TALENT

Promoting Social Capital by Expanding the Conception of Giftedness

2021-04-20T18:32:35+03:00

Changing the World...One Life at a Time

After repeatedly observing the little boy crying on the school bus, Melanie, a fifth grade student, took a seat next to him and struck up a conversation. “You don’t understand,” said Tony, a first grader whose face was practically hidden behind the thickest eyeglasses Melanie had ever seen. “You see these glasses? I’m partially sighted. The kids trip me and make fun of me; I have special books for my subjects, but there are no books in the library that I can read. ”Later that day Melanie approached her enrichment teacher and asked if she could make Tony her “Type III” Project [Type III Enrichment in The Enrichment Triad Model (Renzulli, 1977, p.22) is a self-selected individual or small group investigation of a real problem] for the year. Over the next sev- eral days, Melanie and the enrichment teacher drew up a plan that began with some “friendly persuasion” for the boys that were harassing Tony. A few of the school’s bigger, well-respected boys and girls escorted him from the school bus and sat with him in the lunchroom. Melanie then asked Tony a series of questions from an instrument called the Interest-A-Lyzer to deter- mine what some of his reading interests might be. She recruited a number of the school’s best writers to work on large print "big books” that dealt with Tony’s interests in sports and adventure stories. She also recruited the school’s best artists to illustrate the books, and served as the editor and pro- duction manager for the series. As the project progressed over the next sev- eral months, a remarkable change took place in Tony’s attitude toward school. He became a local celebrity, and other students even signed out books from Tony’s special section of the library. Melanie’s creative idea and her task commitment resulted in the development of profound empathy and sen- sitivity to human concerns and the application of her talents to an unselfish cause. When questioned about her work, Melanie explained simply, “It didn’t change the world, but it changed the world of one little boy.”

Developing Critical Thinking Skills in High Ability Adolescents: Effects of a Debate and Argument Analysis Curriculum

2021-04-20T19:21:53+03:00

This study evaluated the impact of a debate intervention on students’ critical thinking. The design-based research project included a quasi-experimental, one group pre-test, post-test design. Results indicated small effect sizes on critical thinking using the Cornell Critical Thinking Test-Level X (d = 0.40) and an assessment of argument analysis (d = 0.41). High-ability students en-tered the project with stronger critical thinking than general-education stu-dents (d = .82; d = .41), and high-ability students appeared to benefit more from the intervention as the performance gaps increased in the post-test phase (d = 1.08; d = .80) suggesting possible aptitude-treatment interactions or the Matthew effect. Qualitative data indicated that students learned to (a) think on the spot, (b) analyze arguments, (c) see other perspectives, and (d) construct counter-arguments. This study corroborates previous research that indicated a relationship between high ability and critical thinking.

Curriculum Differentiation’s Capacity to Extend Gifted Students in Secondary Mixed-ability Science Classes

2021-04-20T19:26:28+03:00

Investigated were differences between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of curriculum differentiation strategies to extend highly able students in mixed-ability secondary science classes. Gifted underachievement and disengage-ment is increasing in Australian schools, potentially linked to these percep-tion differences regarding curriculum differentiation. 161, Year 7 students, aged aproximately 11 years (n = 29 highly able; n = 132 non-highly able), and 43 science-trained teachers were surveyed. Examined were students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the importance and achievability of 24 curriculum differentiation strategies, within the curriculum components of content, pro-cess, product, and environment. Significant dissimilarities occurred regard-ing curriculum differentiation strategies having been achieved at least once during every work unit. In particular, some strategies requiring modification of the learning environment were considered by highly able students to be significantly less frequently achieved, compared to teachers’ perceptions. Im-plications for policy and practice were explored. Further research of curricu-lum differentiation that includes students’ perspectives is required.

Evaluation of the National Education Council’s Decisions regarding the Education of Gifted and Talented Students

2021-04-20T19:33:48+03:00

Abstract

An evaluation of the history of countries' education in helps us better understand the present and develop better future policies. In this study, the decisions taken on the education of special talents in the con- gresses of the National Education in Turkey held since the establishment of the Republic were critically eval- uated. Document analysis, one of the qualitative re- search methods, was used. In this context, a total of nineteen councils were examined. As a result of the study, it was found that that there were studies for children in need of special education in the multi- party period and it was seen that detailed decisions regarding the education of talented individuals came forward after 2000s as a result of the developments in the world and the reflection of these developments to Turkey and the importance of the issue. Looking at the implementation of the recommendations of the decisions, it was seen that some decisions were ap- plied, some decisions do not continue. Finally, when we look at the agenda items for the education of tal- ented individuals in past councils, it was seen that it is not sustainable, it is more person-focused than sys- tem-oriented, and it is shaped according to govern- ment policies

Öz

Ülkelerin eğitime dair tarihsel sürecini değerlendir- mek, bugünü daha iyi anlamamıza ve ileriye dönük politika belirlememize yardımcı olmaktadır. Bu çalış- mada, Cumhuriyetin kuruluşundan günümüze kadar düzenlenen millî eğitim şûralarında özel yeteneklile- rin eğitimine ilişkin alınan kararlar, tek partili dö- nemde düzenlenen şûralar, çok partili döneme geçiş sürecinde düzenlenen şûralar, çok partili dönemde düzenlenen şûralar, planlı dönemde düzenlenen şûralar, 1980 sonrası düzenlenen şûralar ve 2000 son- rası düzenlenen şûralar bağlamında değerlendirilmiş- tir. Nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden doküman incele- mesi kullanılmıştır. Bu kapsamda günümüze kadar düzenlenen toplam on dokuz şûranın incelemesi ya- pılmıştır. Yapılan inceleme sonucunda çok partili dö- nemde özel eğitime gereksinimi olan çocuklara yöne- lik çalışmaların yer aldığı, özel yetenekli bireylerin eğitimine ilişkin ise ayrıntılı kararların dünyada mey- dana gelen gelişmeler ve söz konusu gelişmelerin ül- kemize yansıması ile konunun önemsenmesi sonucu 2000’li yıllardan sonra öne çıktığı görülmektedir. Tav- siye niteliği taşıyan kararlarının uygulamalarına ba- kıldığında ise, bazı kararların uygulandığı bazı karar- ların ise devamının gelmediği görülmüştür. Son ola- rak; düzenlenen şûralarda yer alan özel yetenekli bi- reylerin eğitimine yönelik gündem maddelerine ba- kıldığında sürdürülebilir olmadığı, sistem odaklı ol- maktan ziyade kişi odaklı olduğu ve hükümet politi- kalarına göre şekillendiği görülmektedir.

Analysis of Gifted and Talented Students' Creative Problem Solving Styles

2021-04-20T19:39:54+03:00

This study aimed at analyzing creative problem-solv-ing (CPS) styles of gifted and talented students. The study was conducted as a quantitative study. The study group of the research consisted of 151 students 77 girls (51%); 74 boys (49%) who were enrolled in sci-ence and art centers in Ankara in the 2019-2020 aca-demic year. Sixty-five (43%) of students were talented in academics, 44 (29%) talented in music, and 42 (28%) talented in the arts. Data for this study were collected using the "Creative Problem Solving Styles Inven-tory". Data were analyzed using χ2 (chi-square) test, Cramer's V coefficient and descriptive statistics. Find-ings of the study showed that gifted and talented stu-dents in the process of the CPS preferred conceptual-izer style, generator style, optimizer style, and imple-menter style respectively. No relation was found be-tween students' CPS styles and their gender. Students' CPS styles differed according to their talent areas (general-music-art).

Opinions of Science Teachers about the Assessment of Talented Students in Science and Arts Centers

2021-04-20T19:44:30+03:00

This study employed qualitative research method. A semi-structured interview was conducted with sci-ence teachers. Opinions of the science teachers in Science and Art Centers were taken for the evalua-tion of gifted students. The data obtained as a result of the interviews were analyzed by content analysis method. Teachers expressed a common view that the lessons were productive when they were acted on according to students’ interests. In addition, the teaching methods and assessment tools used by the science teachers in their courses are important for the recognition of gifted students. According to the opin-ions of the teachers, it was determined that no specif-ic measurement and evaluation were made for gifted students but alternative measurements and evalua-tion methods were used to measure the development of gifted students.