Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust.,

2000, 17, 133–140

© Astronomical Society of Australia 2000 10.1071/AS00023 1323-3580/00/020133$05.00

Cosmology on the Internet: Distance Education for the Gifted and Talented

David H. McKinnon

1

and C. J. Patrick Nolan

2

1

School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia

dmckinnon@csu.edu.au

2

Massey University College of Education, Palmerston North, New Zealand P.Nolan@massey.ac.nz

Received 1999 October 1, accepted 2000 April 28

Abstract:

In 1994, the New South Wales Board of Studies, Australia, introduced three high levelDistinction Courses for gifted and talented students: Comparative Literature, Cosmology, and Phil-osophy. All are offered by distance education but the cosmology course employs an interactive designmodel and an extensive communication system that differentiates it from the other two. This paperexplains the model and the way it is used in practice to organise, sequence and deliver the course. Adiscussion addresses ways in which the model might be used to design a wider range of courses inscience for gifted and talented students.

Keywords:

astronomy education—cosmology education

1 Introduction

In 1992, the New South Wales Board of Studies, Aus-tralia, estimated that between 2,500 and 5,000 highlygifted and talented students were enrolled in final year(Grade 12) Higher School Certificate (HSC) courses atany one time. In that year, the Board introduced reforms(NSW Board of Studies 1993) permitting such studentsto sit the HSC final examinations in one or more sub-jects earlier than Grade 12. Even then, it acknowledgedthat schools were not well placed to address the needs ofthese students. Typically, the students still enrolled inmany more than the mandatory minimum number ofsubjects to qualify for a Higher School Certificate and aUniversity Tertiary Entrance Rank score. Indeed, somecontinued to take up to twice the number of requiredsubjects to satisfy their thirst for knowledge.

In 1993 the Board of Studies, in partnership withCharles Sturt University and the University of NewEngland, decided to develop and deliver, using conven-tional distance education methods, nine high-leveldistinction courses. These would be especially tailoredto meet the needs of gifted and talented students,providing them with the kind and level of intellectualchallenge that they appear unable to get through regularschool programs. The first three courses, ComparativeLiterature, Cosmology and Philosophy, were offered forthe first time in 1994, with the expectation that theremaining six would follow soon after. This has nothappened and with the reforms to the Higher SchoolCertificate promulgated in 1998, the three existingDistinction Courses will be offered for the last time inthe year 2000. It is expected that alternative arrange-ments will be made with all universities in NSW forgifted and talented students across the state to accessfirst year courses either by distance education or con-ventionally. It remains to be seen what these alternativearrangements will be.

While all three existing courses have been deliveredby distance education, the Cosmology Course is mark-edly different from the other two. It employs aninteractive design model incorporating a comprehensivecommunication system ranging from conventional mailto an especially designed Internet web site. Practicalexperience over five years has demonstrated how themodel and its delivery system may have wider applica-tion than the Cosmology Course in which they weredeveloped and trialed. It is to be hoped that the uni-versities will take note of the model presented in thispaper as they enter into negotiations with the Board ofStudies for the delivery of courses to the gifted and tal-ented students in our high schools.

This paper explains the model and the way it hasbeen used in practice to organise, sequence and deliverthe Cosmology Distinction Course to highly gifted andtalented senior secondary school students is explained.The students are widely separated from each other andthe course provider, Charles Sturt University, with manyliving in remote places throughout the state of NewSouth Wales. The paper is organised in sections cover-ing: the content, structure and educational philosophy ofthe Cosmology Distinction Course; the interactivedesign model, its elements and the relationships betweenthem; application of the model to deliver the course;and, implications and suggestions for the education ofhighly gifted and talented students in the future.

