Encouraging students to go above and beyond the requirements - allow them to lead where they’d like to challenge themselves in the code. Increase the complexity rather than just increasing the amount of work.
Allow them to be a resident expert (if they’re willing). Some of these students enjoy the puzzle of decoding while other students simply become frustrated.
How do you deal with a disinterested student because they believe themselves to already know the content?
Are these students advanced because they were allowed to learn based on their own interests, but are now annoyed and disinterested because it is someone else’s agenda. Maybe give them the challenge of digging for something no one else has found yet.
Some gifted students are motivated by authentic tasks. Adding empathy to their planning at any point may add real new learning for many of these students. Asking these students to go beyond the checklist based on the needs of others. Creating real audiences may increase motivation. Maybe including a peer review by an adult from an outside source would also motivate them a bit more!
Not all of my G&T learners enjoy interclass challenges. Some like hands on dexterous tasks and others want to left alone to pursue learning at their own speed. A few take fruitful tangents to what is going on in my class .
Differentiation strategies work for main stream learners better. I have come to a conclusion that it is better to allow G&T learners ’ semi free’ to remain engaged.
Perhaps encourage that student to finish the assigned task and walk you through their code. Then if they are successful and you are content with their work, show them how they can use the remix button when available and the challenges at the end of the unit. You can also show them how to use the App Lab if you want them to really work ahead.
Empower them by giving them a voice. Find out what they would like to learn more about and allow them to explore on their own. Allow them to present their successes and struggles based on their experiences.
Extension activities are great for the gifted and talented. We have used W3Schools to have students add special features to their websites such as drop down menus, search bars, links to surveys. Students have also attached Google forms to collect survey data to then analyze feedback.