Gifted students

Teaching the highest achieving students

One area of my work has been in exploring the notion of 'giftedness' in science and the educational needs of so-called 'gifted' learners.

Sometimes dismissed as an elitist concern, this is actually an issue of equal opportunities – as all students are entitled to an education which facilitates their development. An educative experience is both challenging, but supported sufficiently to allow the learner to make progress.

I have argued for a contextual notion of giftedness: that in any particular class, doing particular activities, there are likely to be some students who are so further along in their learning (relating to the focus of that class) that they will not benefit from tasks set to most of their classmate. A Vygotskian perspective might suggest approaching lesson design by first planning work for the most advanced and then building in degrees of scaffolding for others in the class, so all can experience some challenge and some success. (In practice, such differentiation of teaching makes a high demand on teachers.)

The contextual notion of giftedness does not consider particular children to be gifted, and others not, but is always judgement made in relation to a particular learning context. Not only may judgements about whether a student is gifted vary over time, but they will depend upon the school subject and indeed the activity.

I have written about these ideas in various publications, and have developed some materials to support learning about the nature of science that were used in an after-school enrichment project for students from Cambridge comprehensive schools.

View the presentation: Developing the thinking of gifted students through science

Selected publications:

K.S. Taber,  Sumida, M. & McClure, L. (Eds.), (2018) Teaching Gifted Learners in STEM Subjects: Developing talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Taber, K. S. (Ed.) (2017). Üstün Yetenekliler İçin Fen Eğitimi. Ankara: Pegem Akademi Publishing. (Turkish translation of Science Education for Gifted Learners.)

Sumida, M., & Taber, K. S. (Eds.). (2017). Policy and Practice in Science Education for the Gifted: Approaches from diverse national contexts. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.

Taber, K. S., & Sumida, M. (Eds.). (2016). International Perspectives on Science Education for the Gifted: Key issues and challenges. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.

Taber, K. S., & Riga, F. (2016). From Each According to Her Capabilities; to Each According to Her Needs: Fully Including the Gifted in School Science Education. In S. Markic & S. Abels (Eds.), Science Education Towards Inclusion (pp. 195-219). New York: Nova Publishers. [Read the authors' manuscript version.]

Taber, K. S. (2016). 'Chemical reactions are like hell because…': Asking gifted science learners to be creative in a curriculum context that encourages convergent thinking. In M. K. Demetrikopoulos & J. L. Pecore (Eds.), Interplay of Creativity and Giftedness in Science (pp. 321-349). Rotterdam: Sense. [Read the author's manuscript version of this chapter]

Taber, K. S. (2015). Developing a research programme in science education for gifted learners. In N. L. Yates (Ed.), New Developments in Science Education Research (pp. 1-27). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Taber, K. S. (2015). Affect and Meeting the Needs of the Gifted Chemistry Learner: Providing Intellectual Challenge to Engage Students in Enjoyable Learning. In M. Kahveci & M. Orgill (Eds.), Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education (pp. 133-158): Springer Berlin Heidelberg. [Download the author's manuscript version of the chapter]

Taber, K. S. (Editor) (2007) Science Education for Gifted Learners, London: Routledge.

Taber, K. S. (2007) Enriching School Science for the Gifted Learner, London: Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme.