How Gifted Primary School Students Make Sense of the Definition, Purpose and Process of Observation

Abstract

This study examines how gifted primary school students define observation, whether they know the purposes of observation and how they manage to perform it. A qualitative study was designed to thoroughly examine the observation process of 16 gifted students and determine the factors affecting the process. The focus group meetings were analyzed with the students' pictures and the field notes obtained during their observations. The results indicated that when examining the students' behaviors in the observations instead of what they observed, they draw what they already know. Most of the students used the word "to examine" when defining “observation.” Additionally, the students' drawings before the observation were relatively simple and did not have enough details about living beings. Besides, the second-grade students describe observation from a broader perspective, and their observation examples from their past experiences are short-term and object-based. The students also showed differences regarding their grade level in their opinions about which sense organs should be included in the observation process.

Keywords

• observation
• gifted students
• elementary science education
• scientific process skills