Document Type : Research Paper
Abstract
Complications caused by individual differences such as interest, motivation, attitude and learning capacity have always been increasing. Many studies have been done on methods of teaching gifted and talented students. Some studies came to the conclusion that gifted learners should be trained in special classes and separated from the general curriculum. What is necessary in this process is to identify gifted students. In many cases, teachers are unable to recognize and identify their gifted students. Related studies about teachers' beliefs show the existence of a relationship between the framework of teachers' beliefs and their teaching methods in the classroom. The impact of teachers' superficial beliefs on their educational performance can be the cause of many problems. Therefore, in order to gain a deeper understanding and insight into teachers' beliefs about gifted students and the educational activities related to them in the classroom, the present research examines and explores this issue.
The importance of teachers’ understanding and definition of gifted students lies in the fact that teachers adjust the type of their teaching methods and instructional activities with the educational needs of the learners. Judgement criteria in this regard are ambiguous. The existing vague and imprecise set of beliefs is an important obstacle on the way to recognize the gifted and then to use appropriate instructional activities. In the studies that have sought for the characteristics of gifted students in Iran, attributes such as having a creative thinking style and challenging the norms, mental awareness, high self-efficacy, capacity for self-regulation, ability to solve problems with Proper efficiency, intelligent and skillful use of metacognitive strategies are mentioned as important indicators of giftedness. The fit between the talented students and the learning environment is crucial in order to achieve the optimal level of learning. Teachers have attempted to coordinate instructional activities with goals of the curriculum. They tried to do that through enriching and increasing the content and also by accelerating the process of advancing the curriculum to help talented students in accordance with their special capacities. Despite the lack of research in this field, some other effective activities can be found in the literature as well.
The current study was applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of method. The population included junior secondary level teachers working in the cities of Nowshahr, Chalous, and Kelardasht located in the west of Mazandaran province. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants in the research, and as a result, 14 male and female teachers of the seventh to ninth grades from seven different schools were recruited. Their ages ranged from 29 to 46 years with an average of 37, and their teaching experience was between 5 to 21 years with an average of 12.35. The data collection tool in this research was a semi-structured interview. The content of the interview questions was reviewed and approved by five experts in the field of education, who were university faculty members with long experience in research and teacher training. The participants took part in individual and face-to-face interviews. Each interview session lasted nearly an hour on average.
For data analysis, all interview sessions were carefully transcribed. Thematic content analysis method wiby using Nvivo 12 software was used to analyze them. For this purpose, both deductive and inductive approaches were followed. To ensure the validity and reliability of the research process, first, a part of the text of the interviews was presented to two experienced researchers as a sample and they were asked to code it. Then their initial codes were compared with the actual codes created in the process of data analysis. The calculated Cohen's kappa coefficient indicated the good quality of the coding process. In the next step, the results of the data analysis of each interviewee were shared with him/her and their approval was received.
The thematic content analysis of the conducted interviews, in the section related to the teacher's beliefs about gifted students, led to the emergence of 59 initial codes, 15 categories, and 4 general themes of cognitive ability, metacognitive ability, social skills, and classroom behavior. Also, in the section related to teachers' instructional activities, 47 primary codes, 11 categories, and 3 general themes of teaching methods, assignments and exercises, and teachers’ guiding role were obtained.
The findings showed that the participating teachers had a comprehensive understanding of the subject and do not suffer from one-sidedness and limited or stereotyped views. They did not only refer to the cognitive ability and intelligence of the gifted, but also to their learning skills and emotional and social dimensions. From this point of view, the findings of this research are significantly different from the findings of some previous ones. As far as the suitable instructional activities for the gifted are concerned, the educational methods and techniques that were mentioned in the interviews were a combination of the lived experiences and also the ideals of the interviewees. The teachers' beliefs indicated their relative agreement on the necessity of providing challenging content, giving more freedom and authority to gifted learners as well as to their teachers. The respondents also showed special attention to the beneficial role of group activities in enhancing the social skills of gifted learners and further motivating them. Finally, the issue of giving more autonomy and independence to such students alongside providing teachers with more freedom in planning and practice was emphasized tremendously.
The findings of this qualitative research study indicate that teachers have an acceptable knowledge and understanding of gifted students and consider their various facets in defining and understanding such learners. In addition, they have diverse and operational thoughts and ideas for teaching and training gifted ones, and if they encounter such students, they will probably have the ability to guide and lead them properly. It is suggested that teachers should be given the opportunity to express their opinions in group and professional meetings, so that they can exchange views about teaching talented students. Also, it is necessary to hold specialized training courses for teachers to familiarize them with gifted students and ways to identify and interact with them. Beside these, it will be useful to compile a set of teaching principles and techniques for the talented performers.
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