Gifted Education in Science

Synonyms

Acceleration; Domain specificity of giftedness; Enrichment; Special education

Many children show a strong interest in natural phenomena from an early age and demonstrate an outstanding ability to think creatively and in abstract terms. The greater the individual differences in these interests, skills, and ability, the greater is the need for meeting special needs through a high-quality education. In this sense, gifted education is a kind of special education. In the United States, for example, the proportion of children identified as gifted is on average 6 % nationwide. This is about the same percentage of children that need what is usually brought to mind by the term special education and is therefore not a percentage that can be ignored in ordinary school education activities. Research and practice on gifted education in science could provide a new dimension to the child-centered science education that has spread in the late twentieth century. It is imperative for meeting...