2 The Cosmology Distinction Course

Students learn and explore core concepts and ideasselected from the contemporary cosmology literatureaugmented by material from history, sociology andmathematics as well as physics and astronomy. Read-ings from two texts are supplemented by readings fromsuch journals as

Astronomy

,

The Astrophysical Journal

,

Nature

,

New Scientist

,

Scientific American

and

Sky &

134 D. H. McKinnon & C. J. P. Nolan

Telescope

. Each year an Update booklet is producedcontaining the latest research findings from the literaturethat relate to topics covered later in the course. Thesematerials are distributed to students in the conventionaldistance education form—paper. The pile of readings innine modules, an update booklet and an informationbooklet often creates concern for the students. Nonethe-less, few withdraw in the early stages.

Students’ learning is assessed through completion ofthree written assignments (30%), two examinations(40%) and a self-chosen major project (30%). The pro-ject, written as a report typically between 7,000 and12,000 words on a topic chosen by the student, is com-pleted and submitted before formal HSC examinationsbegin. This approach contrasts with typical HSCprocedures where 50% of the mark is based on a finalexamination and the other 50% on school assessment.

The primary aim of the course is to provide studentswith a highly challenging and motivating educationalprogram that can be delivered to them wherever theylive in New South Wales (NSW Board of Studies 1995).The educational philosophy of the course is that allscientific knowledge is contestable. In Cosmology,explanations of the universe and its origin evolve inresponse to the ever increasing volume of observationaldata that constantly challenges existing assumptions andtheories. This stands in contrast with a view, common inschools, that science is an immutable body of know-ledge that students must absorb and reproduce for the

purposes of assessment and evaluation in the HigherSchool Certificate.

During the course, students experience the contest-ability of knowledge first hand during residentialschools (an element of the design model describedbelow) when they listen to, and interact with, leadingAustralian and international astronomers and cosmolo-gists who work at the cutting edge of research. Thelearning and understanding begun here continues inconversations, conducted using electronic communica-tion tools, with the astronomers and cosmologists, withpeers and with the course coordinator.

Since its commencement in 1994, approximately 120students have participated in the Cosmology DistinctionCourse. Almost equal numbers of female and malestudents have undertaken the course and they have beendrawn equally from public and private sector schools inboth city and country, widely distributed across the stateof New South Wales. The last two years have seen aswing in favour of public sector students participating inthe course (e.g. in 1999 a ratio of 20:12). Studentscompleting the Cosmology course have subsequentlyenrolled in university degree courses ranging acrossengineering, medicine and science and some havegained entry directly to second year levels.

3 Interactive Design Model of the Course

The Interactive Design Model of the course is presentedin Figure 1. It comprises three key design elements,

Figure 1—Model of the mixed-mode delivery system (McKinnon & Nolan 1999).

Cosmology on the Internet 135

print-based study modules, residential schools and sig-nificant others, and a communication system for linkingthe students with the elements and with each other. Themodules organise and sequence the objectives, contentand assessment tasks into manageable units of study.Residential schools bring all of the students together tomeet and interact with each other, engage in experientiallearning at world class observatories and learn from, andinteract with, leading researchers. Significant othersinclude the course coordinator, research astronomersand cosmologists who provide students with the supportand guidance they may require. During the course theyinteract with the students in varying capacities as facili-tators of learning, mentors, critical friends, interpretersand discussants.

In the Model, the communication system connectsthe students in varying ways with each of the threedesign elements located at the vertices of the triangle.The specific means of communication range across suchtraditional tools as postal mail and telephone to the moremodern tools of facsimile, electronic mail, list-serversand the Internet. They are the means by which thecourse coordinator, the students and other key personsassociated with the course distribute and receivematerials, interactively address and resolve issues, prob-lems and concerns, share good ideas and communicatetheir latest discoveries. While in the early stage of thecourse, the use of postal mail, telephone and facsimilepredominate, the students rapidly acquire the skillsneeded to make extensive use of the more sophisticateddigital forms.

