GRIPS stands for Gifted Research Independent Project. It is similar to passion projects and was created here in Goochland years ago as a means to allow gifted students the freedom and support the needed to follow their interest. The purpose is to provide a meaningful research experience and then have connect with a community member or expert and then present all that they have learned. The key components of a GRIPS project are freedom to choose a topic, develop questions that they would like to learn more about, research the answer to those questions, work with an expert or mentor in their field of interest, and the present to an authentic audience.
Fortunately, the past five years the importance for student voice and choice has become prioritized in classrooms. This means that all students should have the opportunity to research their interests and be given the appropriate skills and support in the school day. Our fourth and fifth grade teachers have been making "GRIPS" apart of their curriculum. Moving forward the traditional "GRIPS" will be done in collaboration with the classroom teachers and will take place over a shorter time frame. Third Graders are not quite ready for the complexity and scope of a true GRIPS project. We will begin in third to introduce research and presentation and offer Collaborative GRIPS in fourth and fifth grade.