The Gifted Student Program of the BSCS

Abstract

Of the multitude and diversity of natural resources of our country, the human resource, constituting the youth of high intellectual abilities and special talents, will probably exert the greatest influence in guiding the destiny of our democratic society and the molding of our American culture. We, as educators, are concerned not so much with the hoarding of this most valuable resource as with the wisest use of it. We aim to guide our able youth so that they may make the most effective and productive use of their abilities to help realize their personal aspirations and, concomitantly, promote the w-elfare of their country. The Gifted Student Committee of the BSCS was organized in 1960 and was charged with the responsibility for developing materials especially designed for coping with the needs of gifted high school biology students who could conceivably become research biologists if they were properly incubated and subsequently nurtured. The art of investigation was to be emphasized. Before I tell about the publications that have been produced by the Gifted Study Committee, I should like to give a brief characterization of a gifted student. The Educational Policies Commission has suggested that students who are highly gifted have I.Q.'s of 137 or more, and that those with I.Q.'s between 120 and 136 are moderately gifted. Furthermore, the gifted usually express themselves clearly and accurately. They read one or two years ahead of their class and are one to two years ahead of their class in mathematics. They grasp abstract concepts better than the average. They want to know the reasons for things instead of just accepting them. There are more characteristics but these are basic. Characterizing the gifted student in biology is not quite so definitive. In addition to the attributes of the generally gifted that have just been mentioned he mayevidence the following: He participates in biology club activities; uses his leisure time for biology hobbies; reads scientific literature, particularly in biology, beyond the demands of school assignments; participates in science fairs and other contests; volunteers to undertake special science reports or projects in connection w7ith class work; attends meetings of junior and adult science societies in the community; visits scientific institutions such as museums, botanical and zoological gardens, industrial plants and research laboratories; uses his parents' allowance and gift money for the purchase of scientific materials and books; collects and explores for objects of biological or ecological interest; applies for membership in summer institutes, honors courses, and other special provisions for gifted biology students; and indicates aspirations and sets goals toward a career in science. Briefly, the gifted or able biology student may be recognized as one who shows a deep involvement in some area, some problem in the biological sciences. He works well, and he works hard and long at it. Here are one or two examples that may elucidate the characterization: After reading about conjugation in Paramecium and in Spirogyra a student ponders on a problem such as: How is it possible for two Spirogyra cells to have their contents enclosed within the walls of one cell after conjugation? He reads Smith's book, Fresh Water Algae of the United States and learns about the development of small contractile vacuoles in the protoplasts of conjugating Spirogyra cells. He is intrigued by the fact that although conjugating cells of Paramecium and Spirogyra look alike, they have different physiological qualities. His persistence in finding out more about sexuality leads him to the studies by Tracy Sonneborn on mating types of Paramecizum.