of Learning
IV. “Bubbleology” for Grades PreK – 2
V. “Mask Design” for Grades 3 – 8
VI. Thinking Skills for Grades 3 - 6
VII. Problem-Based Learning Prompts for Grades 9-12
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Gifted and Advanced Learners: An Overview
Things to consider when working to keep your gifted learner(s) engaged and appropriately
challenged.
• Gifted learners typically find on-grade level work, for at least one academic area, to
be boring or something they already know. Help your child engage in grade level
above work aligned to their level of readiness, appropriateness of content, and their
area(s) of interest. We all learn better when we are already interested in the topic.
• Gifted learners may prefer to challenge conventional thinking and get frustrated when
the question posed only has one answer and it’s not the answer they are promoting.
To that end, seek out learning opportunities that promote divergent, rather than
convergent, thinking and answers. Convergent questions want us all to provide one,
single, same answer: What’s 2 +2? This convergent style question wants us to answer 4
but gifted learners may want to say 8/2 or 16/4 and since we did not specify that it
should be expressed as a whole number, they are not wrong in their response. In fact,
their response is a perfectly good example of a divergent answer. Seek out learning
that encourages divergent answers.
• Know that many gifted learners start to ponder social and emotional topics in
advance of their age peers so encourage discussion and self-reflection. Avoid
dismissing their concerns with statements like “You’re too young to worry about such
things” and instead follow up with prompts like “What about that issue concerns you?”
or “How would you like to change that situation?”. These learners need to know that
it’s OK to feel intensely about things but we can help them take some ownership of
their feelings so they can gain a sense of empowerment. One approach to
empowering your learner(s) is to have them keep a journal about the issue/topic that
has captured their attention. In this journal, they can document the most
contemporary information about their issue of concern and write their response
including how they feel about it and what they might like to see happen to lessen the
situation.
• One of the greatest myths about gifted learners is that they succeed at everything
because they know everything. We all know that is not the case but some gifted
learners feel that’s the expectation that everyone has for them and therefore avoid
risks at all cost. Help your learner(s) understand how to fail. Let them know that it’s OK
to fail especially since they have you as their safety net at this point in their lives. Failing
early in life and learning that it’s not the end is a priceless gift that you can give to your
learner(s) as there are too many stories about gifted students who did not encounter
failure until they went off to college. Since their self-identity was so tied to academic
success all of the time and since they had no personal frame of reference for
recovering after failure, many genuinely struggle to recover. So, help your child take
on academic risks, commend originality, provide constructive feedback, and let them
know that it’s more than just OK to refine, rewrite, and re-create!
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• Help your learner(s) find themselves in literature. There is something called
Bibliotheraphy, that while originating in traditional therapy settings, has been adopted
by the gifted community to help connect gifted learners with fictional characters and
non-fictional individuals in books. The thinking is that many gifted learners may not
have similar ability peers in their lives and therefore the heightened sense of self may
needlessly elevate anxiety and self-doubt. Reading about characters or real people
who look like them, think like them, and feel like them, allows some gifted learners to
connect in a way not typically afforded to them in their everyday lives. Please be sure
to preview the book first to make sure that the character/individual with whom your
learner is most likely to relate has a happy resolution by the conclusion of the book.
• Nearly all students will encounter one or dozens of projects assigned to them by
teachers during their K-12 educational journey. Gifted learners don’t need more work
but rather more appropriate work and in this case that more appropriate work would
be Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a core part of Individualized Learning Plans
(ILPs) used in City Schools because of the open-ended nature of the task. In short, PBLs
are projects based in real world problems that don’t have an assumed answer upfront
and therefore invite a wide range of solutions. While a project assigned on the
biography of Teddy Roosevelt has a very predictable trajectory of born, did stuff, and
died a PBL starts off with asking the learner to propose an actionable plan on what to
do to ensure learning continues when schools are forced to close for an extended
period of time. Learners need to research what has been done previously before they
can put forth their own plan.