The location of students at the centre of the Modeland also at the centre of the communication systemrepresented by the shaded circle signifies the student-centred nature of the course. Interaction between thedesign elements creates the environment for students tolearn effectively throughout the course. The thin double-

headed arrows signify inter-dependency among thedesign elements and the dynamic and mutually sup-portive interaction between them. The thicker arrowsindicate that the students interact with each of theseelements, but that the locus of control rests with them,i.e. when they are studying the course materials, par-ticipating actively in residential school activities,communicating with others, initiating, designing andcompleting a project, and perhaps developing new ideas.

3.1 Interaction between Design Elements and Communication System

The communication system in action mediates all stu-dent interactions with the three design elements of theModel. It provides them with the means to study notonly the contents of the course but also to access a muchwider range of research information and ideas, andsignificant others with whom to explore and discussthem. It does this in three main ways through use of: (i)the Internet and a web site

*

especially designed for thecourse to access the latest research information in bothastronomy and cosmology; (ii) electronic mail to com-municate personally with peers, the course coordinatorand significant others around the state of New SouthWales and the world; and (iii) list servers to engage indebates with their peers, and others, in an open forum ontopics of interest in astronomy and cosmology.

Figure 2 is a cumulative frequency chart of students’communications during 1998 on the two electronicforums (ListServe) that were set up for them. The dataset for this figure are taken from interactions up to andimmediately prior to the second residential school inJune. In total, 32 students commenced the course inFebruary but by April, five had decided that the work-load was too great and had withdrawn. The socialdimension of communicating online with their peersoutnumbers the interactions related to serious cos-mology topics by about 4 to 1. Maintenance of the socialrelations created during the first residential school is ahigh priority to the students.

Rather than present extensive analyses of the inter-actions amongst students on the electronic forums, anattempt to capture students’ increasing mastery of thecommunication tools as they progress through thecourse has been made in Figure 3. As this happens,demands made of them by the residential schools, thecourse content and the project necessitate bothqualitative and quantitative shifts (i.e. discontinuities inthe line graph) in the way they use different com-munication tools to engage with and master the coursecontent. The discontinuities divide the course into fourphases which correspond with changing studentorientations to the course and its contents; namely, anadministrative focus in Phase I, a social interactionfocus in Phase II, a content focus in Phase III, and a

*

http://hsc.csu.edu.au/cosmology/.

The site went live in June 1996. It supports students’ research and provides them with access to additional up-to-date research information on a wide range of Astronomy and Cosmology topics not contained in the individual modules.

Figure 2—Cumulative frequency of interactions on the twoelectronic forums.

136 D. H. McKinnon & C. J. P. Nolan

focus on the project in Phase IV. Towards the end ofPhase IV, students become involved with the productionand presentation of their project, the final assessmentitem for the course. Consequently, there is less need forthe same level of electronic communication. Events andactivities in the first residential school and the need toconceptualise a project during the second residentialschool trigger the first and third discontinuities while themassive increase in intellectual demand made ofstudents in Module 4—Space and Time—triggers thesecond discontinuity.

3.2 Communication and Role of Course Modules

During Phase I, postal mail, fax and telephone providestudents with all of the course materials and answers toany questions about the organisation of the course andthe first residential school. During this phase, studentsstudy Modules 1 and 2 which: (i) cover all theastronomy needed to understand the more complexcosmological concepts and models addressed in latermodules, and (ii) provide basic understandings whichunderpin the learning experiences of the first residentialschool.

During Phase II, students study Module 3—Thedevelopment of cosmological ideas. Their use ofelectronic mail, while extensive, is restricted to socialinteractions with their peers and the course coordinator.In this way, relationships formed at the residentialschool are consolidated and developed.

During Phase III, Modules 4 to 7 challenge studentsto broaden and deepen their understanding. They studyGeneral Relativity, the Structure of Space–Time, theExpansion of the Universe and the Use of KeyObservations (e.g. the cosmic microwave backgroundradiation) to evaluate contemporary models of ourUniverse. To cope with the challenge and the massive

increase in intellectual demand it makes of them, theynow use electronic mail (the second discontinuity) to askkey questions and raise issues and problems that theyseek to resolve with the course coordinator. In response,the course coordinator sometimes communicates, orlinks the students, with significant others in the widerscientific community to find answers and to clarifyresearch findings related to the questions. In addition,students learn how to use the Cosmology Internet WebSite to locate sources of information relevant to theirstudy, or to find resources or materials pertinent to theirquestions and emerging interests.

