Twice-Exceptional Teacher Education
International Hybrid Conference
October 13-14, 2023

THE CLEVELAND EDGE
EXCELLENCE AND DIVERSITY IN GIFTED EDUCATION

Bees are Twice-Exceptional
For thousands of years, scientists had no idea how bees flew. According to the known rules of aviation, flight for bees was impossible because their wings are too small for their bodies. Bees, of course, flew anyways. In 2004, scientists from CalTech finally determined that bees use their wings in inefficient, but very unusual ways of spinning their wings to create vortices- essentially small tornadoes under their bodies. Bees are like twice-exceptional students- they have disabilities, but they have gifts and talents that allow them to create new ways of learning for themselves. But unlike bees, not all twice-exceptional students learn how to “fly”. They need trained teachers to help them learn to use their wings!