• It’s all about choice! At the end of the day, all learners, but especially gifted learners,
need to choose topics of interest to them, explore it in a manner that engages them,
and be empowered to share their learning in a format that excites them. Once we
confirm that the topic is appropriate for the level of the learner’s maturity level, allow
them to learn in a manner they enjoy most. For some students that will be a deep dive
into a series of books while for another it may be a seemingly endless chain of websites
or videos. Finally, allow them to share what they learned with you. While some learners
may prefer to “keep it to themselves”, most will want to share what they learned
because they want you to be as excited about it as they are. Let them teach you and
in that action, you are communicating so much more than simple words can impart.
Please feel free to contact the Gifted and Advanced Learning office with any questions you
may have about implementing the aforementioned strategies.
Contact Dennis Jutras: [email protected]
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Gifted and Advanced Learning Online Educational Resources
Below, you will find a variety of free resources and activities that your child can engage in
during this time outside of school:
• All Subject Resources
o Legends of Learning – Grades 3-8
▪ Featured digital resource of the week. See the Legends of Learning
information letter included in this packet for details. This highly engaging
game-based platform focuses on math and science learning.
Parents/guardians will need to provide an email address to activate a
student account.
https://app.legendsoflearning.com/login
o EVERFI – Grades K-12
▪ EVERFI empowers educators to bring real-world learning into the
classroom and equip students with the skills they need for success–now
and in the future. Topics range from financial education to health and
wellness. Parents can activate accounts for their learners using Clever or
by creating new accounts using the link below.
https://everfi.com/k-12/parent-remote-learning/#blur-container
o Renzulli Learning – Grades PreK - 12
▪ Interactive online system that provides a personalized learning
environment for students to increase engagement and higher academic
performance.
https://renzullilearning.com/
o BRYDSEED – Grades K-12
▪ Byrdseed.com is a resource for teachers who work with gifted and
talented students and addresses topics such as Depth & Complexity,
Differentiating, and Social Emotional needs.
https://www.byrdseed.com/
o Advanced Placement supports from the College Board – Grades 9-12
▪ College Board’s dedicated You Tube channel featuring course resources
https://www.youtube.com/user/advancedplacement
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o Imagineering in a Box - Grades 6-12
▪ Designed to pull back the curtain to show students how artists, designers,
and engineers work together to create theme parks.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-
storytelling/imagineering-in-a-box
o Pixar in a Box - Grades 6-12
▪ A behind-the-scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs.
https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar
o Audible – Grades K-12
▪ Free streaming of stories ranging from Winnie-the-Pooh to Jane Eyre.
Collections include titles across six different languages.
https://stories.audible.com/discovery
o Mensa for Kids – Grades K-8
▪ Mensa for Kids has a lot of challenges, activities, lessons, and games for
gifted students that can easily be done at home.
https://www.mensaforkids.org/
o CK-12 – Grades K-12
▪ CK-12 provides free lessons by grade level and content (science, math,
social studies, and photography) for students. They include videos,
reading passages, and practice questions.
https://www.prodigygame.com/
o BreakoutEDU – Grades K-12
▪ BeakoutEDU is providing free content-related games in a digital platform
that mirrors an “escape room.” Students have to figure out puzzles and
content to progress throughout the game.
https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome
o Khan Academy – Grades PreK-12
▪ Khan Academy has many courses and lessons for students across all
content areas to help them learn more about content in school or other
areas of interest.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
o Newsela – Grades PreK-12
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▪ Newsela provides leveled text in literacy, social studies, science, and
social emotional domains, along with kid-friendly current events articles.
