• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.697-727
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• 2009

The purposes of this study are to investigate Korean science teachers' perception on the science gifted education in Korea, and to investigate if there are differences on their perception among the science teachers whose institutes are different. Their institutes are divided into three groups, which are the formal schools for the gifted in science such as Science High-School, gifted education centers attached to district education authority, and general secondary schools. For the study, 266 science teachers were sampled from the schools in Busan Metro-city, Ulsan Metro-city, and Kyoungnam Province, and then questionnaire developed by the authors were administered to them. The research results are as follows. Firstly, teachers who were going to participate in special education for the gifted in science answered affirmatively, and they thought it seemed worthwhile. On the other hand teachers who were not going to participate in it, answered negatively, mentioning shortage in specialty or extra work overload. Secondly, only the Korean Educational Development Institute was too much preferred by science teachers for teacher training institute for the gifted education in science. Therefore, it is needed to extend the teacher training institutes for the gifted education in science throughout the country. Thirdly, the perception of science teachers on the constitution of a class for the gifted in science is very different among the teachers of formal schools for the gifted in science and the teachers who teach science part time when it is needed in the district institutes for the gifted education. Finally, the perception on the aims of special education for the gifted in science is very different between the teachers who teach the gifted in science and the teachers who do not teach them.