A Survey on Teachers' Perceptions of Gasses for the Science Gifted in Elementary School

초등과학 영재학급 담당 교사의 영재 교육에 대한 인식 조사

The purpose of this study was to examine the status and science teachers' perceptions of classes for those gifted in science in elementary school. For this purpose, a number of questions were posed to teachers : 27-item-questionnaires were given to 38 teachers of students gifted in science in elementary schools located in Incheon province. The results of this study were as follows : 1. most elementary teachers were in charge of classes containing students gifted in science, but this was the case with only a few secondary teachers. Therefore, it appears to be more necessary to educate elementary teachers who majored in science content and gifted education. 2. In addition, most teachers had positive perceptions of the needs, attitudes and environments needed for gifted education. Most of them attended 60-hour training programs on gifted education. They thought that it was helpful in understanding the characteristics of gifted students, but they wanted to learn more about actual pedagogical methods through such programs. 3. The teaching methods used in classes for those gifted in science were mainly experimental activities, but there were few opportunities for creative problem solving and project learning. This may be due to limited class time of about one hour every two weeks in this class. 4. When the materials used in class were first developed, they mainly used materials made by the city board of education and selected the theme of interest by themselves. Therefore, there may be problems of duplication of materials or systems regarding the science contents for one year. 5. Furthermore, the themes of the materials used were mostly related in terms of the contents of textbooks than more generally. When planning and managing the classes for those gifted in science, the above points should be considered in order to improve the education of those students gifted in science.