When there is a mystery to be solved who should you call? At Lanier Primary School, you should contact the "GSI" SEEK students, of course.
That’s exactly what happened recently when Mr. David Shultz, assistant principal, had a mystery involving his office chair. It seemed that Mr. Shultz’s chair mysteriously disappeared during the week of CRCT testing recently. Mr. Shultz contacted the GSI (Gifted SEEK Investigators) students in Mrs. Sims’ gifted enrichment class to help him solve the mystery of the missing office chair.
The second grade SEEK students have participated in a year-long program of problem-solving, critical thinking, and deductive reasoning which Mrs. Sims developed to encourage higher level thinking and reasoning skills among her gifted learners.
The program began in August, 2006, when Sheriff Clyde Smith visited the students and deputized each to be an "official GSI detective". The students solved mysteries which included a missing lunchbox, a missing teddy bear as well as the disappearance of Santa. Each of these scenarios was developed to include hands-on performance tasks in which the students worked in teams or with partners to discover clues and process evidence through critical thinking, logical thinking and reasoning skills.
As the school year began winding down, the mystery of Mr. Shultz’s missing chair served as the culminating GSI mystery for the students. The students utilized clues, investigated witnesses, and compiled data to locate the missing chair and solve this mystery.
Detective Resa Edwards of the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department visited the class as they concluded the mystery to congratulate them on a job well done. Her visit helped the students better understand the role of detectives in solving crimes and processing evidence.
GSI activities proved to be a favorite among the gifted learners. The students could be overheard exclaiming, "Yes, I love GSI!" and "GSI really makes learning fun. It’s awesome!" Many thanks are extended to Sheriff Smith and Detective Edwards for their assistance in making the GSI learning experiences unforgettable for the gifted students.