Factors Affecting the Perceptions and Practices of Differentiated Curricula and Pedagogies for Gifted and Talented Students

The definitions and implementation of differentiated curricula and instruction for gifted and talented students have been affected by a myriad of philosophical and institutional factors defined by educators, community members, and gifted and talented students. The ramifications of these factors affect the focus and subsequent objectives and outcomes of differentiated curricula and instruction for gifted and talented students. A set of questions regarding the structure and implications of differentiated curricula and instruction for gifted and talented students are presented. Concepts such as specificity versus generalization, transfer of training, and conflict of interests are discussed and exemplified theoretically, philosophically, and pragmatically to respond to these questions.

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model is widely implemented as a both an enrichment program used with academically gifted and talented students and as a magnet theme/enrichment approach for all students. The theme of the SEM is to develop the strengths and talents of all students. The SEM provides enriched learning experiences and higher learning standards for all children through three goals: developing talents in all children, providing a broad range of advanced-level enrichment experiences for all students, and providing advanced follow-up opportunities for young people based on their strengths and interests. The SEM focuses on enrichment for all students through high levels of engagement and the use of enjoyable and challenging learning experiences that are constructed around students' interests, and preferred modes of expression.

An Encouraging Environment for the Development of Gifted Students within the Knowledge Society

The aim of our paper is to conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relevance of an encouraging environment in the development and progress of gifted students within the modern knowledge society. In order to ensure the highest level of sample representativeness, the research was carried out on a sample of 106 teachers working with specialized classes for talented students, and teachers who had worked with those students at their previous stage of schooling. The study was conducted in schools belonging to the areas of the City of Nis and Kosovska Mitrovica (Republic of Serbia)*, by using the scaling technique. Through factor analysis, the following 5 most prominent features (factors) of an environment that encourages the development of gifted students within the knowledge society were extracted: 1) differentiated curricula, 2) encouraging problem-based learning, 3) integrated approach to learning, 4) encouraging research-based approach to learning, 5) developing logical and creative thinking skills. This research also found that the level of schooling of gifted students significantly determines the differences in teachers’ perceptions of the characteristics of an environment that encourages the development of gifted students, while school location was not a deciding factor.

Experiences of gifted students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

COVID-19 began to spread all over the world in the Spring of 2020. All schools, including the institutions serving students with special needs, were closed to decrease the spread of the virus. The schools had to shift to online education, which was a new experience for most students. In addition to the negative effects of the pandemic itself, the new learning format required extra effort from students. Gifted and talented students as a special group with special educational and socio-emotional needs may have experienced the pandemic differently. In the present study, we aimed to explore gifted and talented students’ subjective well-being, feelings of hope, and stress coping strategies with a quantitative method. In addition, we used a qualitative method and asked a few open-ended questions to dig deeper into these students’ experiences during the pandemic. We found a statistically significant correlation among subjective well-being, hope, and stress coping strategies. Effective stress coping strategies are used more frequently than negative ones. We revealed that although there are some positive sides to the process, the students described some difficulties with social interaction, access and use of technology, motivation, and physical health. Based on the findings, we suggested some important implications and recommendations for parents, educators, and policymakers.

Factors Affecting Pharmacy Students’ Decision to Study in Pharmacy Colleges in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire-Based Analysis

(1) Background: Many factors may play a role in deciding to opt for pharmacy as a major. However, no previous studies have been conducted in Saudi Arabia to explore these factors. This study aims to identify the potential factors that prompted students to join the pharmacy program. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire was distributed among undergraduate pharmacy students in Saudi Arabia, addressing areas such as reasons that encourage them to choose pharmacy as a major, and students’ socio-demographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the study variables, and a simple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the potential factors. (3) Results: A total of 491 students completed the questionnaire. Around 40% of them had chosen to study pharmacy as their first choice. Only gender, current GPA, and reasons related to the pharmacy field were found to have a statistically significant association with students selecting pharmacy as their first choice. (4) Conclusions: This study shows that pharmacy students have a future-oriented outlook and selected pharmacy as their first choice because it will develop them professionally, financially, and intellectually. Educating high school students about the characteristic of pharmacy would help attract more talented students to the pharmacy carrier.

Meritocracy in Singaporean Educational System: Inequality in Admission to Secondary Schools

This paper explores the fairness of meritocracy concerning admission to secondary schools based on the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in Singapore. The Ministry of Education has consistently adopted the ideology of meritocracy as so to select talented students, stimulate effort, and optimize the allocation of rewards. The PSLE results can largely determine students’ educational tracks and even career orientation in Singapore. The paper shows how the principle of meritocracy works and how the government uses meritocratic belief in the education system. The paper argues that meritocracy has posed a threat to equality in admission to secondary schools in Singapore. The findings indicate that the meritocratic policy does not recognize both the importance of family SES and the gap between elite schools and neighbourhood schools in the Singapore education system. Students with wealthy and well-educated parents and students in elite schools are more likely to acquire better educational attainment, since they tend to gain more cultural capital from family and social capital from school. The principle of meritocracy fails to allocate opportunities fairly to students and can lead to inequality in education and exacerbate educational stratification.

Perfectionism among talented students and its relationship to their Self-Esteem

This study aimed to investigate perfectionism among talented students and its relationship to their self-esteem. Eighty-nine male and female talented students in King Abdullah II Schools for Excellence in Jordan were administered. Big Three Perfectionism Scale and Self-Esteem Scale to Rosenberg were used based on arithmetic mean, standard deviations, T-test for independent samples and Pearson correlation. The results indicate that the levels of three types of perfectionism and self-esteem are medium among students of King Abdullah II Schools for Excellence; also, there are no statistically significant differences between male and female students on Rigid Perfectionism and Narcissistic Perfectionism, while there are statistically significant differences between male and female students in Self-Critical Perfectionism and there are no statistically significant differences for Pearson Correlation to Rigid Perfectionism and Narcissistic Perfectionism on self-esteem; however, there are negative statistically significant differences for Pearson Correlation to Self-critical Perfectionism on self-esteem. Keywords: Perfectionism, self-esteem, talented students.