The Parallel Curriculum

Book excerpt: Given that intelligence is flexible and can be influenced by circumstance and environment, education at all levels ought to be about providing environments and opportunities designed to maximize individual capacity. The Parallel Curriculum represents a synthesizing of views and approaches to creating curriculum for gifted learners, rather than reflecting any single view or approach. The book provides a rationale for developing a new curriculum model, gives a brief overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the model, and aims to help practitioners envision specific application. It is important to realize how narrow views of intelligence limit our growth as individuals, and restrict members of diverse cultures who value intelligences that are typically not addressed in schools. The Parallel Curriculum provides guidance to teachers of students in various age groups and populations, as well as teachers of varied subject areas and in varied programmes contexts.