During Phase IV students settle on a topic for themajor project. This phase follows the second residentialschool during which students prepare for the project bydiscussing possible topics with peers, the coursecoordinator and visiting research astronomers. Prior tocommencing the project, students complete the remain-ing two modules. Following the residential school,Module 8 develops students’ understanding of theaccepted cosmological model, the Big Bang. Import-antly, Module 9 arrests any tendency to apply closure bychallenging students to evaluate alternative cosmo-logical models and ways they might be tested using newkinds of observational data. Concurrent with their studyof these modules, students settle on a topic and employall the tools of the communication system (the thirddiscontinuity) to obtain resources and the assistance andsupport necessary to manage the self-directed learningand inquiry more focussed and demanding than all theirprevious study in this course. In this phase, studentsexpand their expertise in using the communication sys-tem as they:

(1) use electronic mail and the Cosmology ListServer to discuss and finalise project topics withtheir peers and the course coordinator;

Figure 3—Quantity, quality and type of communication (McKinnon & Nolan 1999).

Cosmology on the Internet 137

(2) use the Cosmology Web Site and the wider Inter-net extensively to search for, and find, materialdirectly relevant to their project topic;

(3) employ the Cosmology List Server to exchangeinformation about, and inform their peers of, thepotentially useful Internet sites they have found;

(4) access and use other list servers to initiate con-versations with, and seek information from,others who share an interest in cosmology; and

(5) use electronic mail to establish contact with someof the research astronomers they have alreadymet, and initiate contact with others locatedthough their use of list servers and the Internet.

3.3 Communication and Role of Residential Schools

The first residential school is a study tour of five majorastronomical observatories in the central west and north-western regions of New South Wales. The second is aseminar weekend held in Sydney. In both, studentsengage with the course content and learn aboutastronomy and cosmology through lectures and conver-sations with leading research astronomers who explaintheir work and its significance.

Held very early in the school year, the first begins atSiding Spring Mountain, site of two observatories andAustralia’s largest optical telescopes, the 3.9 metreAnglo-Australian Telescope, the 48 inch Schmidt tele-scope and the 2.3 metre New Technology Telescope.Extended tours enable the students to study the structureand design of each kind of telescope. They sit alongsideastronomers who explain how they are using theinstruments to collect data, process the data usingpowerful computers, and use the results to evaluatecompeting astronomical theories, e.g. theories about thedistance scale and age of the Universe. While studentsare not permitted to use the main telescopes, they areallowed to use and control a 24 inch telescope duringextended observation sessions to study and photographastronomical objects of particular interest while guidedby a resident professional astronomer. At the nearby 22metre radio telescope (MOPRA), students learn how theinstrument on its own can be used to examine the struc-ture of our galaxy by studying clouds of gas and dust.They learn that the same telescope, when linked withother instruments as part of the

Australia TelescopeNational Facility

(ATNF), permits radio astronomers toobserve the centres of other galaxies hundreds ofmillions of light years away where it is thought thatblack holes exist.

At Narrabri, extended tours of the Australia Tele-scope Compact Array and the Sydney University StellarInterferometer enable students to understand howastronomers use these instruments to probe the detailedstructure of astronomical phenomena in both the radioand visible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. AtParkes, 300 kilometres to the south, the residentastronomer is the students’ interpreter and guide. Theastronomer explains how Australia’s largest radio

telescope can be used to collect information on manyprojects: for example, receiving radio signals from theGalileo probe in orbit around Jupiter; the SETI projectwhich searches for extra-terrestrial intelligence; and, aspart of the ATNF probe of the structure of our Universe,by collecting data on the spatial distribution of galaxies.

