Meeting the Educational Needs of Gifted Science Students by Differentiating Instruction

Abstract

Aims: To investigate how the use of different strategies in a science classroom meets the educational needs of the gifted science students. Study Design: Descriptive survey Place and Duration of Study: Gifted science students and their teachers from both private and public secondary schools in Awka, Ogidi and Onitsha Education Zones of Anambra State, Nigeria were used for the study which was carried out between May and June, 2013. Methodology: Twenty-four gifted science students and 56 science teachers were included in the study. Gifted Science Students Test (GSST) and Researcher-Made Questionnaire (RMQ) were the instruments used for data collection. The GSST was specifically used to select gifted science students with the help of their teachers. These instruments were validated by experts and coefficients of internal consistency were 0.89 and 0.80 respectively for GSST and RMQ. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and t- test. Results: The findings from the results showed that: Science teachers claimed to be using the variety of instructional strategies in differentiating instruction but their gifted science students were of the opinion that they rarely use them in meeting their educational needs; there is a significant difference in the mean responses of gifted science students and their teachers on the strategies for differentiating content, process and product in a science classroom; and both teachers and students agreed that sometimes a well organized and properly managed classrooms are provided. Conclusion: The study revealed that secondary school science teachers are yet to understand the gifted science students and the way they learn. Thus the study recommended that practicing mathematics teachers should undergo in-service training and workshops to learn more about these gifted science students and differentiated instruction.