Students can create free accounts.
https://newsela.com/
o Destination Imagination – Grades K-12
▪ Destination Imagination offers hands-on instant challenges for students.
https://www.destinationimagination.org/challenge-program/resource-
library/
• Science Resources
o Mystery Science – Grades K-5
▪ Mystery Science offers a free version that allows students and parents
access to two free Mysteries in each unit of study.
https://mysteryscience.com/
• Math Resources
o Prodigy – Grades 1-8
▪ Prodigy is an online math platform that allows parents to create a free
account to allow their students to work on differentiated math problems
at their level. https://www.prodigygame.com/
• Reading and Literacy Resources
o epic! - Grades PreK-7th
▪ epic! is a free resource for 30 days which provides popular, leveled book
titles for students to read digitally.
https://www.getepic.com/
• Technology Resources
o Scratch Jr. – Grades K-2
▪ Students learn how to code with games, problems, and interactive stories.
https://www.scratchjr.org/
o Scratch – Grades 3-8
▪ Students can create their own interactive stories, games, and animations
by using coding.
https://scratch.mit.edu/
• Social Emotional Resources
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o Dealing with Anxiety: Simple to implement strategies to help your child deal with
the anxiety that they may be experiencing.
▪ https://gozen.com/37-techniques-to-calm-an-anxious-child/
o Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus
▪ https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/
• Gifted Education Resources
o The National Association for Gifted Children is providing updated learning links
on their website. Parents can also learn more about gifted education from the
national experts.
https://www.nagc.org/resources-educators-parents-during-covid-19
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Adapted from the Maryland State Department of Education’s Primary Talent Development
At-Home Activities for Gifted Kids (Pre-K to 2)
Gifted kids are incredible. Their minds teem with creative ideas and the motivation to complete
challenging tasks, but sometimes gifted kids can become bored and aloof when they don’t have
anything to do. When it comes to giftedness, the name of the game is selecting creative, stimulating,
and challenging activities to keep busy minds interested while extending their natural curiosity for
learning. These At-Home activities are hands-on, problem solving experiences that will promote
thinking opportunities for your young learners.
Pre-K to 2
Your child is about to embark upon another unit entitled “Bubbleology.” This unit is an excellent
opportunity for your child to use “Persistent and Perceptive” behaviors as they wonder about their
world. Your child will have opportunities to use questions to approach problems and identify
attributes to sort, classify, make predictions, and make inferences to create analogies on collected
observational data about the world. Below is a day-by-day task of learning activities.
Day 1
Perceptive
And
Persistent
(Pre-K to 2)
Materials: RS 1, a bowl of water, bubble soap/dish liquid, a small container, markers,
and chart paper for a Wonder Web
This lesson will allow your child to demonstrate Perceptive behaviors by investigating
what might make bubbles burst.
Your child will conduct experiments, draw conclusions, and record data. Your child
will complete several tasks by observing attributes of bubbles, observing what makes
bubbles pop, and making a bubble sculpture.
Share with your child that today we are going to respond to questions about bubbles
and make some predictions. To begin, we will create a Wonder Web like we did in an
earlier unit. Share previous Wonder Web as an example. Today our web will be about
bubbles. Using your chat paper, create a wonder web with your child around the
word “Bubbles”. Write the following questions off the center of the word “Bubbles”.
Activities for Home
Bubbleology
Grades PreK – 2
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I wonder…….
What makes bubbles burst?
Are all bubbles round?
Are there different color bubbles?
How big can bubbles be?
How do bubbles connect?
Allow time for your child to discuss their responses to the questions on the web. You
may want to record the responses on the chart and revisit the chart later to see if
their responses/predictions were correct.
Tell your child that they will be spending the next few days exploring “Bubbleology”.
Explain that the ending -ology means the “study of” and that Bubbleology is the
study of bubbles. You will be called a “Bubbleologist” at the end of your study of
bubbles.
Circle your child’s predictions on the web. Have your child think about ways they
could find out if what they think about bubbles is correct. Help your child see that
one way to find out more about bubbles is to conduct an experiment.
Day 2
Perceptive
(Pre-K to 2)
Materials: RS 1, Bubble Solution, container for solution, bubble wands, and straws
Share with your child that today we will conduct an experiment, make predictions,
and draw conclusions about bubbles.
We will do this by conducting several trials to record information about bubbles.
(Make your bubble solution using liquid soap and water)
Model how to conduct the experiment. Display RS 1 Science Log: Bubble or Burst?
Read through the information on the resource sheet and discuss how it will be used
throughout each trial.
