Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Curriculum for Gifted Students and for Teachers

Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Curriculum for Gifted Students and Professional Development for Teachers

By Kristen Seward, Ph.D.

I love to create curriculum for gifted students! Everywhere I go and everywhere I look, I always see things through the eyes of a middle and high school English teacher: “How can I use this interesting ‘thing’ I found in a museum gift shop in my classroom?” “Oh, the quotation on that poster relates to a novel my students are reading, and I can use it as a writing prompt!” I’ve even used a classroom poster on punctuation marks that I found at a Goodwill Store as the basis for a presentation to parents about youth with gifts, creativity, and talents! For example, how are your gifted children like exclamation points (intensities, sensitivities, overexcitabilities) and question marks (curiosity, divergent thinking, multipotentiality that complicates college and career decision-making)? I’d use these questions and parents’ responses to identify and discuss common intellectual, social, and emotional characteristics of gifted students. 

In addition to museum gift shops and Goodwill Stores, teachers now have another interesting, more powerful resource to assist with curriculum development—artificial intelligence (AI). By leveraging AI's capabilities in data-driven instruction, personalizing content, utilizing educational materials in new ways, and refining teaching strategies through targeted professional development, teachers can significantly enhance teaching and learning to meet the unique needs of gifted learners. 

The use of educational technology by teachers and students is not new, of course, but the possibilities afforded by AI have brought the use of technology for educational purposes to the forefront. Twenty-five years ago, Bransford et al. (2004) identified five applications of educational technology that are still relevant and with AI, more practicable today: 1) relating content to real-world problems; 2) using multimedia tools to enhance learning; 3) providing additional avenues for student-teacher communication; 4) supporting global engagement; and 5) offering new forms of professional development for teachers. AI-driven tools can help teachers develop dynamic curricular content that adapts to different learning styles and paces. This flexibility is essential for gifted students who often learn at an accelerated rate and require more complex material than their peers (VanTassel‐Baska, 2018). For example, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) can provide personalized support and feedback, helping gifted students navigate challenging subjects while freeing teachers to focus on delivering educational value and fostering a rich learning environment (Aubeuf, 2023).

Jump ahead to 2013, Chen et al.’s Enable, Enhance, and Transform Framework provided a comprehensive strategy to “systematically conceptualize, incorporate, and utilize technology in gifted education” (p. 166). Specifically, AI enables teachers and gifted learners to access more and more diverse ways of knowing and doing, including communicating with like-minded peers across the world; enhances teaching and learning with its ability to analyze gifted students’ data, to identify their learning patterns and preferences, and to create personalized learning experiences tailored to students’ learning strengths and weaknesses; and transforms the quality of teachers’ and students’ experiences in gifted programming by designing learning environments that incorporate academic acceleration and enrichment. For instance, AI-driven platforms can assess students' progress and adapt content in real-time to ensure that concepts are both challenging and engaging, thus promoting higher-order thinking skills, which are particularly crucial for gifted learners (Bright & Calvert, 2023; Cheung et al., 2020; Miedijensky, 2018).

Let’s jump ahead again to Siegle’s (2024) application of AI in three key elements of curriculum for gifted students: acceleration, depth and complexity, and interest-based content. We know that effective gifted programming is founded on high-quality curriculum that challenges gifted students intellectually and provides opportunities to them to explore their interests and passions (Sutherland & Reid, 2023), and AI can enhance curriculum by offering recommendations on advanced topics and resources suited to individual interests and talent areas, thereby fostering motivation and deeper engagement (Neal, 2025). 

Another powerful application of AI is to aid teachers in collaborative data-based decision-making and professional development in gifted education. By aggregating data on student performance and preferences, AI systems can enhance communication among administrators, teachers, students, and parents to facilitate informed decisions regarding resource allocation and academic interventions before issues arise, thereby ensuring that educational needs are proactively met (Yu, 2023). In addition, many educators express a lack of confidence in teaching gifted students effectively and express their need for training. AI can support these efforts by identifying specific training needs based on teacher-provided data regarding student achievement, affective needs, classroom behavior, and engagement, thus guiding teachers to pursue relevant, targeted professional development opportunities (McCormick & Guilbault, 2023).

