How do gifted students learn? Their learning styles and dispositions towards learning

ABSTRACT

Gifted students have unique characteristics and these characteristics influence their learning styles and dispositions towards learning. The purpose of this study is to examine gifted students’ learning styles and to understand how gifted students articulate learning. In this convergent parallel mixed methods study, 106 (n = 106) students attending the third, fourth and fifth grades were selected as participants. The study was carried out with gifted students who are attaining in science and art centres in Turkey. The data was gathered through The Kolb Learning Style Inventory and focus group interviews. Findings of study indicated that the participants were mainly divergers and convergers. Their learning styles did not significantly dependent on their gender, age and school type. In addition, they referred to social interaction, self-discovery, social responsibility and transfer of knowledge as their learning attributes. Their learning motives were inspired by an effective learning environment, interaction and the sense of accomplishment in the learning process. Lastly, they adopted certain learning strategies such as encoding and storage in the learning process.

KEYWORDS:

• Gifted students
• learning styles
• learning dispositions
• Kolb learning style inventory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).