The second residential school, held mid-year, is atwo day workshop when the substantive content of thecourse is consolidated. Four visiting astronomers runseminars on the latest developments in Cosmology. Themain purpose of the residential school, however, is forthe students to choose a topic for their major project thatis worth 30% of their Higher School Certificate mark inthe subject. The course coordinator helps students withthis task, helps the students to link up with significantothers upon whom they might call for help and guid-ance, and suggests sources of information pertinent totheir topic.

In these settings, the students who are normallyisolates in their own schools, meet and interact closelywith their intellectual peers and the course coordinator.Through this they develop personable relationships thatlead to ongoing communication through the electronicnetworks when they return to home and school. Duringthe meetings, leading researchers and others model keyscientific attitudes and processes such as how to obtain,and be critical of, observational data. The students learnhow to exercise scepticism when presented with modelsand theories commonly taught as ‘immutable truths’ inschool science.

3.4 Communication and Role of Significant Others

As indicated earlier, the ‘significant others’ of the Cos-mology course are key people who can and do providestudents with the support, guidance and critique theyrequire to develop their cosmological knowledge andunderstanding. The course coordinator is the person ofkey significance for the students because of his or heroverview of the course, experience in Astronomy andCosmology, ability to provide direct and immediatesupport on a personal basis and ability to assist studentsto make contact with other key individuals. The fol-lowing three vignettes illustrate the importance of therole that others play and the sense in which they becomesignificant to the students, supporting them in their pur-suit of knowledge.

Vignette 1: Why is

pppp

,

pppp

?

In Module 4 on Space andTime, a 16 year-old male student wanted to know “...how circles ‘know’ that

p

is the ratio between thecircumference and the diameter? Is it a function ofspace–time? Is it just because it is?” he asked. Whereasthe response of his mathematics teacher closed the dis-cussion with a ‘yes’ to the third question, a series ofelectronic mail interactions involving the course coord-inator, an astronomer and the student began to reveal tothe student, and to his mentors, a far greater cosmo-logical significance to his question.

138 D. H. McKinnon & C. J. P. Nolan

In response to suggestions made on electronic mail,the student calculated

p

as if he were a two-dimensionalbeing living on the surface of a sphere, e.g. the Earth. Hedid this for larger and larger circles drawn on the Earth’ssurface by calculating the ratio of circumferences totheir diameters. Thus, for a circle drawn at the equatorwith its centre at the North Pole, the diameter is equal tohalf the circumference of the Earth and

p

is exactly 2!That is, the student was able to demonstrate that

p

variedbetween its commonly accepted value and zero, i.e. atthe South Pole. He next used his finding to conduct a‘thought experiment’ in which he showed that for acircle of fixed diameter, the value of

p

varied dependingon the size of the sphere on which it was drawn. Heabstracted this finding to four-dimensional space–timeand suggested how the curvature of our Universe couldbe measured by examining how

p

varies as larger andlarger circles are ‘drawn’ within it, i.e. circles that aresignificant fractions of the ‘size’ of the Universe. Heconcluded that: if the value of

p

decreases the Universeis closed and unbounded; if

p

remains constant then ourUniverse is infinite and ‘flat’; if

p

increases then ourUniverse is open and unbounded.

In this case, while the communications were fre-quent, sometimes lengthy and intensive over a threeweek period, they were conducted exclusively usingelectronic mail and involved only two significant others,the course coordinator and a research astronomer with aparticular interest in the course.

Vignette 2: Lyman-

aaaa

forests are not green!

Material in Module 6—

Further key observations

—stimulated a 17 year-old male student to investigatefurther the ways in which observations of very distantquasars and spectral analysis of their light (the Lyman-

a

forest) can be used to understand the distribution ofmatter in the Universe, the relative abundance of dif-ferent elements, and the constraints that this relativeabundance places both on the age of the Universe andthe structure of space–time. The investigation resulted inthe production of a 19,000 word report rated by fouruniversity lecturers as being almost equivalent to anundergraduate honours thesis (and could have been withthe inclusion of a small section which reduced actualraw data to produce a Lyman-

a

spectrum). The reportwas the means by which this s tudent acquiredsophisticated knowledge and understanding of complexobservational techniques. In it, he demonstrated hisability to interpret the observations currently being madeby researchers at the leading edge of observationalastronomy.

