Developing a research programme in science education for gifted learners

One of my publications is:

An urgent issue in science education is better meeting the needs of those learners who are working at levels of attainment well above those of their peers. Variously known as the gifted, talented, or highly able, these learners are not sufficiently challenged by mainstream science provision, and so may loose enthusiasm and engagement from science. This is not only an issue for the students themselves, but also for the global community that faces environmental, medical and other challenges that will rely upon advances in science. Whilst there has been a considerable amount of work on offering science enrichment provision in many countries, the nature of science education needed for the gifted has not been a main focus on research within the field. The chapter sets out the basis of a research programme to respond to this deficiency. The key concepts and issues are discussed, and 'hard core commitments' of such a programme are proposed. The characterisation of the research programme allows the proposal of an outline 'positive heuristic' for the programme setting out the key directions for future research.

Hard core of the mooted research programme

"It is possible to suggest candidates for the hard core commitments of a research programme in science education for gifted learners. For example, the following may be suggested as ontological commitments that underpin this area of work:

1. A student’s potential to benefit from teaching depends upon their current characteristics as a learner.
2. Learning depends upon learning opportunities being matched to a student’s characteristics.
3. Learners show a wide range of current capabilities within any particular curriculum area, and vary considerably in terms of their potential for development with suitable support.
4. At any age or grade level there will be some students who are considerably further advanced in their science learning than [most of] their peers. [These students may sometimes be referred to as gifted in science.]
5. Science (and science subjects) present a broad range of learning challenges such that many students will have an uneven profile of current knowledge, understanding and skills.
6. Science provision needs to offer suitable learning opportunities to allow students to make progress in their learning. (Therefore: science provision needs to offer suitable learning opportunities to allow ‘gifted’ students to make progress in their learning.)
7. Particular science provision is indicated for those learners in any cohort who are too advanced to find substantive learning opportunities in the standard provision." (Taber, 2015, pp.10-11)

The chapter may be downloaded here.