ABSTRACT
Draft guidelines for teachers on assisting gifted students in the regular classroom were developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA, 2007) and include the teaching of science; in truth they only really provide an overview. Many gifted students in Ireland opt to participate in programmes run by the Centre for Talented Youth (CTY). The Centre provides enrichment programmes for gifted students, who are defined as those with numerical and/or verbal reasoning ability in the ninety-fifth percentile. The Centre encourages an experiential learning approach, which suits the needs of the students and the aims of the Centre. Students participating in CTY Ireland (CTYI) programmes are not formally evaluated (e.g., achievement test), as there is no formal accreditation for the programme, unlike other gifted programmes. This chapter presents the effective teaching methodologies and practices utilised by science teachers at the CTY Ireland.
