ABSTRACT
This chapter provides teachers of the gifted with the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical resources to design sustainable classroom digital ecosystems. Although current middle and high school students will transition out of K—12 environments much sooner, rapidly changing workplace demands require that they too must be equipped with a process-oriented skill set. The chapter aims to help establish a mindset that quality technology integration prepares current K-12 students for workplace conditions that have yet to be defined. Future digital marketplaces require a workforce capable of producing and distributing innovative digital goods and services. Gifted students’ precocious abilities for advanced information retention, knowledge recall, abstract thought, and creative-productivity means they have the unique potential to satisfy marketplace demands. Like other ecosystems found in nature, a classroom digital ecosystem’s sustainability is determined by its flexible environment, which allows energy to flow in and out.
