The Description of the Implementation and Experimentation of the project

The implementation and experimentation phase of the different methodologies and models followed a structured and collaborative approach. We had four Teaching and Learning Activities (TLA) during the project of Educating Talents. The first TLA took place in Groningen in the Netherlands in April 2023. In each TLA during the entire project we presented the method to the teachers on how to recognise talented and twice exceptional learners. This is the first step before you support a talented learner, therefore it was very crucial to present this to all educators.

In the TLA in the Netherlands Honors Pedagogies and Flex-based Learning were demonstrated. The second TLA was in Brussels in Belgium in October 2023. In Brussels the Kangaroo Methodology and Motivation Through Individualization was presented. During that meeting we also had the opportunity to get other inspiring ways to support talented learners. That is where the first thought of chapter 6 came, since there are many and a great variety of ways to support talented learners. The third TLA took place in Stockholm in Sweden. During that TLA the Case Methodology was presented. At the final fourth TLA in Austria the Innovative Problem Solving and Motivation Through Individualization were presented. We saw how different persons and professionals can be supporting the talented learners and therefore we decided during that TLA to add chapter 6 “How to support talented learners in other ways”. At every TLA we were involving both specialist authors and participating educators from the partner countries. The aim was to translate theoretical concepts into practical methods and gather real tested feedback for refinement.

All participating educators were introduced to the project's theoretical foundation during the Transnational Learning Activity (TLA), where they engaged with the central concepts and initial drafts of the methodology. These sessions were led by the project's specialists and served as a foundation for later experimentation.

After each TLA, the educators returned to their respective countries to test the proposed methodology or model in their local classroom environments. This testing phase formed the core of the project’s experimentation effort. Educators were encouraged to apply the methods flexibly within their subject areas and national contexts, documenting how learners responded and how the methods worked in practice.

Following the experimentation period that lasted for 3-6 months depending on the methodologies that were tested, feedback was collected through a series of structured digital follow up meetings. These included Zoom meetings, digital conferences, written exchanges via email and phone calls. During these sessions, educators shared their observations, challenges, and suggestions for improvement. This feedback loop was a part of creating the final version of the methodology.

The participating educators completed a comprehensive questionnaire after the classroom implementation phase. The questionnaire was designed to capture both the educators and learners experiences, offering insights into the emotional, pedagogical and practical impact of the methodologies. The responses provided valuable qualitative and quantitative data, which directly gave the specialists information that could contribute to the writing of the subchapters “How do the learners feel about it?” and “How do the educators feel about it?” in this eHandbook.

This iterative process, from theory to practice, feedback and refinement, ensured that the final outputs were grounded in classroom reality and supported by a wide range of experiences across different educational systems. The collaborative implementation phase gave a great link and  bridge between the conceptual model and its practical, tested version in diverse European classrooms.