The quality of the project was enhanced through theuse of the Internet and electronic mail that the studentemployed over a three month period. He communicatedwith two research astronomers located at the Universityof Sydney and at NASA in the USA, neither of whom hehas ever met in person. They suggested useful lines ofinquiry, made helpful criticisms, supplied recent

research data and research articles, and provided a greatdeal of encouragement.

Vignette 3: Weighing a galaxy.

One 16 year-oldfemale student joined the course because she wanted tobe an observational astronomer. After an observationsession conducted by the manager of the Anglo-Australian Observatory during the first residentialschool, this student said that ‘[I]t would be really neat todo a practical project.’ She was encouraged by thecourse coordinator and by astronomers at the residentialschool to pursue her desire to work on such a project andthey suggested that perhaps she might join an existingresearch program. Over the next four months, thestudent made numerous inquiries by electronic mail tocheck on the progress being made. Enquiries made onher behalf elicited a response from the director of theMount Stromlo and Siding Springs Observatory whoarranged for her to meet, and work with, a femaleastronomer visiting Australia from Italy to search for‘dark matter’ in spiral galaxies visible in the southernhemisphere.

Through electronic mail communication, the visitingastronomer and the student conceptualised a project thata high school student could complete involving obser-vations to obtain spectra of spiral galaxies using the 2.3metre New Technology Telescope. The outcome of theobservations, and the collaboration that made them pos-sible, was a project containing a detailed mathematicalreduction of the observational data to produce a particu-lar graph of the rotational velocity against the distancefrom the centre of one spiral galaxy. The student cal-culated that only about 10% of the matter in the galaxywas actually visible. The other 90%, commonly referredto as ‘dark matter’, was at very large distances from thecentre which made the galaxy behave as if it was morelike a rotating sheet of card rather than a loosely boundcollection of 100,000 million stars.

The project was based on a six day field trip to theMount Stromlo and Sidings Springs Observatory wherethe visiting astronomer acted as a significant other in theways described above, thereby ensuring that the studentunderstood the mathematics required, and could carryout the relevant calculations correctly. The resultingproject was awarded a high distinction by the exam-ination committee. The experienced and neophyteastronomers remain in regular communication to thisday using electronic mail from their respective homes inAustralia and Italy. Now a scholarship winning univer-sity student, she is in contact with several radio andoptical astronomers both personally and by electronicmail. They encourage and support her to realise hergoals in astronomy.

4 Discussion

The achievements reported in the three vignettes areindicative of the kind of learning engaged in by themajority of students in the course. They reflect suchstudent attributes as commitment to succeed, imagin-

Cosmology on the Internet 139

ation, creativity and intellectual virtuosity, to name afew. The nature of cosmology itself calls all the attrib-utes into play to engage student interest. Arguably, it isthe design model of the course and its delivery systemthat created the conditions capable of sustaining thekinds of high level inquiry that appeal to gifted andtalented students. Their interest and attention is sus-tained over a relatively long period of time in a coursethey elect, rather than are required, to take. While eachelement of the Model contributes to the maintenance ofstudent interest, sustained student use of the communi-cation system appears to be the key factor.

Communication is a pervasive feature of all effectivelearning environments. In such environments, even themost independent learners, sooner or later, need tocommunicate with others. In distance education, acommunication system comprising various electronicmedia can create learning environments very similar toclassrooms where learners and teachers are in direct andimmediate communication with each other, and wherethey can readily obtain the stimulation and support theymay need. In delivering the Cosmology course,explicitly incorporating the communication system intothe program design enabled students to exercise controlover and manage their learning, gain the support theyrequired and achieve results that were personallysatisfying.