Model how to make predictions for each trial and record results in the data chart (RS
1) by blowing a bubble (using the bubble solution) and testing whether or not
blowing on the bubble will break it. Emphasize that it will be important to do multiple
trials of the same test to make sure the results are the same. Remind your child that a
trial is when we “try” something several times.
Note: You may want to wear googles, or some type of protective eye wear while
conducting this experiment to protect eyes from bubbles popping in them. It’s also a
good way to model appropriate safety precautions when conducting experiments.
Materials: Use bubble solution, bubble wand, RS 1 “What I Predicted/What I Learned”
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Experiment#1: Using RS 1, make a prediction before each trial. Then record what
happens in the table.
Trial 1: Blow gently on the bubble so it doesn’t pop. Record what happens on the
chart.
Trial 2: Blow a little harder so that the bubble bursts this time. Record the results.
Trial 3: Your choice to be gentle or less gentle when blowing on the bubble (tie-
breaker): Record the results.
Discuss new learnings from the results of experiment #1. See if your child can make
some predictions or conclusions about the force of air and the fragility or strength of
the bubbles.
Extension Activity:
Complete the Conclusion portion of the Science Log RS 1. Invite your child to share
other information that they have learned about bubbles. Ask your child to describe
what the bubbles looked like (colors, shapes, size). Then your child can write about
what they learned on the Conclusion resource sheet.
Perceptive: Being observant and aware of things
Day 3
Perceptive
And
Persistent
(Pre-k- to 2)
Materials: Different shaped wands or different objects (wire or pipe cleaners) that
could be used to make bubbles with the bubble solution, RS 3A Bubble Shapes Log,
and crayons
Today you will be a bubbleologist! Scientists are people who study things and a
bubbleologist is a special scientist who studies bubbles. Today you will conduct an
experiment on your own and record data in: Bubble Shapes RS 3A your Science Log.
Tell them that they will use the log to record the results of the experiment. Give your
child the Science Log experiment as you model.
Direct your child to the first page of the log: Bubble Shapes. Ask your child to read
the question: Can I make a bubble that isn’t round? Tell your child to talk about what
they already know so far about bubbles and make a prediction. Color the box that
states your prediction with crayons. Remind your child that it’s okay for a prediction
to be proven right or wrong. Talk again about ways to test their predictions.
Experiment#2: Have your child test different shaped wands or different objects that
could be used to make bubbles with the bubble mix (wire, pipe cleaners, straws…).
Using different bubble wands, one at a time, conduct an experiment. Make a
prediction before each trial. Then record what happens. RS 3A. Continue to test
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multiple objects or have them create their own wands. Observe as your child
experiments with different objects and records data on their log.
Discuss what they learned from the results of their experiments.
Conclusion: Have your child independently draw and write about what they have
learned (RS 3A). Explain that it is important for scientists to share what they have
learned. Challenge your child to create bubble activities for their friends. Example:
What would happen if you mix food coloring to a bubble solution? Allow your child
to be creative! Remember to have them record their findings to share with their
friends.
Day 4
Perceptive
And
Persistent
(Pre-K to 2)
Materials: Bubble solution, bubble wand, table top, pencil, paper clip, ruler, and
construction paper
Today your child will demonstrate perceptive and persistent behaviors by measuring
and comparing bubbles.
Today we will read and observe photos in the book: POP! A Book About Bubbles
Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
A read aloud version of the book can be found at
Part I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8gviT5qgR4&t=1s
Part II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH0cht8GzgA
Encourage your child to make predictions about what they might learn from the
reading.
Exploration: Model blowing bubbles onto a wet table surface using a straw. Show
how to pop a bubble. Use a piece of construction paper and a pencil to mark off
the diameter/width of a bubble by placing one end of the construction paper strip
at one end of the bubble, laying the strip through the center of the bubble, and
making a pencil mark on the strip where the outline of the bubble ends on the other
side. This will help your child to see how to measure a bubble using nonstandard tools
for measurement. Try the process again using a paperclip and a ruler.
Allow time for your child to practice blowing bubbles onto other surfaces using a
straw and measuring their diameters using standard and nonstandard measuring
tools. Discuss what factors might affect making the biggest bubble.