Serendipitously, the April 2025 issue of Gifted Child Today contains two interesting articles related to this topic. Guilbault et al. (2025) explore ChatGPT's application in addressing high school gifted learners' academic and social-emotional needs, emphasizing how to create effective prompts, to enhance critical thinking, to incorporate virtual mentorships, and to support reflective learning. Rubenstein et al.’s (2025) Journeying between Worlds and Words lesson explored using ChatGPT with third and fourth graders to create customized play scripts, enhancing students’ engagement, creative processes, and reading fluency and empowering them as active creators of learning experiences rather than passive consumers. These recent articles provide solid examples about how teachers can use the power of AI to positively affect students’ learning experiences for increased achievement and meaningful engagement.

I hope I’ve convinced you to give AI a try in one or more of the ways described above. AI's transformative potential in gifted education is marked by its capability to personalize learning, create adaptive curricula, and facilitate teacher development. Through effective utilization of AI technologies, educators can significantly enhance the educational experiences of gifted learners, ensuring that their distinct needs are met and their potentials fully realized. 

If you want or need to learn more, why not create your own professional development plan using AI-powered tools? Professional Development for Teachers in the Age of AI (Cukurova, 2024) is an excellent resource for this purpose, including example prompts teachers may use when seeking professional development on a specific topic. If you have time, come back to the blog to let us know how it goes! 

References

Aubeuf, C. (2023). Uses of artificial intelligence in intelligent tutoring systems. In Mafalda Carmo (Ed.), Education Applications & Development VIII (pp. 304-312), Advances in Education and Educational Trends Series. inScience Press.  https://doi.org/10.36315/2023eadviii25 

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2004). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. National Academy of Sciences. https://www.csun.edu/~SB4310/How%20People%20Learn.pdf 

Bright, S. and Calvert, E. (2023). Educational technology: Barrier or bridge to equitable access to advanced learning opportunities? Gifted Child Today, 46(3), 187-200. https://doi.org/10.1177/10762175231168711 

Chen, J., Dai, D. Y., & Zhou, Y. (2013) Enable, enhance, and transform: How technology use can improve gifted education, Roeper Review, 35(3), 166-176. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2013.794892

Cheung, R., Hui, A., & Cheung, A. (2020). Gifted education in Hong Kong: A school-based support program catering to learner diversity. Ecnu Review of Education, 3(4), 632-658. https://doi.org/10.1177/2096531120967447 

Cukurova, M., Kralj, L., Hertz, B. & Saltidou, E. (2024). Professional Development for Teachers in the Age of AI. European Schoolnet. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186881/1/EUNA-Thematic-Seminar-Report-V5%20%281%29.pdf 

Guilbault, K. M., Wang, Y., & McCormick, K. M. (2025). Using ChatGPT in the secondary gifted classroom for personalized learning and mentoring. Gifted Child Today, 48(2), 93-103. https://doi.org/10.1177/10762175241308950 

McCormick, K. and Guilbault, K. (2023). Thriving amidst the pandemic: Teaching gifted students online and the role of adaptation and innovation. Journal of Advanced Academics, 35(2), 199-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202x231220052 

Miedijensky, S. (2018). Learning environment for the gifted—what do outstanding teachers of the gifted think? Gifted Education International, 34(3), 222-244. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261429417754204 

Neal, T. M. (2025). Creating academically advanced learning environments for gifted students through artificial intelligence. In A. G. Walters (Ed.), Transforming Special Education Through Artificial Intelligence (pp. 165-192). IGI Global. https://www.doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-5538-1.ch006   

Rubenstein, L., Waldron, A., & Ramirez, G. (2025). Transforming worlds into words: Using ChatGPT to bring student visions to life. Gifted Child Today, 48(2), 104-117. https://doi.org/10.1177/10762175241308951

Siegle D. (2024). Using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support the three legs of talent development. Gifted Child Today, 47(3), 221–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/10762175241242495

Sutherland, M. and Reid, C. (2023). A small country with big ambitions: does this include the gifted? Education Sciences, 13(8), 832. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080832

VanTassel-Baska, J. (2018). Considerations in curriculum for gifted students. In S. I. Pfeiffer, E. Shaunessy-Dedrick, & M. Foley-Nicpon (Eds.), APA handbook of giftedness and talent (pp. 349–369). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000038-023

Yu, P. (2023). The future prospects of deep learning and neural networks: Artificial intelligence's impact on education. Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Machine Learning and Automation. https://www.doi.org/10.54254/2755-2721/33/20230239