a disclaimer: Most claims below are “might” and “maybe” because (quoting from co-creating better education) "although I have some useful understandings and skills, I need help from other educators who have developed other understandings and skills, who understand the perspectives of classroom teachers [and students] more accurately & thoroughly, or are skilled activity developers, and have other kinds of useful experience & expertise." Therefore I'm looking forward to learning from teachers & administrators who – in a variety of important ways – know more than me. / Another reason for “maybe” is because my model for Design Process hasn't been used in classrooms, so there is no empirical evidence for my claims, or against them.
Although all teachers (and their school & district) have reasons to USE activities that are especially valuable for promoting a knowledge-and-skills curriculum (with knowledge, skills, skills-with-knowledge), teachers also have rational reasons to NOT USE these activities. But some "reasons to not-use" might be weaker when designing programs for gifted students. I'll describe some reasons to not-use, and why these reasons might be weaker for gifted students.
The following comments build on the foundation of sections about "rational reasons to avoid Problem-Solving Activities," examined briefly here & here and with more depth.
• A common goal for a school/district (and its teachers) is wanting to do well on standardized exams. IF their perspective (even though it isn't necessarily the reality) is a competition of "knowledge versus skills" with knowledge decreasing when "skill activities" increase, this is a rational reason to reject Activities [+ Metacognition] for Thinking Skills. But if a teacher/school thinks "the gifted students will do well anyway" they might be more willing to invest more time in Activities for Thinking Skills, including Metacognitive Strategies. And a variety of problem-solving projects (broadly defined, so these can be small or large) can be “extras” for students who master “the usual things” more quickly, to provide extra challenges so they don't become bored with school. [[ but productive thinking happens when knowledge is combined with creative-and-critical thinking ]]
• A teacher/school may not want to "gamble" with a change that seems risky — because people are thinking that "although it might be beneficial (for students': Exam Scores and in other ways), it might be detrimental" — and they don't want to risk a large-scale loss, if they make a major change for the entire school or district. But they might be more willing to gamble on a small scale, with changes only in their program for gifted students. Then if this small-scale experiment works well with good results, they may be more willing to try it on a larger scale, with more students or all students.
• Most teachers are overworked, and all teachers have their time limited in two ways: in how they use the school's classroom time, and also what they are willing to invest (and should be asked to invest) in their own preparation time. Each of these time-constraints is a factor in decisions (by a school & by its teachers) about using activities that involve general metacognitive strategies and/or (as with Design Process) specific metacognitive strategies. / My model for Design Process is very flexible so it can be used for a wide variety of "activities" that – in addition to Science & Design and Strategizing – also include normal classroom actions that usually aren't considered to be "activities," instead are just the typical process-of-learning to improve basic skills (e.g. reading & math) and gain subject-area knowledge. Because teachers can use Design Process in combination with "doing what they usually do," some "reasons to not use metacognition" can be less powerful than is usually assumed (and observed) when school-and-teachers are deciding how to use the limited time that's available in the classroom and for preparations by teachers.
• With an important question, we wonder “will students be highly motivated to use metacognitive strategies?” I think the answer will be “yes!” for most gifted students because they are very interested in thinking, and they believe that thinking will be a valuable part of their life so doing it well (helped by metacognition) will improve their life. By analogy, it's similar to asking “who usually is most motivated to watch football films of offense-vs-defense?” and answering “quarterbacks & coaches” for a team's offense (or “linebackers & coaches” for defense) because they are “gifted” in football (in playing or coaching), and they are confident that their efforts will be rewarded. / We can encourage their motivations, e.g. with metaphors like “driving your brain” — and growing their brain into becoming a high-performance race car (or maybe a motorcycle or ___ , letting students imagine the kinds of performance-goals they want to set for themselves) — and them “being the CEO of your brain,” with similar opportunities for letting students elaborate the metaphor.
More specifically, I think many students will be fascinated by my model for Design Process — due to its blending of logic and art when they "observe the words, colors, and spatial relationships" in my favorite visually-logical representation. Although "I think..." I don't really know due to a lack of experience (with students using it) and thus a lack of evidence. But it does seem probable – as "a good way to bet" – that many students will be enthusiastic about Design Process and metacognition; and this will make life better for their teachers, with more fun and satisfaction. / iou – Tonight (May 21 by 7:30 pm) the main idea that will be developed is... I think students will be fascinated by the diagrams when they ask self-questions while they are "observing the words, colors, and spatial relationships" in "my favorite diagram" plus the two that precede it and the one that follows it. They also can reflect on their knowledge (of problem-solving actions in the diagrams) and their own experiences while they're solving problems; e.g. using Design Process as a checklist is a metacognitive thinking strategy that can help students learn more from experience. / Also,