On Saturday, March 19, Dr. Ruf will participate in the Seventh Annual Gifted Education Resource Fair sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Gifted Children (MCGT) and the MCGT Homeschooling Chapter.  

We have discovered that nearly half the people who attend these events aren't sure their children are gifted. If you are in the same boat, or know someone who is, here is a chance to hear Dr. Ruf address precisely that topic. She will speak on what giftedness is at 9:00 a.m., and she will discuss educating the gifted at 1:00 p.m.

The Resource Fair will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Edina Community Center, 5701 Normandale Road, Edina, Minnesota. The cost for MCGT members is $5.00 for just the fair or $10 for both the fair and talks given by Dr. Ruf. For nonmembers, the cost is $10 for the fair and $15.00 for both.

On Saturday, January 29, 2011, Dr. Ruf joined with Mary St. George of New Zealand as speakers for the Fourth Global Virtual Meeting in Gifted Education through Secondlife. The topic was "Underachiever."   

These online events have been organized by Roya Klingner of the Bavarian Centre for Gifted and Talented Children for the purpose of sharing knowledge and experience about gifted education with students, educators, teachers and parents.

The event is now available through the following links: All Links, Full Version, and YouTube.      

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) is sponsoring a very important research project to gather data on parents' experiences with their doctors. SENG is asking parents of gifted children to complete a brief anonymous survey, which should take about 10 to 15 minutes.The purpose of this study is to improve medical services for gifted and talented children.

The link to this survey is on the SENG website, and the survey is listed on the left side of the page.

Here's an interesting article from the New York Times: Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions, by Tara Parker-Pope. Parker-Pope discusses research that indicates teenagers are much more likely than adults to engage in risky behavior when their friends are watching.

Here's another good article that deserves being passed along. It's Your Child Left Behind, written by Amanda Ripley and appearing in the Atlantic Magazine. Ripley cites research about the top students in our education system, taking each state separately and comparing it to about 60 other countries around the world. Although we don't compare all that favorably, you probably will be interested in the approach used in Massachusetts.

Applications are now available for the 2011 Jack Kent Cooke (JKC) Young Scholars Scholarship Program. This is a generous opportunity that could dramatically enhance the academic future of a student. Applicants must be very high achieving (GPA above 3.5 or mostly "A" grades), in grade 7 and have unmet financial need (low-moderate
income).

On Monday, March 7, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., Dr. John Delaney will address the Young Scientist Roundtable in the Auditorium at Wayzata Central Middle School, 305 Vicksburg Lane, Plymouth. Dr. Delaney is from the University of Washington, Professor of Oceanography and Principal Investigator and Director of the Regional Scale Nodes Program., and he will discuss "Wiring an Interactive Ocean." Here is a description of his program:

The oceans make our planet livable, yet they are largely unexplored and poorly understood. Dr. Delaney is an advocate of next-generation ocean science, which is made possible through the distribution of robot-sensor networks in the oceanic environment. These networks enable real-time, interactive research on the natural phenomena operating throughout the world's oceans. Dr. Delaney will discuss his work at the University of Washington, which involves constructing an innovative, cabled network of
instruments in the northeast Pacific Ocean.