The identification of primary school students who are gifted in science

ABSTRACT

Emphasizing the identification of individuals with exceptional abilities in understanding school science is of great importance. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate students’ cognitive abilities to identify those with special talents in primary school science. The statistical population of the study included all male and female fourth-grade students in Zanjan City, Zanjan Province, Iran during the academic year 2015–2016. A total of 300 students (150 girls and 150 boys) were selected for the study. The analysis demonstrated strong correlations of 0.675, 0.681, and 0.674 between academic achievement and the combined scores of three key cognitive abilities (scientific reasoning, reading comprehension, and problem-solving) across the entire sample, as well as within the female and male subgroups. Our finding indicated a good overlap in the frequency of gifted individuals (5% of the sample) in both academic achievement and cognitive ability tests, particularly in the three mentioned components. In future research, the effect of the educational environment on the development of gifted students with low academic achievement can be studied.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive ability
• giftedness
• identification
• primary education
• science

Disclosure statement

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

Appendix

How many moves are needed to transform part ”A” into part ”B” in figure 1?

Figure 1: Problem-solving questions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara Teymoori Pabandi

Sara Teymoori Pabandi, with a master’s degree in chemistry education, obtained her degree under the supervision of Dr. Rasol Abdullah Mirzaie and advisory Dr. Arezo Asfa from Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University. Her area of expertise centers around gifted education in science.

Rasol Abdullah Mirzaie

Rasol Abdullah Mirzaie, Dr., an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, specializes in electrochemistry and science education. He teaches courses related to these fields for both graduate and undergraduate students. His research interests within science education encompass gifted Education, STEM education, and energy education with focussing designing educational content, fostering positive attitudes, developing thinking skills, and effective teaching methods.

Milad Atabakhsh

Milad Atabakhsh holds a master’s degree in chemistry.

Arezo Asfa

Arezo Asfa, Dr., who holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology, is involved in research related to the psychological aspects of science education. Her work focuses on understanding how students learn science, identifying effective teaching methods, and exploring ways to improve science education.