Views of Teachers about Gifted Curriculum (Case of BİLSEM) / Üstün Yetenekliler Eğitim Programlarına İlişkin Öğretmen Görüşleri (BİLSEM Örneği) (2012)

Problem and Purpose: Recently, taking some basic conditions of our country into consideration, such as the present economic, social, cultural and educational facilities, models that are applied in different countries were examined for the purpose of reaching a greater number of gifted children, practicability of these models in our country was discussed, the large-scaled national and international studies being performed on this subject were reviewed and a new model was developed. This model that is called Science and Art Center (BILSEM) is an educational establishment, which was opened for the purpose of enabling the gifted students that attend preschool, elementary and secondary education institutions to be aware of their personal talents, develop their capacities and use them ultimately, in such a way not to prevent their education in formal training institutions. A curriculum aimed at gifted individuals is applied in BILSEMs and this program is approached within the scope of the instructions of Science and Art Centers. However, the fact that there is not a regulation regarding this subject yet and there is not a program in centers just like in the formal education makes the necessity of determining the opinions aimed at the curriculum for gifted individuals that is performed in BILSEMs and given place only in the context of a regulation a current issue. At this point; assignment of teachers rendering service in BILSEMs during the practice stages of programmes makes their opinions about the curriculum aimed at the gifted students important. It makes it so important that the determination of the satisfaction of teachers with the program and the difficulties encountered during the practice could be enabled by receiving the opinions of teachers. Considering these opinions, the manifestation of the teachers opinions regarding the curriculum of the gifted students was perceived as a problem. This study was performed in an attempt to determine the opinions of teachers rendering service in BILSEMs, regarding the curriculum of the gifted students. 

Method and Materials: Survey method was used in this descriptive study. The population is consisted of 675 techers rendering service in 61 Science and Art Centers in Turkey, during the school year of 2010-2011. The sample of the study, on the other hand, is consisted of teachers rendering service in 24 Science and Art Centers, which were randomly selected from 61 Science and Art Centers in Turkey. In the study, a survey, which is consisted of items regarding the personal information of teachers, their opinions about the curriculum of the gifted students and the problems they encounter, prepared by the researcher and tested in terms of validity-reliability, was used as the data collection tool. Although this data collection tool was sent to the whole sample, only 318 of the teachers participated in the study. The techniques of frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean and the variance analysis, t-test, Kruskall Wallis-H (KWH), Mann Whitney U (MWU) and scheffe tests were used for the analyses of the data. 

Results: As a result of the analyses, it was revealed that the teachers opinions regarding the curriculum of the gifted students performed in BILSEMs were positive, in general. It was determined that teachers generally agree with the opinions regarding curriculum of the gifted students performed in BILSEMs. According to the study findings; it was revealed that teachers considerably agree with the opinion that the education provided in BILSEMs enables students to be aware of their own personal talents. Examining the findings regarding the problems encountered by teachers in the education of the gifted students, it was determined that majority of teachers encounter with problems regarding the physical medium conditions of BILSEMs. Besides, it was also determined that problems encountered by the majority of teachers are also related with absence of students. In addition to these, it was also concluded that teachers experience the minimum problem regarding the communication with students in the education of the gifted students. In line with these conclusions, the curriculum performed in BILSEMs shall be improved by taking the personal requirements of students into consideration and both the physical medium and equipment adequateness of BILSEMs shall be revised. 
According to these results the physical environments of Art and Science Centers, competencies of tools should be revised. In addition, the legal arrangements should be done to increase relay more time and continuity of the students in the Science and Art Centers.

Keywords: Giftedness, Education of the Gifted Students, Science and Art Centers

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Ozet

Bu arastirma, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde gorev yapan ogretmenlerin ustun yetenekliler egitim programlarina iliskin goruslerini belirlemek amaciyla yapilmistir. Betimsel ozellikte olan bu calismada tarama (survey) yonteminden yararlanilmistir. Arastirmanin evrenini, 2010-2011 egitim-ogretim yilinda Turkiye'de bulunan 61 Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde gorev yapmakta olan 675 ogretmen olusturmaktadir. Arastirmanin orneklemi ise, Turkiye'deki 61 Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinden random yontemiyle secilen 24 Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde gorev yapan ogretmenlerden olusmaktadir. Arastirmada veri toplama araci olarak, ogretmenlerin kisisel bilgileri, ustun yetenekliler egitim programlarina yonelik gorusleri ve karsilastiklari sorunlar ile ilgili maddelerden olusan, arastirmaci tarafindan hazirlanan ve gecerlik-guvenirlik calismalari yapilan bir anket kullanilmistir. Bu veri toplama araci orneklemin tamamina gonderilmis ancak calismada 318 anket degerlendirmeye alinmistir. Verilerin analizinde frekans, yuzde, aritmetik ortalama teknikleri ile varyans analizi, t-testi, Kruskall Wallis-H (KWH), Mann Whitney U (MWU) ve scheffe testleri kullanilmistir. Yapilan analiz sonuclarinda, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde uygulanan ustun yetenekliler egitim programlarina yonelik ogretmen goruslerinin genel olarak olumlu yonde oldugu ortaya cikmistir. Ogretmenlerin, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde uygulanan ustun yetenekliler egitim programlarina yonelik goruslere genel olarak katildiklari belirlenmistir. Arastirma bulgularina gore, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde verilen egitimin ogrencilerin bireysel yeteneklerinin farkinda olmalarina yardimci oldugu gorusune ogretmenlerin daha fazla katildiklari ortaya cikmistir. Ogretmenlerin, ustun yetenekliler egitiminde karsilastiklari sorunlara iliskin bulgular incelendiginde, ogretmenlerin cogunlugunun, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinin fiziki ortam sartlari ve ogrencilerin devamsizligi ile ilgili sorunlarla karsilastiklari belirlenmistir. Bunlarin yani sira, ogretmenlerin ustun yetenekliler egitiminde en az yasadiklari sorun ise ogrencilerle iletisim konusunda oldugu sonucuna da ulasilmistir. Bu sonuclar dogrultusunda Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinin fiziki ortamlari, arac-gerec yeterlilikleri yeniden gozden gecirilmelidir. Ayrica, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinde ogrencilerin daha fazla zaman gecirebilmesi ve devamliliginin da artirilabilmesi icin Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerinin orgun egitim kurumu haline getirilecek sekilde yasal duzenlemeler yapilmalidir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Ustun yeteneklilik, Ustun yeteneklilerin egitimi, Bilim ve Sanat Merkezleri.