Empowering gifted and talented youth: The "N" youth activity precinct

This paper details the psychosocial changes in a group of gifted and talented middle-years students who engaged in solving a community-based problem - the lack of a teenage-safe space in their regional Queensland town ("N"). Supported by a Knowledge Producing Schools pedagogy, the young people worked with their local council, teachers, a university mathematics educator, and a university design student to design and create a Youth Activity Precinct that included a skate park and public recreational facilities. Using the Most Significant Change technique, stories told by the students about their involvement during focus group interviews were examined. The data showed that the students had become more confident, developed a sense of pride in themselves and their achievements, and importantly, had developed a sense of empowerment which manifested as active and engaged citizenship