Science Gifted Students’ Perceptions of Scientists’ Giftedness and Scientist Drama Camp

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate gifted students’ perception of scientists’ giftedness and scientist drama camp discovered while participating in the scientist drama camp. To this end, the scientist drama camp program developed by the P University Gifted Center was applied to secondary science gifted students. The researcher collected the preliminary report and result report written by the gifted students who participated in the program, and the video of the scientist drama camp, derived the characteristics through case analysis, and interpreted the meaning. The results of the study were as follows. First, as a result of analyzing the scientist preliminary report written by gifted students, it was found that students discovered various giftedness factors such as originality, challenge and passion, task obsession, intelligence, interest and concern, perseverance, empathy and consideration, and communication and cooperation. In view of these results, it seems that the activity of secondary gifted students’ pre-investigation of scientists provided an opportunity to discover and recognize various gifted elements of scientists. It also revealed an increased awareness of the impact of scientists on society and the impact of society on scientists. In other words, it was found that it provided an opportunity to recognize that outstanding results achieved by scientists can have a positive or negative impact on society. Third, it was found that secondary gifted students came to recognize the importance of communication, cooperation, and accountability while performing the science drama. Looking at the results of this study, it seems that the drama camp program will provide science gifted students with an opportunity to think about the nature of science, while the classes at university affiliated gifted students focus on the cultivation of knowledge and skills in science and mathematics. In addition, this program is expected to help gifted students improve the affective and social aspects of giftedness, such as cooperation, communication, and accountability.