Students report that the communications aspect iswhat really makes the difference for them between anormal HSC course and the quality of the learning theyexperience in the Cosmology Distinction Course. Keyfactors and elements include: (i) the personal contactand communication with individuals in Australia andaround the world who are committed and passionateabout cosmology and learning in general; (ii) the abilityto meet and interact with peers who they otherwisemight not ever get to know; and (iii) the validation ofbest ideas, discoveries and intuitions from others whoactually understand what a student may be thinking andwanting to do, and who take both seriously.

In the form of distance education based on theModel, the concept of ‘learning community’ largelyreplaces the concept of ‘teacher’. In the learning com-munity of the Cosmology course, with the participantsconnected electronically, the students play roles prin-cipally as learners while significant others, e.g. thecourse coordinator and astronomers, play the rolesreferred to earlier in the paper as facilitators of learning,mentors, critical friends, interpreters and discussants.

The provision of an Internet web site devoted tosupporting the students’ own research in Cosmologycontinues to develop. New sites appear almost on aweekly basis. Students now post their findings ofimportant and relevant web sites to the Cosmology sitefor others to peruse. While the final projects presented inprevious years were of a generally high quality, theprojects produced through use of the Internet stand outas excellent. The Internet provided these students with

resources that kept them up to date with the latestdevelopments. New discoveries arising from thedevelopments are exciting and the excitement isinfectious. Access to the Internet and the CosmologyWeb Site communicated this excitement and helped thestudents to maintain high levels of interest andmotivation.

If use of the interactive design model created anenvironment conducive to high level learning andachievement in the Cosmology Course then thereappears to be no reason why, in principle, it cannot beapplied more widely to develop and deliver othercourses and programs for gifted and talented students. Inthe present case, the students happened to be working atthe HSC level. Meeting the needs of these students maydeserve priority at a point when they are on the verge ofuniversity study. It is equally important to consider waysthe Model might be used to develop courses suitable forboth a wider and younger range of gifted and talentedstudents.

It is important to note, in passing, that changed pol-itical circumstances and recommendations made in arecent review of the Higher School Certificate (McGaw1997) will result in the discontinuation of DistinctionCourses per se and the other six courses referred to atthe outset will not now be developed. The Governmentwill initiate, however, joint discussions involving theBoard of Studies, school education authorities and uni-versities to negotiate curriculum, delivery, and credittransfer arrangements, and in the meantime retain theexisting courses until the proposed new arrangementswith universities are established (NSW Government1997). It is now planned that Distinction Course will endin the year 2000. Negotiations with universities are slowto start. Little time remains if they are to offer accessunder the new Higher School Certificate umbrella in theyear 2001.

The curriculum at this level needs to be negotiated tothe benefit of our brightest students so that theirpotential can be developed and that they are not dis-advantaged. The underlying message is that schools anduniversities must increasingly consider ways by whichcommunication and information technologies might beemployed either to enhance, and perhaps replace,existing delivery methods in the interests of continuallyimproving secondary school education for the gifted andtalented, and in time perhaps even the broad range ofstudents. To the extent that the Interactive Design Modelhas demonstrated its value, then it suggests a strategy fordelivering high quality education by the schools of thefuture.

References

McGaw, B. 1997, Shaping their future: Recommendations forreform of the Higher School Certificate. Department ofTraining and Education Coordination, New South Wales

McKinnon, D. H., & Nolan, C. J. P. 1999, Distance education forthe gifted and talented: An interactive design model. TheRoeper Review

,

21, 320-5

140 D. H. McKinnon & C. J. P. Nolan

NSW Board of Studies 1993, HSC Pathways ImplementationGuidelines (North Sydney: Board of Studies NSW)

NSW Board of Studies 1995, Higher School CertificateDistinction Courses: An information book (North Sydney:Board of Studies NSW)

NSW Government 1997, Securing their future: The NSWGovernment’s reforms to the Higher School Certificate(Sydney: NSW Government Printer)