Enrichment Triad Model

The enrichment triad model was developed in 1976 by Joseph Renzulli and initially implemented mainly in school districts in the United States. The model is designed to encourage creative productivity by young people by exposing them to various topics, areas of interest, and fields of study, and to further train them to apply advanced content, process-training skills, and methodology training to self-selected areas of interest. The model, which was originally field-tested in several districts in New England, proved to be quite popular, perhaps because of the dissatisfaction with programs based only on acceleration and a focus on the use of IQ tests as a primary method of identification. Research on the model began in the late 1970s and has been conducted over three decades, as is summarized by Sally M. Reis in “Research That Supports Using the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and Extensions of Gifted Education Pedagogy to Meet the Needs of All Students.”

Requests from all over the United States for visitations to schools using the model and for information about how to implement the model increased. Knowledge about the enrichment triad model increased, and it is often cited as the most widely used model in gifted education both nationally and internationally. A book about the enrichment triad model was published, and more and more districts began asking for help in implementing this approach. Dozens and then hundreds of programs based on the enrichment triad were and continue to be developed.

Three types of enrichment are included in the enrichment triad model (see Figure 1). Before enrichment learning and teaching can be applied systematically to the learning process of all students, it must be organized in a way that makes sense to teachers and students and the enrichment triad model can be used for this purpose.

The enrichment triad model is based on the ways in which people learn in a natural environment rather than in the artificially structured environment that characterizes most classrooms. External stimulation, internal curiosity, necessity, or combinations of these three starting points cause people to develop an interest in a topic, problem, or area of study. Children are, by nature, curious, problem-solving beings, but before they can act upon a problem or interest with some degree of commitment and enthusiasm, the interest must be a sincere one and one in which they see a personal reason for taking action. The enrichment triad model enables the interaction between and among the three types of enrichment, creating a stronger program than can be achieved through the application of just one of the types of enrichment. In other words, the arrows in Figure 1 are as important as the individual cells because they give the model dynamic properties that cannot be achieved if the three types of enrichment are pursued independently. A Type I exposure experience, for example, may have value in and of itself, but it achieves maximum payoff if it leads to Type II or III experiences.

In this regard, it is a good idea to view Types I and II enrichments as identification situations that may lead to Type III experiences, which are the most advanced type of enrichments in the model. [Page 326]The interactive nature of the three types of enrichment also includes what are sometimes called the backward arrows in Figure 1 (e.g., the arrows leading back from Type III to Type I). In many cases, the advanced work (i.e., Type III) of students can be used as Type I and II experiences for other students. Thus, for example, a group of students who carried out a comprehensive study on lunchroom waste presented their work to other groups for both awareness and instructional purposes, and for purposes of stimulating potential new interests on the parts of other students.

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