The Private Eye has been used extensively
by thousands of teachers and their students. Teachers report
that students using The Private Eye are highly motivated
to learn, that they write, draw and theorize above previous
levels in all subjects—that it changes forever the
way they see the world.
See Testimonials.
Created by Kerry
Ruef in 1988, The Private Eye began in 1989
as a pilot project in the Seattle Public Schools (grant-funded
by the Discuren Charitable Foundation for the first three
and one half years). Since then, The Private Eye
has spread by word of mouth to thousands of teachers (kindergarten
through college) and over two million students throughout
the US and Canada.
Each year the curricular
materials and teacher training workshops have
advanced. The Private Eye Guide first appeared in December
of 1992. The
Private Eye Companion, a second volume of
interdisciplinary lesson plans designed by Middle School
teachers using the Private Eye process, is now in the final
stages of production. A third
volume of Private Eye lesson plans aimed at
the elementary years (K-6) is now in the planning stages,
as is a book targeting a high school emphasis. A
pocket-sized guide to theorizing with The Private Eye called The
Private Eye-(5X) Looking / Thinking by Analogy: Simple
Steps to a Magnified Mind is now available. Future
plans also include a collaboration with Dennis Kunkel,
biologist and noted SEM artist.
"I'm
very impressed. A really exciting set of tools...
to bring out the gifted in everyone."
— Joseph
Renzulli, Professor, Department of Educational Psychology,
University of
Connecticut; Director,
The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented
