Proposal for a model development in diagnosing of gifted students in the field of science

Current study aimed to develop a multifaceted identification model that can be used in the long run to detect the skills of gifted students in the field of science and to test the functionality of the developed model in terms of different variables (scientific process skills, problem solving etc). Identification of various skills and scientific creativity of the gifted students in the field of science was included among the aims of the study. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized in the study and a mixed method was employed. The study which was undertaken as a descriptive study in the quantitative sense also employed case studies which provided the qualitative dimension of the study. Identification of Science Skills Test, Scientific Creativity Scale, semi-structured interviews and observation chart (form) were used in the study as data collection tools. A five-week pilot implementation (pre-treatment) was carried out with eighteen gifted students enrolled in Bartın Science and Art Center and two hundred thirty seven non-gifted students in Bolu elementary schools in order to ensure the functionality of data collection tools and eliminate any deficiencies. Later the actual implementation was undertaken for a ten-week period with twenty three gifted students enrolled in Trabzon Science and Art Center and fifty eight students who have not been identified as gifted and who are not enrolled in such programs. The parental involvement of the study included semi structured interviews with three and fourteen parents in the piloting phase and actual implementation phase respectively. Three science and technology teachers and a school principal (who teaches scientific research classes) employed in Science and Art Centers were also given semi structured interviews to collect data regarding the students. Pilot phase included interviews with two science teachers. While presenting the developed model in general terms, fit between data collection tools was examined in the first place and later, the data obtained from all data collection tools were synthesized. Since identification of gifted students is normally undertaken based on norm or criteria, the current study also employed a criteria based identification as assessment method. Points that supplied information about the student were taken into consideration and the cases which provided a minimum 70% achievement or common agreement were used to determine the giftedness in science. Eight out of the twenty three students assessed in the framework of the study were identified as gifted in science according to these criteria. This finding shows a very low agreement of .07 with the exams (Wisc-r & TKT) the students are given during the process of acceptance into Science and Art Centers. It is believed that this finding is the most pertinent finding for the study. Comparison of gifted students with regular students who are not labeled as gifted according to results obtained from the Identification of Science Skills Test and Scientific Creativity Scale shows favorable results in the favor of gifted students however it was observed that gifted students did not obtain the desired scores in scientific creativity test. It was identified that gifted students have self confidence regarding their intellect but not related to scientific creativity and solving scientific problems. In a similar vein, findings obtained from parents and teachers support these findings. Synthesizing the qualitative and quantitative data that are acceptable in terms of nature of science shows that the developed model differentiates between the regular and gifted students as well as discriminating the gifted students among themselves. It was observed that the characteristics of gifted individuals were present in the students who contributed to the study and they were observable in the data collection tools as well. In this context, a positive identification process exists regarding the reliability of the model. In other words, it can be claimed that the model is effective, assessment criteria is measurable and data collection tools serves their purposes. Development of identification models that employ criteria to identify competencies of gifted students based on disciplines rather than using general identification processes is suggested. Keywords: Giftedness, giftedness in the field of science, proposal identification model