Impact of Mawhiba’s first award-winning gifted summer program in Saudi Arabia on students’ achievement, skills, and satisfaction

Abstract

This study assessed the impact of Mawhiba-IAU (an innovative gifted summer program in Saudi Arabia to prepare gifted students to thrive in an innovation-based economy) on students’ achievement, soft skills, and satisfaction. The convenience sample consisted of three datasets of gifted students for the various research questions. A quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-assessments with no control group and a cross-sectional design was used to assess the impact of Mawhiba-IAU on students’ holistic development. Achievement tests, scales, and surveys were used for the assessment. In the series of t-tests, the difference between the pre- and post-assessments showed significant effects on students’ achievement, soft skills development, and satisfaction. Although there were several limitations, including the lack of a control group, the results showed that Mawhiba-IAU was highly effective for students’ holistic development. In 2018, Mawhiba-IAU became the only program to win Mawhiba’s first award.