ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces The Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM), the foundational basis for this book and for over 25 years of work on designing differentiated units of study for use with advanced and gifted learners. The chapter begins with a definition of differentiation for the gifted and how it needs to be applied to content, processes, products, resources, and assessment. It also outlines the criteria for designing curriculum products, noting their need for advanced ideas, higher-level thinking, a conceptual curriculum base, and interdisciplinary opportunities. Instructional differentiation strategies, in particular problem-based learning, inquiry, advanced content and thinking, and collaboration are illustrated, based on cognitive and affective characteristics of the gifted, linked to appropriate resources. Predicated on the key characteristics of the gifted of precocity, intensity, and complexity, the ICM is explicated with respect to its three dimensions of advanced content, higher-level thinking processes, and macroconcepts and how they are integrated to provide interdisciplinary opportunities for learners. The chapter also synthesizes the research on the use of ICM-based units of study in each major subject area, articulating how the units have produced learning gains. The chapter concludes by iterating the role of differentiated curriculum resources in advancing the learning of gifted students in multiple studies at various stages of development and across subject areas.