Enrichment Activity: Using what you know about bubbles, identify factors involved in
blowing a bubble (kind of soap, type of wand). How can we make a bigger bubble?
Choose an idea to test and conduct your experiment. Share your findings.
Day 5 (Pre-K to 2)
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Persistent,
Perceptive,
and
Creative
Materials: RS 5 Pop Goes the Bubble lyrics, RS 6 (A, B) Bubble Groups, RS 7 Behavior
Recording Sheet, straws, bubble solution, and an empty clear plastic bottle
Allow time for your child to share their ideas about their new learnings about
bubbles. Today we will demonstrate Persistent and Perceptive behaviors while
Creating a bubble sculpture.
Post and sing aloud the lyrics to the song “Pop Goes the Bubble” on RS 5.
Sing the song with your child to review why bubbles pop.
Say: “I wonder if you noticed that bubbles can stick together to form patterns. Let’s
see.” Model the procedure with your child by blowing two bubbles near each other
on a table so they connect. Discuss what they see. Have your child record their
findings on RS 6A.
Give your child an opportunity to practice blowing bubbles that stick together.
Before they begin creating their bubble sculptures they will have an opportunity to
investigate and record how different sized bubbles connect to each other. Your
child will record their findings on RS 6B Student Bubble Groups. Monitor what your
child is doing with each bubble group on RS 7.
Today you will demonstrate your creativity by using bubbles to create a bubble
sculpture.
Using an empty plastic bottle, create a bubble sculpture inside the clear plastic
bottle. Discuss what they see. Have your child describe the pattern they see inside
the plastic bottle. Have them also create bubble sculptures outside of the container
on other surfaces. Take pictures and share with others. Create a gallery of bubble
sculptures.
Extension Activity: Get a shallow baking pan (a disposable baking dish works well)
and cover it with cling wrap. Make sure the top and bottom surface are wet. Then
have your child blow bubbles in between the two layers. Have your child describe
the pattern they see as the “bubble window” fills with bubbles (honey comb). Ask
your child to tell you what the sculpture looks like and why. Allow your child to be
creative by creating different sculptures that look like something that they have seen
before.
Persistent: Staying with a task in order to analyze information and draw conclusions.
Perceptive: Being observant and noticing patterns and relationships around you.
Creative: Uses Imaginative and original Thinking
Offer your child challenging tasks and games to foster these behaviors.
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Resource Sheets
Resource Sheet 1:
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Resource Sheet #A:
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Resource Sheet 5:
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Resource Sheet 6A:
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Resource Sheet 6B:
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Resource Sheet 7:
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People around the world are currently looking for or creating their own masks to protect them from
several different challenges such as illness, pollution, smoke from fires, debris from construction,
among many others. This design challenge will ask you to create a mask that will effectively filter
particles to help people in the scenario(s) of your choice. Your design should be effective, but also
fashionable, so that your target audience will use them regularly.
Your steps will include:
• Identify the scenario(s) for which you want to design a mask
• Research the scenario(s) as well as materials that may be used
• Identify an audience that would most benefit from your mask
• Design your mask
• Develop a prototype
• Create a marketing campaign
In the subsequent pages, you’ll find graphic organizers that will guide you through the process. If you
do not have a printer at home, all these steps could be completed on notebook or scratch paper.
As you work on designing your mask, consider the following:
• What purpose does the mask have?
• What features must be included to ensure your target audience will wear it?
• How can your mask be designed to work for multiple scenarios?
• What types of marketing or advertising will need to happen to ensure as many people from
your target audience wear the mask when it’s necessary?
• Is your mask design something that others could create if you shared your process?
This activity, like all our activities, is meant to be fun and creative. You get to take this as far as you
would like and can always add or work outside of the directions provided here. Ultimately, the
following organizers and steps are meant to support your thinking as you develop your mask.
Opportunity for Extension: With supervision, you can design a research methodology to test out the
effectiveness of your mask. Consider, how will you know if the materials are effective? If it’s
comfortable? If your target audience will want to use it?
