Are gifted students challenge pursuers?

Abstract

Challenging education has always been considered a necessity and a presupposition, but it has not been considered whether gifted students also have a challenging nature. This study answers this question and examines whether gifted students have a challenging nature and seek to face the challenge. Our study was conducted with two groups of fifth- and sixth-grade students of the same schools in Istanbul, Turkey: the study group consisted of 52 gifted students, and the control group consisted of 92 undiagnosed students. In about 15 minutes, participants completed the Challenge Performance Test and the Student Information Sheet. Data obtained from participants' responses to the challenge performance test were analyzed using a t-test, and the two study and control groups were compared based on the acceptance or rejection of challenges. As expected, the analysis of participants' responses showed that gifted students in the study group performed better in accepting the challenge than students in the control group and preferred more challenging questions. After the success or failure of the students at the level they had chosen, however, the preferred behaviors in terms of challenges were different. This was thought-provoking regarding the relationship between challenge and the meaning of giftedness.

Keywords

• Challenge
• Giftedness
• Fail
• Success

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