Gifted & Talented students bring their Artificial Intelligence project to life in a large-scale mural

At Instituto Thomas Jefferson, students explore their high abilities through projects that spark their curiosity and confidence.

GIFTED & TALENTED PROGRAMME

Helping students grow their strengths is a top priority in education. It matters because, as students grow, they’re ready to step up and solve the social, economic and global challenges we all face.

That’s why, at Instituto Thomas Jefferson, we’ve launched the Gifted & Talented programme. This is an extra experience for students identified with high abilities. Founded in 2009 and inspired by the training and enrichment philosophy of the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, Gifted & Talented is a programme where we identify, guide and enrich students with outstanding skills. Families and teachers work together to find the best ways to help each student grow their talents.

Through a pull-out system, students step out of their regular classes to lead project-based learning, following their interests and passions while gaining tools to grow as confident, independent learners.

In the Gifted & Talented programme, students tackle current social topics and challenges. They lead research and create different projects with the information they gather. Students in the programme receive tools and techniques they can use in their regular classes too, helping them become independent, develop reading comprehension, metacognition and critical thinking.

This programme draws on the research and ideas of Francoys Gagné, Doctor of Psychology from the University of Montreal. Gagné distinguishes between gifts and talents, and believes that strengths grow into talents through both formal and informal catalysts, including intrapersonal skills and learning processes.

For our youngest students in preschool, we focus on helping them discover different types of talents. They explore technology, world history, science and art, aiming to spark curiosity and uncover their unique interests. This gives them an introduction to high abilities and the different types of intelligence.

INTRODUCTION TO THE “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” PROJECT

This year, Gifted & Talented students set out to learn the basics of artificial intelligence, lead research on a topic of their interest, design a solution to a social problem and connect it to the ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Afterwards, they brought their ideas to life in a mural.

The main goal of the project is for students to understand how artificial intelligence works and its ethical questions, as well as to develop critical thinking around technology.

BENEFITS / STUDENT LEARNING THROUGH THE PROJECT

Through this project, students learned to spot the right and wrong uses of artificial intelligence, express their research visually using technology to paint to scale, and train a computer to identify an object using the programmes “Machine Learning for Kids” and “Teachable Machine”, gaining a basic understanding of how AI works. They also developed critical thinking regarding ethical, political and practical opportunities related to AI.

To support the project, a renowned muralist from Guadalajara taught painting techniques, tools for processing information and ways to express it artistically, as well as how to draw to scale using technology.

Students also received materials to help them analyse and summarise information found online, in articles, videos and websites, so they could complete their research projects.

WHERE AND HOW WILL STUDENTS PRESENT THEIR WORK?

Throughout June, students present their final projects, sharing everything they’ve achieved during the school year. Soon, their murals will be on display at school.

Gifted & Talented students will also go on a trip to Museo Cabañas in April. This visit is designed so students can connect what they’ve learned about murals – their message, political and social stance, and storytelling – with the work of world-renowned Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco.

Museo Cabañas is offering the chance to experience murals interactively through artificial intelligence. Students will interact, connect their learning, ask questions and put their critical thinking to the test, exploring the ethics of AI in both digital and traditional art.