The Effects of Project Based Approach in Early Intervention Program on the Problem Solving Ability of Gifted Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the early intervention program applied on potentially gifted children during the pre-school period on the problem solving abilities of the children. The intervention program was arranged according to project based approach. An identification study was carried out at four different kindergartens in the city of Izmir for determining potentially gifted children in the pre-school period. Candidate Form, Metropolitan Readiness Test and Colored Progressive Matrices test were applied during the identification study. A total of 114 children were nominated with the candidate form by their pre-school teachers. The verbal section of the Metropolitan Readiness Test was applied on the nominated children as a result of which62 children displayed a higher performance than their peers. Afterwards, these children were subject to Colored Progressive Matrices Test in which 44 children displayed superior performance. A project based intervention program of 12 weeks and 48 hours was applied to the experiment group. Problem Solving Skills Scale was implemented on potentially gifted children before and after the program in order to determine their problem solving skills. It was determined at the end of the program that the problem solving skills of gifted children in the pre-school period increased at a statistically significant level.