Levels of Teaching Science to Gifted Students

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article, we present a hierarchical model for teaching scientific thinking to gifted students. This article follows up on an article published 40 years ago in this journal. The problem now, as 40 years ago, is that gifted students often are taught science courses at a more intensive level, but without their truly learning how to think scientifically. We argue that students of science need not only learn the content of science courses, but also learn, at a deep level, how to think scientifically. Our model addresses the issue of what this deep level consists of. Level I involves Teaching Scientific Knowledge. Level II involves Teaching Scientific Problem Solving. Level III involves the deepest level of scientific thinking: Teaching Scientific Problem Finding. We end the article with conclusions about these issues.KEYWORDS: analyzing scientific researchconducting scientific researchdeclarative knowledgeproblem findingproblem solvingprocedural knowledgescientific knowledge Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Additional informationNotes on contributorsRobert J. SternbergRobert J. Sternberg is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. His PhD is from Stanford and he holds 13 honorary doctorates. He is a past winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology and has won the William James and James McKeen Cattell Awards from the Association for Psychological Science. According to Google Scholar, he has been cited over 215,000 times and has an h index of 226. His latest books are Adaptive Intelligence (Cambridge University Press, 2021), and (with Judith Glück) Wisdom: The Psychology of Wise Thoughts, Words, and Deeds (Cambridge University Press, 2022). [email protected] EhsanHoda Ehsan is currently Director of Quadrivium Engineering, Design and Computer Science at The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. She holds a PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Her research interests include exploring the engineering learning of young children, including those on the autism spectrum, and ways to make connections between in-school engineering learning and out-of-school learning. She is also the founder of Sunny Skies Academy, which provides educational services to children from vulnerable populations. [email protected] GhahremaniMehdi Ghahremani (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Foundations, Mississippi State University, where he teaches and studies human development to promote understanding of differences of people and analyzing effective and productive modes of thinking such as critical thinking, design thinking, and wisdom. He received his PhD in Educational Studies, with a focus on Gifted, Creative, and Talented Studies from Purdue University. He is a mixed-methods researcher certified in quantitative and qualitative inquiry. His research interests center around creative thinking and team creativity; STEM education and STEM-talent development, psychology of design thinking, and wisdom. [email protected]

Topics & Concepts