Preservice Teacher Attitudes Toward Giftedness

Abstract

Attitudes influence the teaching–learning process. The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of undergraduate-elementary education majors at a small, rural south-central U.S. university toward gifted students. Gagné's and Nadeau's (Gagné, 1991) opinions about the gifted and their education was used. The respondents held attitudes toward gifted children, which were contradictory and unsupportive of practices that would provide support, such as being resistant to objectives, ability grouping, and acceleration. Respondents need to acquire knowledge about within-class acceleration and differentiation strategies. Without such knowledge, their ability to formulate sound cognitive beliefs about gifted learners is hindered, and classroom interaction between teachers and gifted children is impacted.

Keywords:

• gifted
• preservice teachers
• professional development
• survey research
• teacher attitudes
• teachers of the gifted
• teacher training