A comparative study of the environmental attitudes and solution ideas for environmental issues of gifted students with those of their peers

The environment is conditions or a context in which the living and the all vital activities keep going on. The negative impact of human beings on the environment leads to environmental problems accumulated over time. Cultivating individuals who have environmental sensitivity and consciousness and emerging leaders who have advanced environmental attitudes in a community could contribute to overcoming environmental problems and to protect the environment. The main aim of the research was to compare gifted students' environmental attitudes and solution ideas for environmental issues with of their peers after the environmental education that they have taken in science classes in the middle school. The mixed method that is a combination of qualitative and quantitative was used in this study. The research population included all middle schools in Kocaeli. The sample of the study was composed of 57 gifted middle school students who were attending Kocaeli Science and Art Center and 355 non-gifted peers who were selected by using cluster sampling model considering the socio-economic status. The quantitative data was collected by Environmental Attitudes Scale which was developed by the researcher and Cognitive Skills Interview form was used for qualitative data. In the analysis of quantitative data, independent t-test, ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis were conducted. The qualitative data was analyzed by content analysis method. The results showed that the mean scores of gifted students were higher than peers' score in the Environmental Attitude Scale. In addition, total scores of gifted girls were found to be higher than the gifted boys. Similarly, there were gender differences in the environmental attitude scores among non-gifted peers and these differences were in favor of boys. Also, environmental attitude scores differed according to grade level in gifted students, but there was no significant difference in their peers. 5th-grade gifted students had higher scores than 6th-grade gifted students did in the study. Gifted students cared about the global environmental issues more than their peers. Their solution ideas were more about general population and more solution-focused while solutions of peers were in the form of more general statements and restatements of environmental issues in the study. In addition, gifted students presented more creative solution ideas such as 'industrial tree should be grown', 'items should be made from a material other than wood', 'ships by solar panels, 'using of Eco House', and 'artificial fur should be produced'. Key Words: Environmental Atittude, Environmental Problems, Gifted Students