Problem Based Learning Activity
Mask Design
Grades 3+
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Identify the Scenario(s)
In order to design the best possible mask, you first need to decide on what purpose you
want it to serve. Should it protect people from spreading illness? Should it help them filter air
pollution? You may want to start by brainstorming all the ways a mask could be used or
could be helpful. You may need to do research to help you think through different scenarios
in which people would wear a mask. Then, pick one or more of those uses to focus on what
you will need to research to support your design.
Scenarios to Use a
Mask
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Research
Now that you’ve decided on the scenarios for which you want to design a mask, you’ll need to
research each scenario and the materials and features that are required for a mask to have to
protect people. You may want to research if some materials are more effective than others to help
support your design.
Source Important Facts
about the Scenario
Important Facts
about Effective or
Ineffective Materials
What information
from this source will
help inform your
mask design?
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Describing your Audience
Who should wear your mask? Consider their age, community, location, underlying health
conditions, sense of style, occupation, access to resources, and/or the weather where they
live. You will also want to think about what features your design should have to support
these characteristics.
Characteristics of your
Audience
How will your mask design
address this characteristic?
What else might you
consider for your design
based on these
characteristics?
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Design your Mask
Now that you’ve researched your scenario, material needs, and considered the features
that would be needed in a mask to best help your chosen audience, you are ready to begin
drawing your mask design. You should label your design for the features that it has, as well
as describe which materials are used and for what purpose.
Mask description:_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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Develop a Prototype
Now that you’ve completed a drawing of your design, it’s time to make it using materials
you have available to you in your home. This may mean that you use materials you find in
your house (with permission) as substitutes for the materials you researched. For example, if
your design has a charcoal filter but all you have are coffee filters, you can create your
design using the coffee filter but pretend it is the charcoal filter in your design.
Marketing and Sharing
Now that you have designed and created a prototype mask, it is time to think about how
you will share your design or advertise it to your target audience. You may choose to write a
proposal to Shark Tank to have your invention funded for mass production (you’ll need to
research costs of materials, production, advertising, warehouse space, etc.), create a
commercial and/or material to advertise your product, or identify another way to market
and promote your product. You might also consider sponsorships or finding celebrity
endorsements to promote your product but consider which celebrities would be best suited
to market your product. Choose any of these options (or all of them) and create the
necessary documents and materials to effectively market and sustain your product. You
may also choose to share how to make your mask design for free to help your target
audience have protection in your chosen scenario. In this case, consider how you will make
sure your audience receives the information and will be able to reproduce your mask on
their own. Be creative and have fun!
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Thinking Skills and Activities
Grades 3 - 6
Each week, we will select a few activities for students in grades 3 -6 from the free resource
published by Prufrock Press for students. Use them as a fun extension or as a way to reinforce
skills. The answer key will be published in the subsequent volume of GAL activities or can be
accessed in the online packet (http://www.prufrock.com/Assets/ClientPages/pdfs/Thinking-Skills-
Activities.pdf).
Accessed at https://www.prufrock.com/At-Home-Student-Activities.aspx
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Answer Key for Thinking Skills Activities in GAL Packet Volume 3
After School
• Daralynn – puzzles
• Kevin – yoyo
• Tara – jump rope
Spring Musical
• Megan – rose bud
• Adam – fisherman
• Jeff – baseball player
Word Bogglers 3
1. High tail
2. 21-gun salute
3. Go overboard
4. Two dimensional
5. Banana split
6. Cross legged
Word Bogglers 4
1. Corn on the cob
2. Marked down
3. You’re in the doghouse
4. Break under pressure
5. His eyes are bigger than his stomach
6. Snow storm
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Problem Based Learning Prompts Grades 9 -12
What follows is a list of real-world problems for which learners should consider the overall
problem, research the history and past attempts at solutions, and then propose a well-reasoned
and practical solution. Learners should imagine that the “owner” of the proposed problem has
come to them seeking a thorough and thoughtful solution. The presentation of the proposed
solution can take the form of a “white paper”, a power point or Prezi presentation, a poster
board, a documentary, or any other specifically requested format. Ultimately, the individual
learner should select a problem of interest, either from the list below or of their own suggestion,
research the topic, inclusive of other attempts to solve the problem, and then elect to present
their plan in a manner best aligned to their style of presentation.
