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Beliefs About Gifted Education and Classroom Practices of the Science Teachers at Science Academy in Korea  

Kim, Kyung-Jin (Seoul National University)
Kwon, Byung-Doo (Seoul National University)
Kim, Chan-Jong (Seoul National University)
Choe, Seung-Um (Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education / v.25, no.4, 2005 , pp. 514-525 More about this Journal
Abstract
The most important factor in providing education to gifted students as well as to students in general are the teachers themselves. However, at present in Korea, most of the teachers in charge of education for the gifted are educated by in-service training programs only for a short period of time. It is doubtful whether the teachers, who have taught ordinary students in general, can teach gifted students effectively only after completing such a short course. This research investigated the relationship between the teachers' beliefs about educating the gifted and the teachers' classroom practices in a Science Academy through case studies. The guiding questions for this study are as follows: First, what beliefs do the participating teachers have about education for the gifted? Second, how are the participants' beliefs reflected in their classroom practices? Of the five participants, two are physics teachers, two are biology teachers, and one is an earth science teacher. I observed and videotaped four classroom practices for each participant and conducted an in-depth interview with each participant. Further data were collected through e-mails with the participants. All data were carefully transcribed and analyzed. The results are as follows: Beliefs about education for the gifted do not exist independently, and form a belief system connecting with beliefs about teaching and learning, and subject matter. And the belief systems of participants can be divided into "student-centered," "teacher-centered," and "conflict chaos." In the classes of the participants who have "student-centered" belief system, students' questions or opinions played an important role and the participation structure in the classroom was determined by the students. On the contrary, participants who have "teacher-centered" belief system focused on teaching contents as much as possible in their classes. These teachers played a heavy role and formed a participation structure where students depended on their teacher's intellectual authority and therefore participated in their class passively. A participant who have "conflict chaos" belief did not form a firm belief system yet, and traditional beliefs about teaching and learning were reflected a lot in her classes. The research results imply teachers' beliefs play an important role in classroom practices and beliefs about teaching and learning and subject matter as well as beliefs about education for the gifted are important factors for teachers who guide gifted students. Additionally, I make some suggestions for the improvement of teacher education for the gifted.
Keywords
beliefs; classroom practice; gifted education; science teacher; teacher education;
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