The identification of primary school students who are gifted in science

Abstract

ABSTRACT Emphasizing the identification of individuals with exceptional abilities in understanding school science is of great importance. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate students’ cognitive abilities to identify those with special talents in primary school science. The statistical population of the study included all male and female fourth-grade students in Zanjan City, Zanjan Province, Iran during the academic year 2015–2016. A total of 300 students (150 girls and 150 boys) were selected for the study. The analysis demonstrated strong correlations of 0.675, 0.681, and 0.674 between academic achievement and the combined scores of three key cognitive abilities (scientific reasoning, reading comprehension, and problem-solving) across the entire sample, as well as within the female and male subgroups. Our finding indicated a good overlap in the frequency of gifted individuals (5% of the sample) in both academic achievement and cognitive ability tests, particularly in the three mentioned components. In future research, the effect of the educational environment on the development of gifted students with low academic achievement can be studied.