Remember, that while there are no right or wrong answers there are poorly-reasoned and
impractical solutions – avoid those!
Local: Baltimore City Public Schools recently announced that participation and success in
Advanced Placement (AP) courses is a right and expectation for all students. To that end the
district has published the following long-term goal:
By June 2024, all high schools must offer a minimum of 6 AP courses to their students with an
expectation that the mean score across all AP course exams at those schools must reach at
least a 3.0 out of a 5.0 maximum score.
The coordinator for Advanced Placement learning in City Schools has reached out to you to
seek your recommendations on the following in his attempt to help schools and students be
successful.
• What can schools do to recruit and encourage more students, especially students of
color and those with limited resources, to take on the additional challenges and rigor
associated with AP courses?
• How can schools breakdown some of the barriers that students sometimes cite for
reasons why they don’t want to take an AP course – fear of doing poorly/failing, stigma
of being identified as a nerd by their peers, and lack of relevancy.
• What can schools do to better match AP offerings to the abilities of their teachers and
students as well their interests?
• How can schools make sure that these greater number of students are able to
demonstrate a level of mastery that earns them at least a 3 on their end-of-course AP
exam?
• Since the average high school in the district only offers two AP courses, what does a
realistic timetable look like to raise the number of students taking AP courses as well as
onboarding new AP courses each year. Feel free to make recommendations about
the specific AP courses you would add in year 1, year 2, and year 3. You should also
include recommendations and a rationale about which grade of students should take
those particular courses.
Go to the Top
Submit your final recommendations to [email protected] for consideration.
National: Over the past few years, the American Heart Association, the American Lung
Association, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and other leaders in national health initiatives have all
publicized the inherit risks of using electronic cigarettes or vaping. Despite the evidence,
organizations like the Truth Initiative report that “young people who use e-cigarettes are four
times more likely to start smoking cigarettes than their peers who do not vape. On top of that, e-
cigarette use among young people, many of whom were not smokers in the first place, has
skyrocketed in recent years, jumping 78% among high schoolers between 2017 and 2018 alone.”
The U.S. Surgeon General has now empaneled you to serve on a new national task force to help
eradicate vaping among minors. The Surgeon General is open to a wide range of ideas but all
plans must include a timeline, rationale supporting the actions your plan proposes, a summary of
known challenges/obstacles, and your initial thoughts on how best to tackle those
challenges/obstacles. You are welcome to craft your plan to target one of the stakeholders
below or you can develop a plan addressing a combination of stakeholders.
• Minors – those who are actually using e-cigarettes
• Parents/guardians – those whose actions or inactions may be contributing to this
epidemic
• Lawmakers – those who have largely been slow to regulate the e-cigarette industry
• Points of Sale – those stores or online retailers that directly sell e-cigarettes
• Manufacturers – those who most directly profit from making e-cigarettes
Global: A new global initiative is set to launch in the spring of 2021 focused on helping all
developing nations of the world to adopt cleaner, renewable energy sources rather than relying
on coal, which accounts for approximately 38% of the world’s production of electricity, or
nuclear power with accounts for about 10%. This global organization has requested plans that do
the following:
• Identifies a developing nation and provides a brief explanation for that choice.
• Analyzes that country’s current means of producing electricity and makes
recommendations about the most viable renewable source options for that country.
The plan should consider all existing and even futuristic renewable source options.
• Provides a list of the necessary equipment and the quantity of that equipment
necessary to ensure an energy secure future for that nation. For example, if a typical
hydroelectric plant generates far less than 10,000 megawatts how many plants would
be required and are there enough rivers in that country to make that a possibility?
• Presents a list of known or argued drawbacks or hazards associated with your preferred
means of generating electricity and briefly rebuts them or puts them in context.
