Mawhiba is focused on finding and selecting gifted and talented students to participate in its programs.  The purpose is to nurture these individuals, both in the discovery of different fields of learning, specifically Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and in applying what they have learned to real-world applications through project-based learning. These are admirable pursuits that need to be sustained, but there also needs to be a “grass-roots” effort with these students, meaning to provide a base learning environment that will engage them and motivate them. These persons need to be challenged so that their mind is sparked and they start asking questions, which leads to creativity and innovation. This article will review some recommendations on what is available to these students with innovative purposes outside the classroom and in these days of Covid-19 restrictions. 

The following list has been developed to supply some ideas to students and parents on how to be engaged in innovation pursuits during the time in a virtual learning environment. The purpose is to continue to promote their creative thinking skills and keep them asking questions that could lead to further investigation and possibly development. The practices and skills learned can certainly help them continue down the path of creativity and real-world applications. ​

Ideas to Explore: 

Hands-on innovation activities at home – Parents and students can follow Mawhiba articles and tweets, which provide some great inquiry-based activities that lead to additional outreach work. These allow students to perform background research, follow a procedure and test a solution at home using everyday items and basic scientific principles. They really focus on using the science process skills of observations, prediction, inference, measurement, classification and communication. They will encourage students to brainstorm and try to find solutions to a problem that is outside the curriculum. This can lead to fun experiments and even competitions amongst family members. 

Makerspaces – The makerspace activities utilize a collaborative fun environment with the focus on student-centered project-based learning. Many makerspaces have been implemented in the past as in person events or open facilities, but now with the Covid issues, they have transitioned to delivering content in digital technologies, coding, computational learning, prototyping and more. Students can use these as a stepping stone to future learning in these hot topics. Searching for these makersspaces in a regional and global arena is a positive action for parents and students to take. ​

Innnovation Webinars – As the pandemic continues and schools remain virtually enabled, there remains a challenge on how gifted children education will continue to be enriched and developed. Each family must decide the educational programs that are best for them. Gifted and talented webinars can help review options and provide overviews of how to keep the creative juices flowing. It is important to ensure that the children's academic, social, emotional, and physical needs are considered and virtual solutions implemented. Many webinars can be found on the national, regional and global stage, which address the key issues and can be viewed together as a family. It is important to keep well informed about supplemental education viewpoints and opportunities during these times. 

Gamification – This has become one of the popular and productive vehicles for gifted and talented learning. Basically, this uses an approach to add gaming elements, such as storytelling, competition, collaboration, and prizes, to an existing learning environment. There are several amazing education games currently available online. The purpose of these is to increase student engagement using a series of goals, rules, journeys, rewards and progress feedback. Even with these current offerings, there is a high potential for further development in many areas of daily curriculum or subject disciplines. Students can try some of the programs that are out there or come up with some new ideas on how to make this virtual learning environment more fun. Teachers can also apply the basic gamification principles to their teaching area and allow students to get involved.   

Competitions for Innovation – During the virtual learning time, most of the competitions, local and international, have shifted operations to online. This reduces a lot of the foundational work to participate and to be evaluated. These competitions are excellent venues for gifted and talented students to review a problem or question and use existing tools to create a solution and then test it. They promote background research, critical thinking skills, methodology, teamwork, and communication. Some examples of these are; Swift Student Challenge, Microsoft Imagine Cup, FIRST Robotics, VEX Robotics, International Science & Engineering Fair, Genius Olympiad, Odyssey of the Mind, International Bridge Contest, BioTech Genius, ITEX and Milset. During these months of Covid restrictions and even into the summer, students should look at opportunities to take advantage of these events. They are also a great addition to the college application CV, as admissions offices like to see extracurricular STEM activities that were part of the student’s development. 

Mentorships and Co-designed Projects – Gifted and talented students have always had excellent experiences working in a lab and experiencing real-world research or innovation projects. During these times of Covid pressures, most wet labs are off-limits, however many types of disciplines and research can be broached online with mentors. These include machine learning, deep learning, simulations, cybersecurity, robotics, engineering, apps and surveys. Students should contact their local universities and research centers to ask department heads if any mentorship opportunities are available. In addition, if students identify a common problem in their local community that affects a certain group of people, it is a good idea to ask them to be part of an innovation project. The student can perform a needs assessment and determine the requirements. Then brainstorm with others on possible solutions that will help these people with their issue. This is an excellent way to develop a project that can be presented in an event or even commercialized.  ​

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